Knowledge

This How To Do Note provides a step-by-step guide on how to implement Household Methodologies (HHMs). It describes activities at the household level, different approaches for implementing HHMs, service providers and the facilitator system, and the role of the community and the wider environment. The main points to consider when incorporating HHMs in project design and implementation are noted.

​This HTDN is directed primarily at the design phase of IFAD value chain projects, though it does have some relevance for both pre-design and implementation phases.

Over the last decade, Ecuador’s poverty levels have fallen despite a period of recent political and economic crises. Nevertheless, in rural spheres, indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorian communities continue to face barriers to economic inclusion, ranging from lack of secure access to land and water resources to limited investment opportunities. The situation varies across regions and social groups. In the Amazon for instance, indigenous groups struggle to obtain clear titles for communal lands that are under increased pressure from oil exploration and production. In the highlands, peasant communities face shortages of land and increasing degradation due to agricultural intensification and unregulated expansion into the upper reaches of water basins (páramos). In the coastal regions, communities face growing encroachment on their lands by large landholdings, in addition to degradation of mangrove forests due to unsustainable exploitation.

The project interventions focus on water resources management through three
main components: i) capacity building, awareness raising and knowledge
management at the national level, ii) water harvesting and watershed
management, and iii) water conservation and efficient irrigation.

The project interventions focus on water resources management through three
main components: i) capacity building, awareness raising and knowledge
management at the national level, ii) water harvesting and watershed
management, and iii) water conservation and efficient irrigation.

Project activity has been classified into separate components, however they all come together to deliver the same overall objective. One component revolves around sustainable growth and capacity building. It will focus efforts on things such as improvements to infrastructure and hydro agriculture; developing wetlands and watershed areas.

The project work will be split into two components. The first will deal with Rural Livelihoods and the second with Market Linkages and Climate Resilient Infrastructure.
PRELNOR will enable smallholder farmers to improve their productivity to a level where there is enough surplus production that the farmer can sell at market.

The project objective is to strengthen sustainable forest management in the
project area and develop local capabilities, leading to the reduction of carbon
emissions from deforestation and the increase of carbon sequestration
through the financing of initiatives for the most vulnerable. Project operations
are focused in 25 municipalities, in which 83 per cent of the population are
indigenous peoples.

This How To Do Note is intended as a tool for IFAD staff and partners involved in investment projects with climate resilience objectives.

This report proceeds from the First African Conference on Remittances and Postal Networks held in Cape Town, South Africa 2015.

Since the 1990s, Colombia has experienced sustained, strong economic growth. However, it is one of the most unequal countries in the world. The gap between urban and rural areas is particularly wide. While the incidence of poverty is 27.8 per cent of the population at the national level, 40.3 per cent of rural people live in poverty. The percentage is even higher among indigenous peoples and communities of African descent. The agricultural sector represents 6.1 per cent of Colombia’s GDP and 16.3 per cent of employment. However, these figures could be even higher because the country has huge agricultural potential.

In August 2015, a grant agreement was signed between IFAD and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to “demonstrate that the goat subsector in India has a great potential to contribute to poverty alleviation and offers opportunities where donors can partner with private sector, public sector, and producers to effect large-scale productivity improvement in small ruminant value chains in Bihar, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh states”.

This Progress Review evaluates the status of IFAD’s Adaptation to Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP) at programme mid-term, 2.5 years after the first ASAP-investment has been approved by the IFAD Executive Board.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have joined forces to reduce the vulnerability of poor rural people to extreme weather events that can be devastating to agricultural productivity. With support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, IFAD and WFP are working to improve the access of poor rural people in developing countries to index-based weather insurance. This type of insurance can help them cope better when extreme weather hits, and can open the door to other financial services, in particular credit.

IFAD uses highly concessional loans in an innovative way in the Republic of Macedonia, the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Moldova. Low-cost refinancing capital makes rural investments attractive and profitable for formal financial institutions and reduces rural poverty by stimulating economic growth.

