IFAD and its efforts to eradicate rural poverty was the subject of a special workshop held 16 June at the Asian Rural Institute (ARI) in Nasushiobara, Japan. The workshop was attended by 25 ARI trainees drawn from developing countries, as well as 58 Japanese students and faculty members who were present on campus.

Workshop activities included screening of the IFAD short documentary "Election Day" about post-conflict reconstruction in Burundi. The documentary gave students a visual sense of IFAD’s work on the ground and of one particular project’s approaches. Farhana Haque-Rahman, IFAD’s Chief of Media Relations, also made a presentation on IFAD and its work in developing countries. The presentation was followed by an intense question and answer session with the participants eager to learn more about IFAD’s loan procedures, its collaboration with national governments and how the rural poor themselves actually benefit from IFAD loans and grants.

In addition to the IFAD presentations, Dr. Hidekazu Toyohara, Dean of the Faculty of International Agriculture and Food Studies at Tokyo University of Agriculture (TUA) and Dr. Kenji Irie, Department of International Agricultural Development, talked about the agricultural development components of TUA's international studies programme.