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Tom Mwangi Anyonge, lead technical specialist at IFAD , talks about youth, rural development and institutions.

Jonathan Agwe, lead regional technical specialist talks about rural finance, markets and enterprises

Development encompasses a wide range of actions that enables people, communities and nations to thrive even after projects have ended.

Online briefing with experts from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and UN Goodwill Ambassadors for IFAD Idris and Sabrina Dhowre Elba on food security in times of COVID-19.

It has been really inspiring to receive updates from the field over the past two months illustrating how IFAD-supported projects are continuing to deliver.

Last week, the China Grain Reserve Group announced its intention to purchase 22 million tonnes of imported grain during 2020. Should China worry about food security?

In rural Pakistan, women are important partners in agricultural development. They perform a variety of crucial tasks, including weeding and tilling land, planting seeds, collecting farmyard manure and harvesting. They are also responsible for cleaning, drying and storing grains.

In this month’s programme, we explore how to maintain a balance between battling COVID-19 and promoting farming and biodiversity.

This year’s theme for the International Day for Biological Diversity is “Our Solutions are in Nature.”

In north-eastern Brazil, as in so many other places, rural women's work is often invisible. But a revolution is taking place – and IFAD is a part of it.

Bees support countless ecosystems, bolster biodiversity, anchor food chains and help ensure humans’ agricultural security. Not bad for insects no bigger than a paperclip.

The COVID-19 outbreak has disrupted agricultural and food systems around the world, along with the livelihoods and food security of the poorest rural communities – precisely the groups of people whom IFAD concentrates its efforts on.

Without initially knowing it, last year more than 13,000 young women in Colombia began to prepare for the current economic and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

How can we enhance local capacity to respond to this emergency in an agile and inclusive manner?

Africa has so far escaped the worst health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. But the continent looks like it could be the worst hit.

Colombia is a country rich in natural resources and diverse communities. But in small towns and across the countryside, many families remain poor.

El FIDA destinará USD 554 millones de dólares para sostener la agricultura familiar en América Latina y el Caribe durante la crisis de la COVID-19 y para contribuir a su recuperación y modernización una vez el impacto de la pandemia haya pasado.

The story of the Afro-Colombian community has always been one of resilience. Historically, this group has faced the country’s highest rates of poverty and food insecurity, and has lacked access to many basic services.

In 2016, the IFAD-funded YARIP project had partnered with the Qujing Zhanyi District Women’s Federation to transform traditional embroidery art into a new source of income and employment. Qujing, located in the ethnically diverse Yunnan province, is home to the Yi, an ethnic group with a population of about 300,000.

Victoria Muteti, a 44-year old farmer living in Kenya’s Makueni County, has many reasons to be satisfied. In January 2020, she was able to harvest more than 2,500 kilograms of sorghum from her 2.5-acre farm – far more than the 1,000 kg she harvested in 2019.

We are in the middle of a shift in how development is financed. Impact investing is on the rise.

With most of the world sheltering in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ILO estimates that about 2.7 billion people are currently affected by workplace closures.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 820 million people were living in hunger. Tens of millions more will join them if we do not take the right actions, and quickly.

We’ve been asking our Recipes for Change chefs to tell us how they are adapting to life during the coronavirus pandemic – and to share a delicious recipe that can be made with basic cupboard ingredients.

The April morning sun beats down on Kontagora, a lively market town in central Nigeria. Generators hum as milling machines husk the brown bran from rice grains, revealing glistening white kernels. COVID-19 is on everybody’s mind. But the thriving Tudun Wada South Rice Processors women’s cooperative is open for business.

Past experience tells us that quick, tailored support is required to ensure that the impacts of our projects are protected from the effects of the COVID-19 crisis.

We begin this month’s programme with an update on IFAD's operations and on investing in food during the time of coronavirus.

After many years of sustained annual reductions in poverty and hunger across the Asia-Pacific region, the COVID-19 global pandemic is threatening a massive reversal of these gains and driving Asian countries into recession.