In the past seven years, IFAD has successfully used refinancing facilities in economies in transition to stimulate investments on farms and in rural processing companies. The facilities have refinanced projects for a total value of over US$50 million in the Republic of Moldova, the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Armenia, with an excellent recovery performance. Refinancing operations have proved to be a viable alternative to established modes of financing rural investments through lines of credit and microfinance. And they have encouraged financial institutions to expand their rural networks and start investing in agro-projects from their own funds. 

Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General

IFAD is unique in the very clear focus of its mandate, and this sharp focus that also gives IFAD great strength, your specialist knowledge of agriculture and rural development will be even more valuable in the years ahead. Speech to IFAD staff, Chief Executives Board for Coordination meeting, May 2014

Marisa Lago, Assistant Secretary for International Markets and Development, United States Department of Treasury

By taking an innovative, community-based approach to investing in smallholder farmers - the most vulnerable members in rural societies – IFAD is an important partner in the global fight against poverty and hunger. I’ve witnessed first-hand the positive impact of IFAD’s work in providing technical training, facilitating access to microfinance, and strengthening farmers’ organizations in countries ranging from Uruguay to Tanzania to Morocco. The United States was a founding member of IFAD and proudly remains a strong supporter.

Projections of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicate that, in the future, warming in Latin America could range from 1-4 degrees Celsius to 2-6 degrees Celsius, depending on the various climate scenarios. As land-use changes in Latin America have intensified the use of natural resources, land degradation and desertification have accelerated. The IPCC predicts that, by the 2050s, about 50 per cent of agricultural land in the region will be subject to desertification, and in some areas salinization. From the Amazon rainforest and the high mountains of the Andes to the coral reefs of the Caribbean and the coastal waters of the Gulf of Mexico, Latin America and the Caribbean is host to unique ecosystems and biodiversity of global importance. Despite the region’s relatively small contribution to global warming, its natural environments and resource-dependent economies are threatened by the impact of climate change, and poor and marginalized rural communities are at greatest risk. 

The average temperature in the Asia and Pacific region could rise by some 0.5 to 2 degrees Celsius by 2030 and between 1 and 7 degrees Celsius by 2070. Annual rainfall is also expected to increase in several parts of Asia while arid and semi-arid areas would become drier. The areas predicted to get more annual rainfall would nonetheless suffer decreased water availability as the rainfall would be concentrated during the rainy season in fewer incidences of highintensity rainfall – with massive run-off and floods expected to be the result. Rising sea levels will affect a significant number of countries in the region, with small atoll Pacific Island countries, Bangladesh, the Maldives and Viet Nam particularly hard hit. In the past 50 years, Viet Nam has experienced a 50-centimetre sea-level rise, as recorded in the Hon Dau station. It is expected that a 30-centimetre increase will be experienced in the Mekong Delta by 2050, and this increase, coupled with salinity intrusion, will lead to the loss of some 420,000 hectares of arable land. The projected sea-level rise is likely to result in significant losses of coastal ecosystems. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes with high confidence (about an 8 out of 10 chance of an event happening) that 1 million people along the coasts of South and South-East Asia will be at risk from flooding.

The Near East and North Africa region is one of the world's driest and most water-scarce regions. In many areas in the region, demand for water already outstrips supply. Although the region contributes relatively little to greenhouse gas emissions, it will be among those hardest hit by climate change. Climate experts predict that, in future, the climate will become hotter, drier and more variable. Over the next 15 to 20 years, average temperatures are estimated to rise by at least 2 degrees Celsius, and possibly up to 4 degrees Celsius. Higher temperatures and reduced precipitation will increase the occurrence of drought, as is already evident in the western part of North Africa. Densely populated low-lying coastal areas in Egypt, Kuwait, Libya, Qatar, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates are particularly at risk from rising sea levels and saltwater intrusion into agricultural land.

Agriculture plays a significant role in Africa, accounting for about 30 per cent of GDP south of the Sahara, as well as a significant proportion of export value. Not surprisingly, in most African countries, 60 per cent or more of employees work in agriculture.
Yet this barely scrapes the surface of Africa’s promise. Only 6 per cent of cultivated land is irrigated in Africa, compared with 37 per cent in Asia, for example. Africa also has the largest share of uncultivated land with rain-fed crop potential in the world. In addition, African farmers use substantially less fertilizer per hectare than counterparts in East Asia and the Pacific.