Knowledge

The Fund’s ongoing change process aims to strengthen teamwork, management capabilities and accountability while ensuring alignment with its corporate strategy and objectives. In 2002 the Fund adjusted its structure to create a more focused and consolidated organization – one that delivers positive change in the context of the strategic framework. The Offices of the President and Vice-President were integrated so as to consistently function as a team. The Office of the Vice-President is charged with cross-departmental responsibilities, thus enabling this office to better assist the President on a wide range of business and management issues. This, in turn, has enabled the President to increase leadership and management capacity, which allows for greater flexibility in addressing key internal and external needs and, at the same time, provides greater scope for staff communication and interaction. Crossdepartmental responsibilities have also enabled the Vice-President to concentrate more on implementation and follow-up. In addition, a Finance and Administration Department has been created and consists of the Offices of the Controller, Treasurer and Human Resources, the Management Information Systems Division, and Administrative Services. The new External Affairs Department consolidates the main externally oriented functions – Communications Division, Office of the Secretary, Resource Mobilization, and Policy Division – into one department. Communications includes publications, web coordination and media. The Protocol function, which was previously under Administrative Services, has moved to the Office of the Secretary. The Programme Management Department remains unchanged. The chart below illustrates the new organizational structure.

Strengthening the capacity of the rural poor and their organizations is a central element in all projects approved in 2002 for the region. The Cameroon Community
Development Support Project, for example, will help develop the social capital of the rural poor in an area covering both the forest and Sahelian zones of the country.
This will be done through support to grass-roots organizations and local development institutions, promotion of functional literacy, and establishment of participatory
planning processes for local development, in which traditionally marginalized groups can have an effective voice. The Niger Project for the Promotion of
Local Initiative for Development in Aguié, which is a second-phase operation, seeks to consolidate innovative first phase accomplishments by further strengthening
consultation and decentralized decision-making processes between rural communities and public and private service providers.

Learn more about IFAD’s work to promote rural transformation in our 2002 Annual Report. Discover how our investments are empowering rural women and men, and review the facts and figures we share with our Member States and partners. You can also find out more about our advocacy work on behalf of rural communities worldwide.

This paper outlines the social and environmental reasons why the international development community should give higher priority to helping poor people,
especially those in areas that are biophysically marginal or socio-economically marginalized. Sustainable rural development depends on successfully addressing the
twin challenges of poverty and environmental degradation. There are 1.2 billion people living in extreme poverty, and of these, 900 million live in rural areas where they depend directly or indirectly on agriculture to survive. The paper gives a brief overview of rural development in the context of the Millennium Development Goals and AGENDA 21, which call for concerted action to address the problems of the rural poor and the limitations of their natural resource base.

IFAD is an international financial institution and a specialized United Nations agency dedicated to eradicating poverty and hunger in rural areas of developing countries.
Through low-interest loans and grants, it develops and finances programmes and projects that enable poor rural people to overcome poverty themselves.

IFAD’s collaboration with NGOs began shortly after the creation of the Fund, when it supported the Small Farmer Agricultural Credit Project in Bangladesh.

Learn more about IFAD’s work to promote rural transformation in our 2001 Annual Report. Discover how our investments are empowering rural women and men, and review the facts and figures we share with our Member States and partners. You can also find out more about our advocacy work on behalf of rural communities worldwide.

At its Twenty-Fourth Session in February 2001 the Governing Council approved a document entitled Partnerships for Eradicating Rural Poverty – Report of
the Consultation to Review the Adequacy of the Resources Available to IFAD 2000-2002. The document contains a plan of action for improvement of the
Fund’s operations with respect to project portfolio performance and impact assessment, knowledge management, policy and institutional environment and strategic
partnerships.