Knowledge

In addition to caring for their families, women across the developing world spend considerable proportions of their time and energy using and preserving land for the production of food and fuel and to generate income for their families and communities.

These activities include crop production, growing fruits and vegetables, raising small livestock, tending trees, processing products for food and markets, and managing and collecting water and fuel. Women are usually responsible for the plots in which food crops are grown, while men are responsible for the plots on which cash crops are grown. The latter account for a major part of the threat of soil nutrient depletion and desertification.

The Investigation Section of the Office of Audit and Oversight (OA/IS) has a mandate to investigate alleged irregular practices, namely (i) fraud and corruption, in relation to entities, contractors and non-staff individuals applying for or participating in an IFAD-financed project or headquartersrelated contract; and (ii) staff misconduct, pursuant to the adoption by the Executive Board in December 2005 of the IFAD Policy on Preventing Fraud and Corruption in its Activities and Operations (EB 2005/85/R.5/Rev.1). Implementation of this policy, along with the establishment of a Sanctions Committee, has aligned IFAD with best practices in this area of other United Nations agencies and the main multilateral financial institutions.

Twenty-seven new allegations were received in 2009, compared with 30 in 2008. Fifty-nine per cent were external, mostly involving bidding irregularities and procurement-related fraud. Emphasis has been placed on promoting awareness of the anticorruption policy at every stage of the project cycle, thus putting the anticorruption message in the foreground. 

 Since 1982, IFAD has supported seven projects in Syria with loans totalling US$126.2 million for projects with a total value of US$474 million. The organization has also provided a number of grants, including technical assistance grants to support women’s empowerment.

IFAD works in partnership with the government, other donors, NGOs, local institutions and civil society organizations. It finances initiatives which enable poor rural people in Syria’s agricultural settlement areas to improve their incomes and living conditions.

IFAD is working towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals and its interventions endeavour to reduce poverty and promote gender equality and environmental sustainability.

​This report is based on the results of a study commissioned by IFAD and carried out by Manuel Orozco of the Inter-American Dialogue. 

Factsheet illustrating how IFAD is exploring more innovative ways of working with remittances.

The project will reverse the decline in productivity of Eritrea’s soil resources;
restore vegetative cover and habitat diversity in areas of degraded rangelands,
forests and woodlands; and increase biodiversity within crop, livestock and
forest production landscapes.

The GEF-funded Agricultural and Rural Rehabilitation and Development
Initiative, which will complement the ongoing IFAD-financed Agricultural and
Rural Rehabilitation and Development Initiative Project (ARRDI), will similarly
focus on southern Niger’s Maradi region – home to 20 per cent of the nation’s
population – targeting poor and extremely poor communities vulnerable to
environmental risk, with special emphasis on women and youth.

Ethiopia is one of the world’s poorest countries, with an annual per capita income of only US$174. Nearly half of the population lives under the poverty line, and more than 12 million people are
chronically or periodically food insecure. Agriculture generates approximately 50 per cent of the GDP and 90 per cent of export earnings. Despite its importance, agricultural performance has improved little over the past 50 years and food security has deteriorated. Low agricultural productivity and chronic food insecurity are direct results of the ongoing degradation of natural resources in the
Ethiopian highlands.

This Decision Tools document is  the final outcome of five years of studies, debates and workshop discussions. These Tools will prove useful to Governments, development practitioners and field technical staff that are financing, designing or implementing CDD projects for rural poverty reduction.

Recent price volatility on international markets is putting pressure on global food security. For the 2 billion people who live and work on small farms in developing countries, life has become more precarious. But with the right investments, policies and development programmes in place, smallholder farmers have a huge potential to increase food production, improving their lives and contributing to greater food security for all.