The world’s poorest people have insufficient and inadequate food, low incomes and poor health and other essential services. But there is another common factor linking the 1.2 billion people who exist on less than USD 1 a day – their voice is rarely heard. Helping the extremely poor to be heard by others is essential in the fight to overcome poverty and hunger because it enables them more control over their own destinies.

Another barrier against advancement is that the rules governing social, economic and political concerns are often skewed against the interests of the rural poor to the extent that there are few realistic opportunities for them to win their struggles to overcome poverty. Changing these rules is essential to creating the conditions in which the poor can succeed.

On 20 February, at the 25th anniversary session of IFAD’s Governing Council, the organization will host a roundtable discussion to examine ways the rules can be modified to enable the rural poor to have more influence and to better safeguard their interests.

In September 2000, the international community agreed to reduce the proportion of extremely poor people in the world by 50% by the year 2015. But unless the rural poor have a greater say in decisions that affect their lives and are able to compete on a more equitable basis with those who are better off, this goal has little chance of being reached.

In many low-income countries, the poor account for the largest sector of the population. They remain entrenched in poverty, not because they lack skills, but because they lack the opportunities to boost their productivity and incomes. Providing those opportunities is one of the keys to accelerating growth and development, and to enabling the poor to improve their livelihoods. In a quarter of a century of helping the world’s poorest people IFAD has proved that designing rules and policies that respond to the specific needs of the rural poor can make a real difference to their lives and levels of prosperity.

There are many ways in which this can be done. Organizing people into groups and associations can help improve their confidence and bargaining power. Initiatives that have proved effective include self-help groups, water users’ associations and farmers’ cooperatives. Women are especially vulnerable to poverty, due to deeply engrained social and cultural biases. But they are also particularly dynamic in organizing and participating in grassroots organizations that can greatly benefit the entire community.

Government systems also need to change, with greater emphasis on democracy, transparency and accountability. Corruption and ineffective institutions are obstacles to rapid poverty reduction. Decentralization is also essential, so that more power and resources are concentrated in areas where they will be most effective. Many developing countries have made bold and far-reaching reforms in these areas in recent years. But their impact on poverty reduction will remain limited as long as the poor themselves are barred from playing a more prominent role in determining the conditions that closely affect them.

Trade liberalization will not help the poor unless the rules governing markets are adjusted to include the interests of small rural producers. Land reform will have little effect on poverty unless poor farmers are also given access to finance and technology, so they can develop their new holdings.

IFAD promotes the development of institutions and policies that favour the poor and helps countries and communties develop them. Sometimes, a radical overhaul is needed. In others, only adjustments are required. In all cases, the changes must be designed to suit the local culture, needs and practices of the rural poor.

Experience has shown that improved land tenure can encourage rural dwellers to invest in their resources, and to plan for the future. In one IFAD-funded project in Bangladesh, lakes were leased to landless labourers and poor fishermen, who soon boosted both their incomes and their status in the community. Institutions that increase people’s control over water greatly contribute to poverty reduction. Here, the forming of user groups to manage the water can be crucial in ensuring better use and maintenance, and in settling disputes.

Saving and lending groups can help solve the problem of access to credit, a limiting factor for many rural producers because the amounts they deal with are too small to be of interest to most banks, and they have few assets to act as collateral. IFAD helps to set up rural finance institutions that meet the needs of poor people in often remote, outlying areas.

WHEN: Thursday, 20 February 2003, 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 pm.
WHERE: Palazzo dei Congressi
Piazzale J. F. Kennedy, 00144 Rome (EUR)
WHO: Chairperson: Mr. Moise Mensah, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the International Service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR), former Minister for Rural Development and for Finance of Benin, and former Assistant President of IFAD

Panelists:

Mr. David Beckmann, President, Bread for the World Institute, USA

Ms. Ela Bhatt, Founder and Secretary General of the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), India

Mr. Alain de Janvry, Professor, Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California at Berkley, United States

Mr. Jonathon Kydd, Professor of Agricultural Development, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, United Kingdom

IFAD Focal Point: Mr. Thomas Elhaut