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Study on Impact of Subsidization of Agricultural Production on Development: Poverty and Social Impact Analysis

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Implementing Partner: Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform (MAAR)
Practice Area: Poverty Reduction
Total Budget: USD 180 000
Total expenditures as of December 2007: 42,593
Duration: 28 months (Sept. 2006 – Dec. 2008)
Status: Closed
Location: Syrian Arab Republic
Description / Overview:
The project intends to support the Government in the evaluation of the impact of reforms concerning subsidization of strategic crops. This is crucial to ensure that social considerations are appropriately reflected in decision-making. It also aims at strengthening national capacities on the PSIA (Poverty and Social Impact Analysis) tools and processes, so that they may be replicated for other economic reforms.

Objectives:
The project intends to support the Syrian Government in the ex-ante evaluation of the distributional impact of reforms concerning the pricing and marketing mechanisms for strategic crops and build national capacity for conducting PSIAs on economic reforms through a “learning by doing” approach.

Target Beneficiaries:
  • Syrian agricultural and economic policy makers and analysts
  • Syrian producers and consumers of strategic agricultural products
  • The Syrian public

Implementation Strategy:
  • Set up a PSIA Task Force, train its members on PSIA framework, methodologies and tools
  • Collect data and conduct surveys to assess the consequences of reforms on regional disparities and poverty reduction.
  • Provide technical assistance to the Government in the analysis of the agricultural subsidization system and the creation of alternatives
  • Conduct workshops and events for illustrating the effects of reform path to the public to initiate a public debate
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Achievements / Current Status:
  • International and national experts identified and recruited
  • 5 training workshops on various aspects of PSIA delivered to Government Task Force (launch, introduction, Social Accounting Matrices (SAM), draft Syrian SAM, principles of Computable General Equilibrium analysis)
  • SAM data collected, Syrian SAM construction under way
  • Study outline and completion work plan confirmed

Partnerships:
Belgian Trust Fund

Project Documents Link:
National Project Director (NPD): Zeinab Suliman
UNDP Project Management: Poverty Reduction Team
E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Last update of project information: -