Country-level policy engagement

Effective policymaking that helps reduce rural poverty

Policies affect every dimension of the institutional and legal context in which poor rural people pursue their livelihoods, and so shape the economic opportunities that are open to them. 

Supportive policies can go a long way towards providing the conditions in which people can lift themselves out of poverty. 

For IFAD, country-level policy engagement is about collaborating, directly and indirectly, with partner governments and other country level stakeholders, to influence policy priorities or the design, implementation and assessment of formal policies that shape the opportunities for inclusive and sustainable rural transformation. 

We see policy engagement as critical to expanding IFAD’s development impact; ensuring sustainable project results; and enhancing our relevance in the growing number of countries where the government looks to us for knowledge, experience and lessons, as well as financial resources.

Our country-level policy activities help to strengthen the capacity both of national governments to develop, implement and assess the effectiveness of their policies, and of organizations of rural people to engage in policy dialogue with their governments. They help to create the space for policy dialogue between the different players. Above all, they draw upon successful models piloted under IFAD-supported projects and promote their adoption through national policies and programmes. 

IFAD also engages directly in policy processes, wherever possible working in the established fora of sector working groups. We engage throughout the policy cycle: when issues are being identified; when policies are being drafted and approved; when they are being implemented; and when they are being evaluated for impact and effectiveness. 

The country strategic opportunities programme (COSOP) and project design documents assess the policy and institutional aspects that affect the outcome of IFAD-supported projects and their impact on the poor and, wherever appropriate, they offer clear and realistic plans for supporting national policy processes. IFAD does not, however, utilize policy conditionality in any of our programmes of loans and grants.

Our team of policy experts help to design COSOPs, projects and grants to enable IFAD-supported projects to contribute more effectively to national policy processes. 

We also conduct policy engagement training for country programme managers and other operational staff, hold workshops to increase understanding, share experiences and lessons learned, and work to develop improved approaches for monitoring and measuring policy engagement and impact.