IFAD’s investments in West and Central Africa totalled US$966.7 million in financing for 55 ongoing programmes and projects in 23 of the region’s 24 countries as of the end of 2012. Since IFAD’s founding in 1978, it has supported more than 200 projects in the region with some $2.5 billion in financing.

Global and regional statistics suggest that West and Central Africa will remain the fastest growing African region in the coming decade, both economically and demographically. Pro-poor economic growth has generally resulted in declining poverty rates and improved human development indicators, and the proportion of the population living on less than US$1.25 per day has declined in all countries in the region – ranging from 10 per cent (in Cameroon and Gabon) to 80 per cent (in Liberia). Cameroon, Ghana, Mauritania and Senegal have made particular progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals.

In sub-Saharan Africa overall, however, the MDGs will not be met by 2015 unless the pace of improvement increases. The principal risks to continued economic and social progress remain political and social instability, and climate change – which poses a growing challenge to the resilience of rural communities. And West and Central Africa has a higher concentration of fragile states than the other regions where IFAD works, with 12 of the 24 countries classified as fragile by the World Bank in 2011.

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IFAD ongoing projects and programmes in West and Central Africa