Introduction

In December 2003, IFAD's Executive Board approved a Policy on Grant Financing which was updated in September 2005. In December 2009, IFAD Executive Board approved the Revised IFAD Policy for Grant Financing. In May 2011, IFAD presented the related Procedures for Financing from the Grants Programme to its Executive Board for information.

IFAD's grant policy

The goal of the grant policy is to promote successful and/or innovative approaches and technologies, together with enabling policies and institutions that will support agricultural and rural development, thereby contributing to the achievement of IFAD’s overarching goal – that poor rural women and men in developing countries are empowered to achieve higher incomes and improved food security.

The objective of the policy is that IFAD, its partners and other rural development stakeholders improve their knowledge and understanding of what constitutes successful and/or innovative approaches and technologies, enabling policies and institutions that promote the interests of poor rural women and men.
The policy aims specifically to:

• promote innovative activities and develop innovative technologies and approaches to support IFAD’s target group;
• further awareness, advocacy and policy dialogue on issues of importance to poor rural people promoted by this target group;
• strengthen capacity of partner institutions to deliver a range of services to support poor rural people; and
• increase lesson learning, knowledge management and dissemination of information on issues related to rural poverty reduction among stakeholders within and across regions.

Eligible partners in implementing grant-financed activities include: developing Member States; intergovernmental organizations in which such Member States participate; civil society organizations, including NGOs; and IFAD-hosted initiatives. Since the revision of the grant policy in 2009, for-profit, private-sector entities are now also eligible to receive grant financing for specific, agreed grant-financed activities aimed at enabling poor rural women and men to achieve higher incomes and improved food security. All grant proposals need to have an IFAD staff member as focal point/champion who sponsors the grant, which would include to facilitating the grant processing to approval and providing implementation support/supervision as required.

IFAD’s role in supporting the Global Agricultural Research System

Through the agricultural research programme and its link with the International Agricultural Research Centres (IARCs) mostly within the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), IFAD has played an important policy and advocacy role in promoting pro-poor agricultural research and in addressing crucial poverty issues. The grants programme has produced a number of successes in pro-poor international agricultural research, established effective partnerships with IARCs and strengthened national agricultural research systems (NARS) and institutions.

In 2003, IFAD became a co-sponsor with the World Bank, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) of the CGIAR. During 2009, the CGIAR concluded an extensive reform process that is now changing the way the entire global agricultural research system operates. IFAD co-led the Change Steering Team and was a member of the Working Group for the new funding mechanisms.

In 2007, IFAD formed a strategic alliance with the European Commission to support the CGIAR and in 2008 the Fund entered into a multi-year agreement. As a result of this strategic alliance, more than Euro 197 million has been channelled through IFAD so far to support research activities for sustainable reduction of rural poverty.

IFAD also continues to support the Global Forum for Agricultural Research (GFAR), which promotes worldwide collaborative research partnerships. GFAR, in collaboration with the recently formed CGIAR Consortium, organizes the Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD), a multi-year process of learning and continuous updating of the global agricultural research for development system. IFAD is a member of the Task Force for the GCARD.

Country specific grants

Activities eligible for grants implemented in one specific country are directly aligned with the relevant country strategy, as articulated in Results-based Country Strategic Opportunities Programme, and they support and complement IFAD’s investment portfolio. Grants for activities implemented in one specific country strengthen IFAD’s capacity to: (a) engage in strategic and catalytic activities at the national level, in the areas of knowledge management, policy dialogue and analysis, and partnership; and (b) pilot innovative approaches to rural poverty reduction that can then be scaled up through investment projects. These grants are strongly linked to IFAD’s country programmes, supporting linkages among activities within the country. The grants often involve mobilization and strengthening of the institutional capacities of both national and civil society organizations to address national and local issues and to support partnership formation, establishment of policy-dialogue platforms and pro-poor institutional transformation.