1984 — The Initiative of 82 Nobel Prize Laureates Bears Fruit at IFAD

Based on a manifesto signed by 82 Nobel Prize laureates, the Parliament of Belgium authorizes the establishment of the Belgian Survival Fund (BSF) with resources of 10 billion Belgian francs (October 1983). To operationalize this Fund, IFAD’s proposal for the establishment of an IFAD/WHO/UNICEF/UNDP joint programme is welcomed by the Government of Belgium. Concentrating its efforts on the Horn of Africa, the Belgian Survival Fund Joint Programme (BSF.JP) begins operations in 1984 with its first project in Kenya. Today, the programme has a portfolio of 27 projects in 13 countries of sub-Saharan Africa. Close to USD 180 million of the BSF’s resources have been allocated for disbursement through IFAD.

1985 — Response to Critical Situation in Sub-Saharan Africa

Responding to a critical situation of famine and drought in sub-Saharan Africa, in 1985 IFAD launched the first phase of its Special Programme for Sub-Saharan African Countries Affected by Drought and Desertification (or Special Programme for Africa). More than USD 800 million was mobilized through this programme, the second phase of which was launched in May 1991.

1985-94 — Special Programme for Africa—Mitigating the Menace of Drought and Desertification

Two thirds of sub-Saharan Africa is susceptible to frequent drought – a menace threatening the livelihoods of millions, destroying national economies and wiping out fragile gains from economic recovery and development efforts. Although it often creates critical emergency situations to which the international community responds generously, the lasting impact of drought has been widely ignored. Besides the problem of drought, there is the accelerated process of land degradation, conventionally referred to as desertification.

The Special Programme for Africa (SPA) engaged in mitigating the impact of drought and reversing the process of desertification during its eight years of implementation. The programme, was carried out in two phases, focused on the poorest regions and the most vulnerable groups – smallholder farmers, the landless, rural women and youth, artisanal fisherman, nomadic pastoralists and hunter-gatherers. It aimed to direct resources and support to the most critical needs of the affected populations:

• rehabilitation and recovery in the smallholder farm sector;
• development of traditional staple food crops;
• construction and rehabilitation of small-scale water control schemes; promotion of agroforestry and soil-conservation measures;
• building of institutions and orienting of policies to achieve these goals;
• protection of common-property resources; and
• development of alternative livelihoods and off-farm activities.