IFAD’s Recipes for Change chefs are adjusting to life in a world contending with COVID-19 – and as a part of that, they’re sharing some excellent recipes that you can make with ingredients you’ve already got in your home cupboard.

In a continuation of its efforts to help small-scale farmers and micro-, small and medium size rural enterprises in developing countries create jobs and increase incomes, IFAD announced today it will make an investment of US$9 million (€8.4 million) into the Agri-Business Capital (ABC) Fund, a blended capital impact fund.

On this day 50 years ago – the first Earth Day had just taken place – and a global movement was born.

With half of the planet’s population locked down, the global economy brought to a halt and the number of cases reaching into the millions, it is clear that the COVID-19 pandemic is the biggest crisis of our time.

The COVID-19 pandemic is far more than a health crisis: it is affecting societies and economies. IFPRI estimates, for example, that 140 million additional people could fall into extreme poverty this year as a result of the virus.

The tremendous progress in reducing poverty made by India over the past 25 years could now be reversed because of the unprecedented emergency facing all of us – the COVID-19 pandemic.

Along the coastline of Mozambique, fishing boats dot the clear blue waters. For the people on these boats, their daily excursions are their livelihood – in more ways than one.

This interactive map shows how our colleagues, beneficiaries, and partners have continued working, while taking steps to stay safe.

Actor, filmmaker and humanitarian Idris Elba and actress, model and activist Sabrina Dhowre Elba today launched a new global coronavirus relief fund on behalf of IFAD to prevent economic shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic from triggering a global hunger and food crisis.

With the COVID-19 pandemic and economic slowdown threatening the lives and livelihoods of the world’s most vulnerable people, IFAD today committed US$40 million, and launched an urgent appeal for additional funds, to support farmers and rural communities to continue growing and selling food.

Cambodia has made remarkable progress and achieved lower-middle-income status - but the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to strain the entire economy.

An IFAD team in Bangladesh provided a proposal to the Government for a certified safe transport and logistics system for movement of inputs and produce in rural areas.

Amidst the suffering and economic hardship caused by the COVID-19 emergency, one silver lining has emerged: an interruption to the greenhouse gas emissions and environmental degradation stemming from human activity.

The COVID-19 pandemic will reshape all our economic choices. Nations have made a crucial choice in recent weeks, choosing human life over economic growth.

Last month, we brought you the story of the Mukurwe-ini Technical Training Institute, a school in Kenya’s Nyeri county whose new roof water harvesting system was improving the lives of the students, staff and nearby residents. In recent days, with Kenya now affected by COVID-19, we reached out to Patrick Muchemi, principal of the Institute.

IFAD’s Recipes for Change chefs are carrying on with life under lockdown by sharing some excellent recipes that you can make with ingredients you’ve already got in your home cupboard. Senegalese Chef Pierre Thiam joins us from his home in New York State with a delicious recipe for vegan chilli.

It is easy to lose sight of the big picture when called upon to act quickly in response to the human tragedy caused by COVID-19.

By leveraging the tools that internet marketing companies have already honed to reach consumers, governments can deliver quality agronomy advice at scale.

An organization of artisan women, facing a slowdown in their work due to the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, has begun to make protective gear for local health care workers.

Malnutrition causes health problems and losses in economic productivity. Over the course of their lifetimes, malnourished individuals can earn 10 per cent less than those who are well-nourished.

To improve its contribution to the 2030 SDGs Agenda of eradicating poverty in all its forms and in line with the Leave No One Behind framework, IFAD has committed to improve its targeting performance.

Whenever crisis strikes, it is invariably the poor and the vulnerable who suffer most. In many cases, they are directly affected by crisis; in other cases, their lives are made harder by the economic consequences. Often it is both. We have seen this time and time again.

We’re coming to you ahead of schedule with an extra edition: an interview with IFAD’s President Gilbert Houngbo on how the novel coronavirus has impacted IFAD’s work.

What started as a health crisis could turn into a food crisis unless we take measures now. Preventing a food crisis is key to maintaining the strength to fight back.

