IFAD substantially strengthens its investments in Somalia to help small-scale producers cope with climate shocks and food insecurity

As Somalia continues to experience a historic drought, pushing millions of Somalians into acute food insecurity, Alvaro Lario, President IFAD announced today during IFAD’s 46th session of the Governing Council that it will substantially strengthen its support to Somalia and resume its direct investments after loan arrears resulted in a three-decade long suspension.

Climate-smart agriculture: A synthesis of experiences and lessons from the NEN region

This publication describes Climate-smart agriculture case studies in Egypt, Georgia, Moldova and Somalia.

East Africa is experiencing its worst drought in decades. It’s time to invest in climate adaptation

East Africa is experiencing one of the worst droughts in decades, with millions facing food insecurity as crops fail, livestock die and water sources dry up. Read how IFAD is building resilience to climate change and what else needs to be done.

How the war in Ukraine is affecting the most vulnerable countries in the world

Five Country Directors from IFAD’s highest priority countries in its Crisis Response Initiative tell us how the war in Ukraine is impacting rural people on the ground.

IFAD to provide additional support to mitigate COVID-19 impact in Somalia

A US$ 1.07 million grant agreement between IFAD and the Government of the Federal Republic of Somalia will finance the Resilience Livelihood Action to COVID-19 project (RLAC-19)—a move to strengthen the ability of poor rural people to cope with the effects of the COVID pandemic and threats to their livelihoods.

A holiday gift with impact: crowdfunding solar-powered water access in Africa

This holiday season, some of the world’s poorest families in Somalia and Malawi look set to access water through innovative solar energy products financed through a crowdfunding project set up by IFAD.

Rome-based Agencies Resilience Initiative: Strengthening the resilience of livelihoods in protracted crises in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Niger and Somalia

Canada is partnering with the United Nations Rome-based agencies (RBAs) – the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP) – to further test in the field their joint Conceptual framework for strengthening resilience for food security and nutrition.

New Techniques Help Locate Groundwater

In Somalia, much-needed sources of underground water were identified by using advanced geophysical surveys in those same areas where previous trial-and-error drilling had delivered no results.

Investing in rural people in Somalia

Somalia’s poverty and food security situation remains critical after years of conflict and natural disasters. Since the 1980s, IFAD has supported nine programmes in the country for a total of US$140 million. There is currently no country strategic opportunities programme for Somalia. However, the strategic objectives of IFAD interventions in Somalia can be summarized as follows: • Increase incomes and food security by supporting agriculture and related activities, improving access to water, sanitation and health care, strengthening the natural resource base and building rural financial services; • Identify and promote pro-poor investment mechanisms in rural areas for dissemination, replication and scaling up; and • Build the capacity of the diaspora and promote the transformation of people in the diaspora into agents of development through remittances – the portion of their earnings that migrants outside the country send home.

IFAD and the League of Arab States

Poverty poses a constant threat to economic growth, trade reform, private sector development, knowledge, governance and gender equality. Poverty among the 22 members of the League of Arab States (LAS) is primarily a rural phenomenon. A quarter of the region’s population, or about 80 million people, live below national poverty lines. Between 60 and 70 percent of these poor people live in rural areas. One of the most pressing challenges in the region is the high rate of unemployment, particularly among young people. Official unemployment rates average 13 per cent, and in some countries the jobless rate among young people is twice as high.