Press release number: IFAD 23/05

New York, 7 March 2005 - Rural women must be at the centre of poverty reduction strategies if real progress is to be made towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, the plenary of the 49th Session of the UN Commission on the Status on Women was reminded today.

“It is crucial to put rural women’s needs and priorities at the centre of development efforts if hunger and poverty are to be eradicated,” said Phrang Roy, Assistant President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

More than 75 per cent of the world’s 1.1 billion extremely poor people live in rural areas of developing countries. The majority are women.

Speaking on the eve of International Women’s Day, Roy said IFAD prioritized the economic empowerment of women as one of the fundamentals for broad-based economic growth and poverty reduction. For this to be possible, women need secure access to productive resources such as land, water for agriculture and financial capital.

“We have learned through our experience in rural development projects and programmes that when women have secure access to these resources, and when they can take advantage of economic opportunities, they have great capacity to become powerful agents of change and social transformation,” Roy said. “They can transform their own lives and the lives of their families and communities.”

With improved economic status, women’s confidence and self-esteem increase. They are more likely to become more involved in community decision-making that can lead to changes in social practices and relationships, and mobilize social action, Roy said.

Rachel Mayanja, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, said: “IFAD-financed projects have a notable track record in empowering rural women. IFAD and its partners work at a number of different levels to help women gain access to natural resources.”

On Wednesday 9 March, IFAD will bring together policymakers, development practitioners and activists at a high-level round-table discussion on Rural Women’s Access to Land and Property.

The panellists will include Rachel Mayanja; Anwarul K. Chowdhury, UN Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States; Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director of UNIFEM; and Lucy Mulenkei, Head of the Indigenous Information Network.

The special guests, presenting experience from developing countries, will be Ms Abby Mgugu, Director of the Platform on Women’s Land and Water Rights in Southern Africa; and Ms Kanchan Lama, Director, Society for Partners in Development.

The following day, Thursday 10 March, IFAD will co-host an event on the issue of gender, land and water with the International Land Coalition (ILC). The Coalition, of which IFAD was a founder in 1996, is an alliance of intergovernmental, governmental and civil-society organizations.

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IFAD is a specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to eradicating rural poverty in developing countries. Seventy-five per cent of the world's poorest people - 900 million women, children and men - live in rural areas and depend on agriculture and related activities for their livelihoods. Through low-interest loans and grants, IFAD works with governments to develop and finance programmes and projects that enable rural poor people to overcome poverty themselves.

There are close to 200 ongoing IFAD-supported rural poverty eradication programmes and projects, totaling US$ 6.5 billion. IFAD has invested about US$ 3 billion in these initiatives. Co-financing has been provided by governments, beneficiaries, multilateral and bilateral donors and other partners. At full development, these programmes will help more than 100 million rural poor women and men to achieve better lives for themselves and their families. Since starting operations in 1978, IFAD has invested US$ 8.5 billion in 676 projects and programmes that have helped more than 250 million poor rural men and women achieve better lives for themselves and their families.