Enabling poor rural people
to overcome poverty
Results on the ground
IFAD is a results-based organization. We strive to achieve measurable results on the ground, monitor and evaluate them accurately, report them transparently and improve on them.
Based on a comprehensive independent external evaluation conducted in 2004 to 2005, IFAD has carried out a wide range of institutional reforms. Recent external reviews of our performance highlight our strong focus on results.
IFAD is able to deliver because the results-oriented focus is applied throughout our programme and institutional operations. Country resource allocations are determined by a performance-based allocation system. Our Results Measurement Framework has been recognized for its use of quality indicators and clear hierarchy of results by the Multilateral Organisation Performance Assessment Network (MOPAN). The framework links our performance with our strategic objectives and measures it against specific targets.
Guidance for country strategic opportunities programmes ensures a strong alignment with national development strategies and harmonization with other development partners. Mandatory review of programmes and projects by independent experts prior to Executive Board approval is intended to ensure their quality.
Strong results-orientation is built into IFAD’s business model
During implementation, we actively manage for results by directly supervising nearly all IFAD-supported programmes and projects. We use an integrated Results and Impact Management System to monitor and report on project outputs, outcomes and impact. These ground-level results are shared annually through the Report on IFAD’s Development Effectiveness (RIDE). In addition, we also have an independent Office of Evaluation that reports directly to our Executive Board and carries out corporate level and country programme evaluations. All evaluations are published on our website.
In 2010, IFAD was funding about 230 ongoing projects in rural areas of the developing world, working with 36 million poor women and men. Women made up 49 per cent of the people taking part in the projects.
More than 4 million people were being trained in crop technologies, enabling them to increase productivity. Larger harvests mean they can feed their families and take the surplus to market.
About 21,000 kilometres of roads were built or repaired, connecting often remote rural communities to services, markets and urban centres. Investments in 28,000 smallholder marketing groups were helping them improve their sales.
Nearly 5 million people were being trained in how to sustainably manage productive common property resources, such as land, water and forests.
Rural financial institutions supported by us were providing services to over 8 million savers and nearly 5 million borrowers, making it possible for them to invest in their farms and businesses, manage risk and plan for the future.
Cofinancing
IFAD leverages greater results for more smallholders through cofinancing and other partnerships. Cofinancing multiplies the resources available for the programmes and projects we support. In 2010, cofinancing from external cofinanciers and domestic sources increased by about 140 per cent over 2009, to a total of US$1.6 billion. Together with IFAD’s own financing, total resources mobilized reached US$2.4 billion, about 80 per cent more than the previous year.
We recently signed new, landmark cofinancing agreements. With the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) we agreed to promote innovative financing mechanisms that will attract larger commercial enterprises and develop business models that benefit such investors and local smallholder farmers alike. A US$1.5 billion cofinancing agreement with the Islamic Development Bank will make substantial funding available in 26 countries.
Partnership
Partnership and cooperation are at the heart of our work; the governments of our Member States own and implement the programmes and projects that we support. In the 2010 report of MOPAN, IFAD was given high marks by developing partner governments for harmonizing operations with their policies, programmes and procedures.
We also work hand in hand with poor rural people and their organizations, United Nations agencies, international financial institutions, other development organizations, NGOs and the private sector.
Innovation and knowledge
New solutions are needed to address both the new and long-standing challenges facing smallholders. Effective solutions to challenges such as food price volatility and climate change are increasingly knowledge intensive. We are committed to finding and developing innovations, and to deepening and sharing knowledge on rural poverty by strengthening our innovation and knowledge management capacity.
Market integration is a key area where new approaches are beginning to show dividends. Using mobile phones to keep producers up to date with market prices is just one example. Such innovations help them to add value to their produce and improve their bargaining power.
Our flagship publication - the Rural Poverty Report 2011 - examines the global consequences of rural poverty and the prospects for eradicating it. We use grants to strengthen knowledge at country level, promoting pro-poor research for development and building technical know-how. Since 1978, we have committed about US$750 million in grants.
Scaling up
To reach more of the 2 billion people who depend on small farms and on whom the world will depend to meet growing demands for food, fibre and fuel, IFAD is giving top priority to improving our capacity to scale up operations.
Scaling up means to expand, replicate or adapt innovative or successful policies, programmes or projects to reach a greater number of people. Activities supported in the highlands of Peru, for example, have been steadily scaled up over the past 20 years. Eight loans have provided over US$115 million to support smallholder farmers in the area. The last five loans have scaled up innovative approaches reaching about 30 per cent of the roughly 5,000 poor communities in Peru’s highlands.
IFAD is exceptional among development agencies in having “scaling up of successful interventions” as a key institutional goal. In 2010, we became the first development agency to sponsor an institutional scaling up audit, which was carried out by the Brookings Institution.
Efficiency
To ensure transparency, efficiency and alignment with our strategic objectives, we have strengthened our corporate planning tools, reformed our administrative services and reinforced corporate management. We have adopted a Strategic Framework for 2011-2015, a new Medium-Term Plan for 2011-2013, a zero-based budgeting system and a strategic workforce planning system.
Continuing reform of key corporate processes and practices supports greater results and improved efficiency
In 2011, more than 60 per cent of IFAD’s operating budget is dedicated to development services and less than a quarter to administrative services. Management remains committed to further improving the efficiency of the Fund through improved business processes.
Resources
We are both increasing our programme of work and boosting the level of funds that we manage for other agencies. We are also advocating for greater commitments by donors and countries in this crucial sector, and calling for current commitments to be honoured.
In 2010, we approved US$855 million in loans and grants, a 19 per cent increase over 2009. During our Eighth Replenishment period (2010 to 2012), we are on track to raise the level of our new commitments by 50 per cent. Our proposed programme of work for 2011 is US$1 billion.
Member States and others are increasing their investments in smallholders through IFAD
IFAD also directly manages resources for rural development on behalf of others. For example, we are the key technical and financial intermediary in the flow of resources from the European Commission to the institutions of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, managing a budget of about €135 million. An innovative cofinancing trust fund worth €300 million agreed with the Government of Spain will largely be used to scale up successful interventions.