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Country-led and country-owned

IFAD has 178 Member States, and counting. More countries join on a regular basis because of IFAD's unique role and value proposition as a development partner that is both a UN agency and an International Financial Institution, focused exclusively on reducing rural poverty and hunger.    

A unique feature of IFAD is that while only developing Member States are eligible for IFAD's support, all Member States can contribute — and most do.

On average over 100 countries contribute to each replenishment of the Fund, which takes place every three years. Contributions range from just a few thousand dollars from our smallest and poorest Member States to tens of millions or more from others, including both traditional and emerging donors.

The wide range of Member States which contribute to IFAD reflects the inclusive nature of the institution and the recognition of the Fund as a key instrument in the global fight to end rural poverty and hunger. IFAD is also recognised as a key partner to address challenges such as climate change and environmental degradation, malnutrition, gender inequality, and youth unemployment.

As donors, our member countries recognise that IFAD’s special mandate and ongoing projects in almost 100 countries offer a way to effectively deliver and leverage their own development finance and support to small farmers and rural communities. IFAD's financial model and capacity as an assembler of development finance means that the Fund can convert each dollar of new funding provided by Members into six or seven dollars of investment at the project level.

As recipients, our member countries see IFAD is a trusted partner who brings finance, expertise and technical knowledge to help strengthen the capacity of national partners and their institutions.

All IFAD projects are country-led and country-owned.

IFAD's decades-long experience, value for money and leadership on smallholder farming and rural development issues ensure that every development dollar has an impact.

Experts

Related news

Related news

Dutch funding to IFAD will help avert COVID-19 food crisis

November 2020 - NEWS
As more people spiral into hunger and poverty due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Netherlands has stepped up its funding to IFAD to help avert a rural food crisis.

IFAD and Republic of Korea sign new agreement to help poor rural communities around the world prosper

May 2019 - NEWS
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI) signed an agreement today to strengthen their collaborative efforts to end hunger and poverty in developing countries around the world.

Related publications

Related publications

The Republic of Korea and IFAD: working for food security and rural development

July 2017
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) emerged from the food crisis of the early 1970s and the World Food Conference of 1974. With financial support from Korea and other development partners, IFAD was created as both a specialized agency of the United Nations and an international financial institution. IFAD supports measures that help people in rural areas to overcome poverty and build better lives. Since its creation, FAD has helped about 464 million people to grow more food, better manage their land and other natural resources, learn new skills, start businesses, build strong organizations, and gain a voice in decisions that affect their lives.

Sharing a vision, achieving results - Partnership between the Netherlands and the International Fund for Agricultural Development

October 2016
The Netherlands, with its dynamic private sector and renowned research institutions, provides know-how, technology and financing to the partnership. IFAD contributes its wealth of experience in supporting development of small-scale agriculture and rural livelihoods, while acting as a catalyst for investment from other donors and governments. The strength of this partnership is demonstrated by the growing support provided by the Netherlands to IFAD-supported initiatives. It is underpinned by increasing alignment between Dutch development priorities and IFAD’s mandate.

IFAD-Japan: A partnership for inclusive rural development

March 2016

The origins of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) stretch back to the food crisis of the early 1970s, which sparked the World Food Conference of 1974. Three years later, with support from donors, including Japan, IFAD was created as both a specialized agency of the United Nations and an international financial institution. 

Since 1978, IFAD has empowered about 453 million people to grow more food, manage their land and other natural resources more productively, learn new skills, start businesses, build strong organizations and gain a voice in the decisions that affect their lives. 

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