Innovation Strategy

​As a result of IFAD’s Action Plan for Improving its Development Effectiveness, the Fund’s core processes now devote explicit attention to innovation. The IFAD Innovation Strategy does not set new objectives for staff, but rather defines what is needed to create an innovation-friendly environment and to support staff in achieving the expected results. There is no universally binding definition of innovation. Each organization must reach a definition that has the greatest operational value from its perspective. In the case of IFAD, the operational framework of the Initiative for Mainstreaming Innovation defines innovation as “a process that adds value or solves a problem in new ways”. This strategy retains this definition, and it further specifies that in order to qualify as an innovation, a product, idea, or approach needs to be new to its context, useful and cost-effective in relation to a goal, and able to “stick” after pilot testing.