Rome, March 25, 2010 – Guatemala President, Alvaro Colom, is visiting the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) headquarters today to meet IFAD President, Kanayo F. Nwanze, and members of the Latin America and Caribbean Division.

“We are honoured to host President Colom to discuss how we can continue to address the extreme poverty and poor social conditions of vulnerable groups in the country, particularly women, youth and indigenous peoples,” said IFAD Country Programme Manager for Guatemala, Enrique Murguia.

During his visit, President Colom will meet with IFAD President, Nwanze, to discuss how Guatemala has set a good example for the region by strengthening the social fabric in communities and promoting participatory decision-making by indigenous peoples. In addition, President Colom will be briefed on IFAD operations by representatives from the agency’s regional and technical divisions.

For many years, discrimination and exclusion have contributed to the poverty and inequality of Mayan people, the country’s main indigenous population. Poverty among the Mayan people is also linked to poor access to natural resources including land and water, as well as to technology and financial services.

The Mayan ethnic groups have unique cultural, social, linguistic and economic characteristics. Many Mayans do not speak Spanish, which has kept them further marginalized. IFAD provides bilingual services when implementing its work to ensure that all community members have equal opportunities to participate, so as not to exclude those who do not speak Spanish.

The civil war that ended in 1996 left more than 100,000 widows and 250,000 orphans, resulting in a high number of women-headed households. One aim of IFAD’s support is to draw these people into the mainstream of Guatemala's social and economic progress.

Since 1984, IFAD has supported projects in Guatemala to reduce poverty in areas seriously affected by the war. More recently, the Fund has focused its support on market access and rural business development through private-sector entrepreneurial connections to reach minority groups, particularly indigenous populations with lower educational levels and very limited access to productive resources.

IFAD has invested a total of US$115 million in eight programmes and projects in Guatemala.

Note to Editors

IFAD can provide B-roll footage and still photographs of the President’s visit for journalists.

Press release No.: IFAD/26/2010

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) works with poor rural people to enable them to grow and sell more food, increase their incomes and determine the direction of their own lives. Since 1978, IFAD has invested over US$11 billion in grants and low-interest loans to developing countries, empowering some 350 million people to break out of poverty. IFAD is an international financial institution and a specialized UN agency based in Rome – the UN’s food and agricultural hub. It is a unique partnership of 165 members from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), other developing countries and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).