On 17 October, the world will commemorate the 21st International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. This year, the theme is: "Human Rights and Dignity of People Living in Poverty".

More than 1.4 billion people around the world live on less than US$1.5 a day. Most live in the rural areas of developing countries. Poverty is internationally recognized as a violation of human rights. Experience in the 30 years since IFAD’s founding shows that the most effective way to reduce poverty and increase food security is to enable smallholder farmers and other poor rural people to build the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to overcome poverty themselves.

Since 1978, IFAD has reached more than 300 million people through the initiatives we support. Because IFAD programmes focus on empowerment, they make a real difference in the lives of poor rural people.  

In a message to mark this important day, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said:

"Rising food and fuel prices, and the global financial crisis, are threatening to negate the progress made to reduce poverty and hunger in many parts of the world."

"At the high-level event last September, Governments reconfirmed their commitments to the Millennium Development Goals. … These commitments are not a matter of charity, but an obligation in the pursuit of human rights for all. If we fail to keep our promise on the MDGs, we create the conditions for greater human misery and global insecurity".

Halving the proportion of people living in poverty and hunger by 2015 is at the top of the list of internationally agreed Millennium Development Goals. Yet falling investment in agricultural and rural development has meant that this goal still remains woefully out of reach in many parts of the world, especially in Africa. IFAD will mark this year's International Day for the Eradication of Poverty with a  workshop at its Rome headquarters, organized in collaboration with the Masters Course in Human Development and Food Security at the University “Roma Tre”, FAO and WFP.  The workshop will discuss where the world stands with the implementation of MDG1, and will be followed by a panel discussion on what needs to be done to achieve MDG1 targets.

Because of the urgency of the situation, IFAD fully supports the United Nations Millennium Campaign's "Stand Up and Take Action" initiative. This aims at mobilizing more than 1 per cent of the world’s population – over 67 million people –  from 17 to 19 October literally to stand up and demand that world leaders deliver on their promises to eradicate extreme poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals on time.

National governments are key partners for IFAD. So are multilateral financial institutions and the wider international development community. But most important are poor rural people themselves. IFAD, an international financial institution and a United Nations specialized agency, works to support poor rural men and women in developing and strengthening their own organizations, in order to gain better access to the land, water, financial resources and agricultural technologies and services they need to farm productively. We also work to improve poor rural people's access to markets and the opportunities for enterprise that could help them increase their income.