Village meeting at Ksar Ouled Soltane, Tataouine, Tunisia
Source: Ali Nefzaoui The project started in June 2003 and is expected to end in May 2006. During the second half of 2003 the project produced a conceptual framework for the research. As of end 2004 the following activities have been implemented or are on-going:

• National planning workshops to define the research agenda of each case study
• Establishment of national teams
• Preliminary field tests for the construction of capability indices at individual and group levels
• Multi-level surveys (at household, douar, ethnic group, and rural commune levels)
• Methodological notes regarding the various research modules
• Interviews of policy makers.

• Three country case studies on enabling policy environments for empowering the rural poor (Morocco, Sudan, and Tunisia)
• An innovative and comprehensive policy framework for empowering the rural poor to help guide IFAD/Near East and North Africa Division (NENA) engage in policy dialogue with its development partners at country and regional levels
• Concrete recommendations in terms of project strategies and modus operandi that are likely to improve the effectiveness and impact of donors operations
• A set of dissemination products (publications) and activities (workshops) aimed at developing existing institutional capacities in policy and program formulation and implementation.