As the world adjusts to life with COVID-19, we’re asking our Recipes for Change chefs to share some world-class recipes that you can make with ingredients you’ve already got in your home cupboard. Michelin-starred Chef Cristina Bowerman shares two simple and nutritious recipes involving chickpeas.

As countries prepare for the pandemic the mandate of a rural development organization may seem to some not particularly relevant to the current crisis.

It has been three weeks since COVID-19 has drastically altered the daily lives of IFAD staff headquartered in Rome and stationed around the world.

In IFAD's Podcast Episode 5, we’re focusing on indigenous peoples and the challenges they face when it comes to agriculture.

Each of the world’s agricultural production systems had millennia to adapt to local climatic conditions, especially in terms of temperature and rainfall.

In Kenya’s Nyeri county, sustainable water system technologies have substantially improved the lives of students, staff and surrounding communities and have opened up a brighter future for many.

The Government of Mali and IFAD held a workshop in Bamako on 5 March 2020 to prepare a new results-based country strategic opportunities programme (RB-COSOP) for the period 2020-2024.

Climate change is contributing to increasing temperatures and droughts in Nepal, where corn and tomatoes are a staple food.

Development approaches must address structural barriers and power imbalances for women and other marginalized groups to adapt to climate change.

They guide women through all the steps of caring for a child – from conception and pregnancy to birth and the critical first years of a child’s life. Although this description might call to mind doctors, nurses or specialised health workers, it also includes another category of care provider that must not be overlooked – mother counsellors.

It is becoming increasingly clear that the ways in which we produce, market and consume food need to be reconciled with environmental, economic and social sustainability.

The three United Nations' Rome-based agencies dedicated to food and agriculture called today for bolder action to achieve gender equality and empower women and girls in the agricultural sector and beyond.

Ahead of International Women’s Day on 8 March, IFAD has highlighted the role community organizations have played in empowering one million women to fully participate in economic, political and social life in the western Indian state of Maharashtra.

Djenalib Ba and Daba Diom are Persons with a Disability. Training received from IFAD-supported projects in rural areas of Senegal made them able to feed their families and send their children to school.

Rural women are key agents in the effort to achieve the economic, environmental and social transformations required for sustainable development. Ensuring their empowerment is crucial not only to their own well-being, but that of their families and communities.

El FIDA ha lanzado el Premio a la Innovación Juvenil Rural el cual busca impulsar y fortalecer las capacidades de los jóvenes rurales de América Latina y el Caribe y promover las oportunidades generadas por jóvenes que ya están cambiando el mundo rural en la región.

Vulnerability and fragility might not be perfect synonyms, but they share a very similar meaning. Both words refer to something breakable, delicate and frail – something that needs to be handled with care.

Two months have passed since the beginning of the new coronavirus outbreak in Hubei, China. It seems an appropriate time to reflect on the impact of COVID-19 on rural communities in China, and on the importance of investing in rural people in order to build long-term resilience to shocks.

President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China has expressed his thanks to IFAD, FAO and WFP in response to their pledge of support to his country as they face the COVID-19 outbreak.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) today announced support for a new project in Guinea-Bissau to reduce poverty, increase productivity and incomes, improve food and nutrition security and build the resilience of at least 287,000 small-scale farmers in the face of climate change.

We often think of elephants as gentle giants. Beloved by nature enthusiasts the world over, they are an iconic presence in the forests and grasslands of Africa and Asia. They are also a keystone species, indispensable for maintaining the biodiversity of the ecosystems in which they live.

Forty-seven-year-old Rwandan farmer Pierre Kanyarwanda is enthusiastic. For the last five months, he has brought additional money home by applying his newly acquired skills in sericulture (silkworm rearing).

Esther Wandia is an avocado convert. Two years ago, the single mother of four decided to set up a tree nursery on her farm in Makomboki, in a hilly area north of Nairobi known for its tea production.

The considerable gains made worldwide in poverty reduction over the last 10 years have been widely recognized. And indeed, in a year when China aspires to complete its 40-year project of lifting some 770 million people across the poverty line, it is clear that a greater proportion of the human population is wealthier today than at any other moment in history.

