Knowledge

Learn about IFAD's work, investments and results in our 2015 Annual Report. Read stories about the rural women and men we empower, and get the facts and figures we share regularly with our Member States and partners. You can also learn more about our advocacy efforts to keep the needs of rural communities at the top of the international development agenda.

In recent years, forced displacement has become a global problem of unprecedented scale, driven by conflict, violence, persecution and human rights violations. While the total number of displaced people reached an all-time high of nearly 60 million people in 2015, global attention has focused on the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region, where continued conflict and violence most acutely affect Iraq, Syria, Yemen and neighbouring countries. The total population of concern in the region is estimated at around 22 million people. According to the Stockholm Declaration, “At the root of conflict and fragility lie injustice, human rights violations, inequality, exclusion, poverty, poor management of natural resources and the absence of inclusive political settlements and capable institutions.” Therefore, people in crisis need not only relief and emergency services; people, communities and countries in crisis also need development strategies that solve underlying problems over the long term.

IFAD’s strategic vision of inclusive and sustainable rural transformation is central to its support of national processes of economic growth and structural transformation in Least Developed Countries (LDCs). This document reviews IFAD’s support to LDCs and to the implementation of the Istanbul Programme of Action, adopted in 2011 in order to enable LDCs to meet the criteria for graduation out of this category by 2020.

This paper investigates how household agricultural involvement affects food consumption and dietary diversity in rural Malawi. It analyses the relationship between on-farm income shares and the caloric consumption levels and shares across food groups. It finds that while food consumption and dietary diversity increase with agricultural involvement, the quality of diets does not improve. It highlights the importance of income diversification to dietary diversity and the need for investments in nutrition-sensitive agricultural value chains, nutrition education and crop diversification programmes. 

IFAD-funded operations in Paraguay focus on empowering smallholder farmers and indigenous families by creating and strengthening rural organizations - in terms of governance, organizational administration and service capacity - to provide members with the tools they need to manage their own development.

IFAD, paying special attention to the needs of disadvantaged groups such as women, youth and indigenous peoples, focuses on strengthening the capacities of rural organizations to assist smallholder farmers in developing profitable rural businesses and tools and strategies to help cope with the challenges posed by climate change.

To achieve this goal, IFAD, in partnership with the Government of Bolivia, designs programmes to develop the technical and business skills of rural organizations, introducing technological innovations to add value to agricultural products by improving their quality and helping smallholder producers to be more competitive.
Furthermore, IFAD-funded operations facilitate the development of public-private joint ventures that help smallholder producers to gain access to markets and value chains.

Strengthening Climate Resilience of the National Agricultural Land and Water Management Development Project (CHOSSO) – National Agricultural Land and Water Management Development Project (NEMA)

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is an international financial institution and a specialized United Nations agency dedicated to eradicating poverty and hunger in rural areas of developing countries. IFAD provides low-interest loans and grants to developing countries to finance innovative agricultural and rural development programmes and projects.

IFAD was established in 1977 as one of the major outcomes of the 1974 World Food Conference. World leaders agreed that “an International Fund for Agricultural Development should be established immediately to finance agricultural development projects…”. The conference was organized in the wake of the great droughts and famines that struck many parts of Africa in the early 1970s. IFAD is now among the top multilateral institutions working in agriculture in Africa.

Remittances are the traditional means of financial support to family members back home.  This infographic illustrates the global flow of remittances.

This brochure describes the operations of the African Postal Financial Services Initiative, highlighting the unique position of postal networks for extending access to cashless payments and securing affordable financial services in rural areas.

It’s a well-worn cliché that women’s work is never done. But in many parts of the world, it’s still undeniably true.

Labour-saving technologies and practices promote inclusive development by reducing the domestic workload and freeing up time to perform productive tasks, to participate in decision-making processes and development opportunities, and to enjoy more leisure time.

There is a recognized need in the water sector for more accurate data on access to water in terms of the distance travelled and the time needed to collect water to meet all household needs, and who or what combination of people are involved in water collection.

This How To Do Note looks at the opportunities provided by labour-saving technologies and practices for rural women in the domestic sphere. The purpose is to inform IFAD country programme managers, project teams and partners of proven labour-saving methods available to reduce the domestic workload and how they can best be selected and implemented – to help promote equitable workloads between men and women and contribute to poverty eradication.

The programme will focus on the development of the sugarcane industry

in Bagamoyo, while also building the local populations resilience to climate change.
 

The project consists of two main components. The first aims to promote effective climate change resilient production systems, while the second supports access to
markets and other economic opportunities.

Higher temperatures, wildlife extinction, rising sea levels, droughts, floods, heat-related diseases and economic losses are among the consequences of climate change. Climate change disproportionally affects the poorest and most marginalized communities living in vulnerable regions, among them indigenous peoples, whose livelihoods depend on natural resources. 

Territorial approaches can enable governments to better address geographical or rural-urban inequalities to more effectively integrate the social, economic and environmental dimensions of development with regard to populations and sectors in a given geographical area.
They can help coordinate and concentrate efforts to address the spatial concentration of poverty and food insecurity in some less developed areas, reflecting vast spatial inequalities.

There are three major poverty divides in Ghana: rural-urban, northsouth, and between women and men. To meet these challenges, IFAD, the African Development Bank and the Government of Ghana are investing in rural northern Ghana to create viable economic opportunities – particularly for women – while improving market linkages with the south and neighbouring countries. The Northern Rural Growth Programme (NRGP) is spurring agricultural and rural growth and poverty reduction with innovative approaches like District Value Chain Committees (DVCCs). IFAD-supported NRGP worked in partnership, for example, with the Association of Church Based Development (ACDEP), a local NGO in northern Ghana to establish the DVCCs. Today, DVCCs are responsible for the effective planning, implementation, coordination and monitoring of activities in the maize, soya and sorghum value chains. The committees include buyers, input providers (seeds and fertilizers), service providers (extension and tractor services), financial institutions like rural banks, and farmer-based organizations (FBOs). 

When the seasonal rains came to some regions of south-eastern Senegal, the flooding used to cut off the inhabitants from the rest of the country. But that has changed with the IFAD-supported project known as PADAER – Projet d’Appui au Développement Agricole et à l’Entreprenariat Rural. Thanks to the projects’ work on rebuilding roads, rural people have new possibilities to make a living, they can access health services and education, and bring their products to markets.

A new lifeline; a new way of life.

For poor rural people, lack of infrastructure often translates into lack of options and alternatives. The project is changing that.