The Mekong Delta provinces of Tra Vinh and Ben Tre have undertaken great efforts to push forward the “Adaptation in the Mekong Delta” (AMD) project, said Henning Pedersen, Country Director of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

He made the statement at a meeting to review the results of the AMD project implementation in two localities held on March 26 in Tra Vinh province.

An inspection group from the IFAD conducted its first project supervision from March 9-26 to evaluate its initial efficiency and orient its subsequent activities in line with the project’s sustainable development goals.

Pedersen highlighted that Ben Tre needs to integrate poverty reduction into the project’s strategies alongside its climate adaptation goal.

Meanwhile, he said that the project coordinating board in Tra Vinh province should enhance the capacity of the local women development fund for prudent capital management.

The AMD programme in Ben Tre and Tra Vinh is being implemented in 30 communes in each province between 2014 and 2020.

The total budget is over 1 trillion VND (approximately 48 million USD), including a 426 billion VND (over 20 million USD) loan from IFAD, a 252 billion VND (nearly 12 million USD) grant from IFAD and 159 billion VND (7.4 million USD) from the State budget.

Its main objective is to develop sustainable livelihoods for the rural poor in the face of a changing climate and to enhance the target communities’ capacities to adapt to climate change.-VNA