East and Southern Africa

IFAD’s presence in the region

Since 1978, IFAD has financed some 105 investment programmes and projects in the region, for a total commitment of US$1.2 billion. It currently supports governments in their poverty reduction efforts through 49 operational programmes. IFAD’s resources remain focused exclusively on rural poverty reduction, and sub-Saharan Africa remains the highest priority, currently absorbing from 35 to 40 per cent of new commitments.

Land and water are at the heart of the economies of the rural poor in the region. Small-scale farmers generally have very limited access to both, particularly in southern Africa, where the landholding structure remains profoundly inequitable.

Investment in smallholder land management systems is central to IFAD’s operations in the region, where it supports the introduction of water and soil conservation technologies such as alternative tillage techniques or appropriate cross-cropping combinations.

• Comoros: Integrated Ecological Planning and Sustainable Land Management in Coastal Ecosystems in the Comoros
• Eritrea: Catchments and Landscape Management Project
• Ethiopia: Community-based Integrated Natural Resources Management in Lake Tana Watershed
• Ethiopia: Community-Based Integrated National Resources Management: Improving Ecosystem Integrity and Rural Livelihoods
• Kenya: Mount Kenya East Pilot Project for Natural Resource Management
• Swaziland: Lower Usuthu Smallholder Irrigation Project

Source: IFAD