By IANS
Jaipur : The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank, and energy major Cairn India have signed a community development agreement that will also provide business opportunities for firms in Barmer district of Rajasthan.
According to a statement issued by Cairn Wednesday, the IFC-Cairn Business Linkage Cooperation Programme, which was agreed upon Tuesday in Washington, will establish an enterprise centre, a rural dairy development project and a child and maternal health initiative in Barmer.
As the central component of the programme, the enterprise centre will provide information and expertise on business practices to local small and medium enterprises, helping them become suppliers and service providers to oil and gas operations and other ventures in the region.
Lars Thunell, chief executive officer (CEO) and executive vice president of IFC, said: "The enterprise centre will help local firms become suppliers to Cairn's operation and other businesses.
"These local firms, in turn, will create jobs and generate other opportunities that support communities across the Barmer region."
IFC will spearhead operations at the enterprise centre, sharing its knowledge and experience from similar initiatives in Azerbaijan, Chad, Mozambique, and Peru and adapting the project to the local environment.
The International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Career Development will implement the activities on the premises of the Barmer Industrial Training Institute provided by the government of Rajasthan.
"The Rajasthan project is aligned with the government's objective to secure future energy supplies. We are delighted that IFC is supporting this project and partnering with us to benefit the local community," said Rahul Dhir, the CEO of Cairn India.
The dairy development project aims to increase the income of rural producers by helping establish a milk collection network in the villages. A process for selling bulk milk to end users will be set up, providing farmers with a stable market.
Other components of the project include improving breeds, providing advisory services to farmers on livestock care and fodder development, and linking farmers to financial institutions and insurance services.
The child and maternal health initiative will include workshops, health camps, and awareness meetings with communities in 30 villages near the oil and gas operations.
Capacity-building programmes for health workers, panchayat and local NGOs will help strengthen the delivery of these programmes. Awareness campaigns will include information on the prevention of communicable diseases.
This linkages programme follows a $150 million, nine-year IFC loan to Cairn in 2006, in partnership with 10 international commercial banks, to help develop the company's oil and gas discoveries in Rajasthan.