Partnering with civil society
Working with civil society organizations and NGOs is key to IFAD’s work to reduce global poverty.
We partner with NGOs in a number of ways. At the local level, projects and programmes supported by IFAD often leverage the experience of NGOs and their local knowledge for project implementation. Local NGOs are often able to reach segments of rural populations that government agencies neglect or do not target as a priority.
IFAD also supports NGOs on regional and global advocacy and research initiatives and aims to provide civil society partners with a platform to advocate for poor rural people.
Some examples of IFAD's partnerships with NGOs include working with:
- Making Cents International to promote youth wage and self-employment.
- NGO Welthungerhilfe (Agro Action Allemande) and the World Food Programme to rehabilitate watersheds in Haiti that have been harmed by deforestation and erosion.
- InterAction, an alliance of more than 200 NGO member organizations, to develop food security aid maps and tools.
- OXFAM-Novib to strengthen the rights of indigenous peoples and smallholder farmers in Peru, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.
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Farmer Agricultural Credit Project in Bangladesh.
In 1976, an NGO, led by Professor Mohammed Yunus of Chattagong University, started an innovative
approach to credit delivery to the rural poor, especially to women and the landless, in a single village. The formation
and training of small groups through which loans were provided was a central feature of the initiative.
Mobile credit officers brought the service to the villagers, and effective supervision of loan recoveries ensured
repayment rates of close to 98%.