The United Kingdom and IFAD are working closely together to meet Sustainable Development Goals 1 and 2: ending poverty and hunger by 2030. They have made a special commitment to boost inclusive and sustainable economic paths and create jobs in the poorest rural areas of the world, especially in Africa, where 10 to 12 million young people enter the labour market every year.

A founding member of IFAD and a reliable top donor, the United Kingdom has played a leadership role in the Fund since it was established in 1977. The United Kingdom provides strategic guidance to enable IFAD to establish itself as the primary global fund for food security and agricultural development, and as a specialized agency of the United Nations and an international financial institution that is efficient, effective, transparent, results-focused and innovative.

Close collaboration between the Department for International Development and IFAD in 2003 led to the establishment of IFAD’s Initiative for Mainstreaming Innovation (IMI): the United Kingdom made a complementary contribution of US$12 million to IFAD6 (2004-2006) to support IFAD’s drive to become innovative and flexible.

The United Kingdom’s contributions to IFAD’s Replenishments have grown steadily.

They reached peak height in IFAD9 (2013-2015) when the United Kingdom complemented its core contribution of US$82.9 million with a contribution of US$239.1 million to the Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP), IFAD’s flagship programme to strengthen environmental sustainability and climate resilience in agricultural investment programmes.

The United Kingdom’s core contribution then rose to US$95.3 million in IFAD10 (2016-2018). This confirmed its strong support for the Fund’s value-for-money (VfM) approach, and for the theory of change that aims to mainstream climate, gender and nutrition across the whole portfolio in order to have a stronger impact on the 2030 Agenda.