Knowledge

Famine, conflict, forced migration, poverty, hunger, inequality, drought, climate change.

To solve the greatest problems facing humanity, we must start at the bottom: with the underlying causes that are most difficult to alter, and with the most disadvantaged people who are most at risk and hardest to reach. These are the women and men who grow food, yet go hungry themselves: the small family farmers, traders, labourers, fishers, hunters and gatherers who are too often on the sidelines of modern value chains.

For four decades, only one organization has specialized in reaching these people. IFAD is that organization. A UN agency and an international financial institution – and the only such organization dedicated exclusively to rural areas. A people-centred organization that fights poverty and hunger hand-in-hand with families and communities. A fund that comes not just with advice and recommendations,