The project "Agricultural and Rural Development Around Hill Lakes" (DARAL), part of the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) Program in Rural Areas, aims to sustainably improve the living conditions of the target population in the Central West region of Tunisia (Governorates of Kasserine, Kairouan and Sidi Bouzid).

The specific objectives of the project are:

• Improved management of water and soil resources regarding exploitation and protection (local governance of resources);
• Improvement in the viable and sustainable income generating potential of each area (development of the local economy);
• Improvement of the living conditions of the population (improved accessibility to the area, improvement in basic infrastructure).

This will be done through the implementation of investment and training measures at six pilot sites selected by the project and located either around hill lakes or in the flooded areas. These measures will be defined by Local Development Plans (LDP) (one for each site) resulting from participatory planning processes during the project.

The accompanying measures include capacity development in the following fields: use and management of new infrastructure, agricultural production reflecting the need for supplementary irrigation (unpredictable resource) as well as local conditions (soil, climatic factors), supporting local farmer organizations throughout all phases of the project so that they can use and maintain the new infrastructure.

The main objective of the consultant’s mission was to provide technical assistance (TA) to the Project Management Unit (PIU) in all spheres to ensure the smooth running of the programme.

Emphasis will be placed on participatory methods which will be optimized and applied throughout all steps of the project, consolidating its use in the DGACTA and those districts of the Commissariats Régionaux de Développement Agricole (CRDA) involved in the project through the PIU.