Belgian Survival Fund

Objectives and activities
The objectives can be categorised as:

Institutional
Strengthen the capacity of regional and local administrations for development planning, attract and use local financial resources and the resources attributed by the National Government, set up basic infrastructure, allocate tenders, control the implementation and negotiate with the villages and the population.

The Belgian Survival Fund
In the early eighties, when a severe drought stroke Africa, public opinion was alerted: it was unacceptable that thousands of people were starving to death in time of plenty. Sixty majors of Belgian cities and communities staged a march to the Parliament. 77 Nobel Prize Winners signed a manifesto. 150 European parliamentarians did the same, on the initiative of Willy Brandt. The Belgian Parliament reacted immediately and on 3 October 1983, established the "Survival Fund for the Third World" (BSF). The National Lottery added USD 280 million to the budget for development cooperation. The funds were combined with the budget of international organisations and NGO's, thus enabling BSF to take constructive action in more than twenty Sub-Saharan countries.

The active role of the Belgian Parliament
The BSF mandate is determined by law and is formulated as follows: "Ensure the survival of persons who are threatened by hunger, malnutrition and underdevelopment, in those regions of the Third World where the mortality rates are the highest due to those causes." As initiator of the legislation, the Belgian Parliament also controls its implementation. Every year, the Secretary of State for Development Cooperation presents a BADC report, which is discussed in the Commission for External Relations of the Chamber. The Commission representatives can form a concrete picture of the projects' evolution in other ways: information days, project visits in Africa... Thus there is a transparent exchange between the involved partners in order to ensure the long-term effectiveness of the projects.
The BSF is organised around five programmes which aim to ensure sustainable food security. Each of these programmes must enable the rural communities to satisfy their own needs and to stimulate their own development. Besides the budget from the National Lottery, the BSF seeks for partnerships with a variety of organisations, based on the principle of co-financing. The partners are selected in function of their specific know-how, in order to tackle the problems in a multidisciplinary way.

Five programmes, optimized partnerships

The selection criteria of the recipient countries are defined in the legislation for the establishment of the BSF: poverty, inadequate food supply, insufficient percentage of the population having access to health care and safe water, high mortality rate in children under 5, high maternal mortality rate, high percentage of underweight children, low life expectancy, low level of literacy (with special focus on gender inequalities).
On the basis of these criteria, the BSF decided to focus on those regions most affected in its efforts on about twenty Sub-Saharan countries, because those regions are the most affected.

Some major principles

A global approach
The main focus of the BSF is to ensure food security, which demands a global approach in each project: stimulation/activation of micro-economic factors stimulates a lasting food production (irrigation, imputes, environment, strengthening of producer organisations...), adequate commercialisation to guarantee incomes and purchasing power (market study, roads, commercialisation networks); development tools (saving and credit, education, job opportunity); and finally improvement of the living conditions (housing, health, safe water...).

Reinforcement of the role of women
During the identification and formulation of projects, special attention is paid to effectively improve the living condition of women. This is necessary because not only do women have a crucial role in education and health (and hence in their sustainability), but also because they are often discriminated in issues of land ownership and political/educational decision making.

Enhance social economy
The goal is to promote a policy at the small enterprise level to ensure the income of the producer via just prices and credit, and to set up structures that guarantee a viable market. This economy -- based on the principles of solidarity, participation and co-management -- offers the communities the possibility to take their fate into their own hands, with respect for their own values.

Develop empowerment and ownership
The projects respect the local socio-cultural context. This is why community participation is encouraged throughout the project lifetime. The local communities and administrations are fully involved in the approval of all development processes, as well as in the set-up and the management of basic infrastructure and services. This will not only stimulate their own sense of responsibility, but also enhance the sustainability of the project activities.

The main areas of intervention

Health care
The BAF and its partners foster the principle that health must be a right for all. This is why the creation of basic infrastructure and services is encouraged, so that local communities can organise primary health care right there: construction of health centres, drugs supply and safe water, sanitation, training of health care personnel, traditional birth attendants, sanitary agents, etc. The synergy with the hospitals must also be optimized. Amongst the priorities are prevention and control of diseases, information about reproductive health, sensitization of the population about vaccinations, AIDS prevention, etc. At local level, a management committee is created that also looks into the aspects of cost-recovery.

Agricultural and economic development
The agricultural production chain is approached as a whole, from the production up to and including the commercialisation. A policy of just prices is strived for, both for the producer as well as the consumer. The projects support the establishment of small irrigation schemes, promote animal traction to enable coverage of larger areas, assist in the provision of seeds, fertilizers and products for plant protection, and they also offer extension services. The development of small-scale production or distribution enterprises is also encouraged through the provision of micro-credits and management training. As such, economic support has to be created at all levels of the production chain.

Civil society
A project is sustainable when the two local partners fulfill the conditions for it: on the one hand, a community that is aware of the situation and takes up its responsibility: on the other hand, the administration and local authorities working together in a transparent manner. Both parties are equally involved in the development process and are regularly consulted about the implementation of projects. The community must be able to decide its own future through permanent training towards good citizenship, financial solidarity, post-crisis reconciliation and other coping mechanisms.

Basic infrastructure and services
The creation of basic infrastructure and services remains a key factor in development. The digging of water wells, the installation of water pumps, spring protection, the construction of dams and dikes, all ensure the vital water supply. The construction of a rural road network and the organisation of markets stimulate trade. The construction of health centres facilitates the accessibility to primary health care. In each case, attention is also paid to the educational aspects, not just by the organisation of literacy classes or the use of local development centres, but also through the provision of training courses to the managers and the users of the infrastructure. The set-up of a local management committee as well as the collection of funds from the villagers also enhance the sustainability and the functioning of the provided services.

Functional literacy and training
The literacy activities are mainly targeted towards adults: by learning to read, write and calculate, household management will improve. The programmes developed for women put the emphasis on hygiene, nutrition, having longer birth intervals, prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, etc. In a context of decentralisation, these projects also aim at increasing the know-how of the local elected officials and administrations, which has to lead to better policy-making. The provision of didactic material for the training of trainers, the exchange visits between various projects and the participation in specialized courses (for example, micro-financing), constitute a few aspects of these actions.