Agritech – the use of cutting-edge technological innovations in agriculture – is generating a lot of buzz these days. Entrepreneurs and start-ups all over the world are brimming with brilliant ideas for bringing big data, connectivity, and digital platforms into the field, and the results so far have been incredibly promising.

Increasing violence in the Sahel region is causing a rise in the number of internally displaced persons. Fleeing Boko Haram through the desert, there is an urgent need for shelter and basic resources, like water.

In IFAD's Podcast Episode 4, we gear up for International Women’s Day and look at how women are powering the farming future.

Once considered the world’s largest cacao exporter, Sao Tome and Principe had significantly scaled back its operations after gaining independence in 1975. But with IFAD's assistance, cacao – the key ingredient in chocolate, and a major cash crop – is making a comeback.

Although our world continues to urbanise at an alarming rate, there’s no getting away from the fact that agrarian activities will always be necessary.

This call for proposals is for a grant under the Global/Regional Grants Programme aimed at: Mainstream Fintech and Agritech Technologies into IFAD portfolio of country programmes.

IFAD today announced support for a new project to increase incomes, improve food and nutrition security and build the resilience of at least 34,800 rural farmers of Sao Tome and Principe, an island country highly affected by climate change.

Agriculture is the foundation of Bhutan’s economy, employing more than 70 per cent of the population. Bhutan has made huge progress overall in recent years in improving its people’s standards of living, though poverty rates remain high in the eastern part of the country.

I have always loved food - how it brings people together, the smells and flavours of new cultures. I guess I associate food most with gathering, communion.

Government and development leaders today made an urgent call for greater investment in rural development to address hunger and poverty caused by conflict and climate change.

International advocacy organization Global Citizen today announced a partnership with IFAD as part of Global Goal Live: The Possible Dream. Both organizations are calling on world leaders to help mobilize new investments in rural and agricultural development.

Heads of state, ministers, development leaders, and celebrities today called for greater investment in rural areas to accelerate progress to achieve a world free from poverty and hunger in the next 10 years.

Against a backdrop of an escalating security crisis where 4.3 million women, men and children are at risk of increased food insecurity and starvation in Mali, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, President of the Republic of Mali, launched an urgent call to the global community to combine efforts and show solidarity in order to eradicate hunger and poverty in the Sahel.

Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, President of the Republic of Mali will address journalists against a backdrop of a rapidly escalating crisis across the Sahel,immediately following the opening of the IFAD annual meeting of Member States on 11 February.

IFAD announced today support for a new project to reduce poverty and increase production and incomes for more than 88,000 rural small-scale fish farmers through aquaculture.

IFAD today announced support for a new programme to increase incomes, improve food and nutrition security and build the resilience of at least 902,500 rural Mozambican farmers, in one of the African countries most affected by climate change.

IFAD announced support for a new project that aims to reduce rural poverty in the region of Kairouan, one of the most disadvantaged in the country.

The Henley Forum has recognized IFAD with an award for Advancing Knowledge & Organizational Learning Practice during its 20th annual conference.

Gilbert F. Houngbo, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), will today call on its 177 Member States to help the Fund reach its goal of doubling its impact on the lives of the world’s most marginalized people by 2030 - with a proposed US$30 billion programme of work over the next 10 years.

Step into the real world of Mariamo Fermino Bilasse as she builds her business in Mozambique

Working together makes it easier for small-scale farmers to access resources and reach larger markets – and when farmers thrive, other players in the food system benefit too.

Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, President of the Republic of Mali will open the 43rd session of the annual Governing Council meeting of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

Women in Ethiopia and the world over play a huge and growing role in farming and food production.

La Oficina de Evaluación Independiente del FIDA y el Gobierno del Ecuador organizan un taller para presentar los resultados de una evaluación independiente de las operaciones del FIDA en el Ecuador en los últimos diez años (2009 a 2019), período en el que se ejecutaron cuatro proyectos en 16 provincias por un valor de más de USD 160 millones.