Statement by David Bloomgarden, Acting Governor of the United States of America to IFAD’s Twenty-seventh Session of the Governing Council

Mr. President, Mr. Chairman, Governors, and Distinguished Guests, it is my pleasure to represent the United States at this Governing Council. As we begin the Sixth Replenishment period we have reason for optimism about the future of IFAD. Together, we have worked hard in recent years to put in place policies and programs that should enable IFAD to deliver resources to the rural poor more effectively and accountably, as reflected in the IFAD-6 policy reforms. The United States remains a strong supporter of IFAD, and we accept with all of you the challenge to maintain our efforts to improve the institution’s capacity to reduce poverty and increase growth among the world’s poorest rural citizens.

I would like to express our appreciation to the management and staff of IFAD for their extraordinary efforts over the last year to begin implementing the IFAD-6 agreement. They have shouldered a heavy workload and responded commendably to the membership’s ambitious agenda for change. While the work is not yet finished, there has been important progress on many key issues.

Agreement was reached on a framework for allocating resources to countries based on performance, so that assistance is targeted to its most effective uses. A policy was adopted to increase grants to 10% of assistance, helping to make aid more effective and avoid higher debt burdens. We agreed on a framework for results measurement so that we will know better the outcomes and impacts of IFAD projects. We established an independent evaluation function so that reports would come directly to the Executive Board, enhancing credibility and objectivity. The first truly external evaluation of IFAD is underway to provide members with a comprehensive picture of IFAD’s performance and results in advance of the Seventh Replenishment negotiations. Surely we need to maintain our focus on the serious work remaining ahead of us – including a strategy for deeper engagement with the private sector and further improvements to COSOPS - to achieve fully implementation of these and other important tasks. We cannot afford complacency, but that this is a solid record of accomplishment for one year cannot be gainsaid.

Taken together, these initiatives reflect several bedrock principles that must guide IFAD as an institution in the future: promoting private-sector led growth in a market-based environment, allocating resources effectively, focusing on project effectiveness and measuring results, and holding its partners and itself accountable in a transparent manner. As a relatively small institution devoted exclusively to the rural poor, IFAD has created a niche as a project-based institution, deploying its scarce resources to individual projects in often remote rural communities, with a focus on innovation. This approach has proved appropriate – a kind of raison d’etre for the institution - and by applying these bedrock principles to this project-centric approach, it should be able to deliver concrete results in a replicable way.

We look forward to the year – and years – ahead, as we further our endeavors to maintain IFAD’s record as a leader in rural development.