Release number IFAD/10/08

Rome, 13 February 2008 – IFAD and the African Development Bank (AfDB) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen their partnership as they work together to help poor rural people in Africa overcome poverty. The MoU was signed by the President of IFAD, Lennart Båge, and the President of AfDB, Donald Kaberuka, during the 31st Session of IFAD’s Governing Council.

The signing of the MoU marks another milestone in the relationship between AfDB and IFAD. In 1978, the two organizations signed their first cooperation agreement, which has been instrumental in guiding their work together and helping them mobilize cofinancing of more than US$2.4 billion for 35 projects.

The MoU underscores IFAD’s and AfDB’s commitment to strengthening the alignment of their resources and instilling a culture of accountability for results in order to increase their development effectiveness in Africa. The enhanced relationship should serve as a model for other development partners in the context of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.

Future cooperation efforts will focus on aligning the operational policies of IFAD and AfDB within their own organizations and in the countries in which they both have programmes and projects. This will increase the effectiveness and efficiency of their combined development assistance.

The MoU provides a framework for IFAD and the Tunis-based AfDB to design and implement work programmes within a number of thematic areas and sectors, including microfinance, capacity building, good governance, and post-conflict intervention.

The partnership will support interventions in the fields of agribusiness and agroprocessing, rural community empowerment, microenterprise development and renewable energy.

The two organizations will undertake joint missions to African countries to identify, prepare, appraise and supervise projects and will create technical networks to coordinate, monitor and evaluate activities. They will also implement capacity building programmes for professional and technical personnel of African governments. The parties will hold consultative meetings every six months to elaborate and approve joint annual results-based work plans and promote regular exchange of information and knowledge.

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IFAD was created 30 years ago to tackle rural poverty, a key consequence of the droughts and famines of the early 1970s. Since 1978, IFAD has invested almost US$10 billion in low-interest loans and grants that have helped more than 300 million very poor rural women and men increase their incomes and provide for their families.
IFAD is an international financial institution and a specialized United Nations agency. It is a global partnership of OECD, OPEC and other developing countries. Today, IFAD supports more than 200 programmes and projects in 84 developing countries.