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IFAD and the Youcheng Foundation for Poverty Alleviation signed a letter of intent today, outlining their collaboration and joint commitment to promote rural revitalization.

IFAD, the Government of Argentina and FONPLATA Development Bank have launched a new rural development project to help smallholder farmers transition to more resilient agroecology-based production while also taking advantage of digital technologies to improve their livelihoods and income.

A stew made with sustainable ingredients is comfort food at its best: good for you and good for the planet. This stew, presented by Chef Pierre Thiam, is inspired by ingredients from his childhood in Senegal. It features black-eyed peas (also known as cow peas), a central cultural element of West African cuisines.

IFAD today issued its first sustainable development bond with Folksam, a leading insurance and pension fund in Sweden investing in a US$100 million bond.

IFAD today officially opened its East and Southern Africa regional office to help the institution meet its goal of reducing hunger and poverty.

Brazil’s north-eastern semi-arid region, known as sertão, is a land rich in culture and enchanting landscapes, but the harsh climate and lack of water make it difficult to earn a living here. However, over recent decades, modern ingenuity has combined with traditional mutual aid systems to help communities make the most of the region’s natural resources.

For Chef Bowerman, this recipe is all about buying locally and working with the local ecosystem. It features anchovies – a favourite in her native Italy, and widely available all over the world – blended with rich, hearty pasta and potato.

“Anfitriones para la Paz” es una de las iniciativas puesta en marcha por el proyecto Puentes/Rural for Young People, que crea empleo y oportunidades económicas para casi 5.000 jóvenes de entre 16 y 35 años de las zonas rurales y peri-urbanas de Bolivia, Colombia y Honduras.

IFAD and the Government of India signed a US$ 105 million financing agreement last week for a project in the northern state of Uttarakhand that aims to double rural incomes, reaching over half a million families across the state. It will do this by supporting smallholder farmers, agricultural labourers, and micro and small agribusinesses to start and expand competitive businesses and focus on food production that is climate-resilient.

Conventional wisdom has long held that giving grants to small-scale farmers produces temporary gains at best. But recently, our research into a grants-based intervention employed by PRICE, an IFAD-funded initiative in Rwanda, found benefits that have lasted for five years and counting.

Boosting investments to help small-scale farmers adapt to the impacts of the climate crisis is more urgent than ever, warned IFAD at the United Nations Conference Stockholm+50.

In June 1972, members of the United Nations gathered in Stockholm for the first-ever conference on protecting the environment. Fifty years later, global leaders are returning to where it all began to decide where we go from here.

Journalist and documentary maker Qasa Alom recently visited Bangladesh with IFAD. He reflects on how climate change is affecting its people and what IFAD is doing to support them.

On Moldova’s border with Ukraine, the resilience of rural farmers is being put to the test due to the spill over effects from the war.

This month's episode focuses on the use of insects to feed the world – both as food for humans and feed for livestock.

IFAD and the Government of the Dominican Republic signed a financing agreement yesterday that will support the implementation of the Productive Inclusion and Resilience of Poor Rural Youth Project (PRORURAL Joven). This rural development operation aims to improve opportunities for rural youth to access jobs and establish businesses, and to build resilience among them and their families to climate, social and economic shocks and stresses.

These days, it feels like the vulnerability of the world’s food systems is on full display. As I watch the current situation unfold, I’ve been reflecting on the need for multilateralism and donor coordination to help the world overcome this emergency.

We sat down with Chef Joseph Yoon to learn more about edible insects: their health benefits, their potential as a method for fighting climate change, and even – for those who are tempted – how to start incorporating them into your cooking.

Biodiversity is the key to all the essential benefits we get from nature: from clean air to our ability to regulate the climate. At IFAD, we integrate protecting biodiversity into everything we do.

Reehana Rifat Raza, the Regional Director of the Asia and Pacific Division at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), was on mission to Bangladesh this week - her first official visit to the region since she took up appointment on 9 May 2022.

Healthy ecosystems are diverse ecosystems. And at IFAD, we believe that small-scale farmers are amongst the greatest stewards and beneficiaries of biodiversity.

International Financial Institutions (IFIs) play a crucial role in responding to shocks at scale. They contribute financing, technical assistance, knowledge, and engage with policymakers to address rising food insecurity. Recognizing the essential role of IFIs in times of crises, the U.S. Department of the Treasury has released an IFI Action Plan to Address Food Insecurity.

The 2020 ILO-UNICEF Global Estimates of Child Labour reported that progress towards reducing child labour had stalled for the first time in 20 years.

Sub-Saharan Africa’s drylands – that is, the areas where more water is lost through evaporation than gained through rainfall – are facing widespread degradation. There are many factors causing this, but one of the most prominent is the use of agricultural practices that aren’t adapted to the land, such as overgrazing and intensive agriculture.

IFAD and the Government of the State of Maranhão signed a financing agreement today for the implementation of the Amazon Sustainable Management Project (PAGES). Implemented in Brazil’s state with the highest poverty and food insecurity rates, the project will address the entrenched environmental degradation of the Amazonian forest.

As the war in Ukraine pushes food, fuel and fertilizer prices toward record levels putting food security in many of the world’s poorest countries at risk, IFAD today launched a Crisis Response Initiative to ensure that small-scale farmers in high-risk countries can produce food over the next few months to feed their families and communities while reducing the threat to future harvests.

The Great Green Wall was envisioned as a line of trees stretching across Africa to protect against desertification. Today, it is a mosaic of farms, forests, and wilderness, where sustainable agriculture is the norm and rural-dwellers thrive.

Don Lolo has been growing coffee on the slopes of El Playón in Honduras for over fifty years. Now, thanks to support from IFAD’s Rural Poor Stimulus Facility, he's using an online banking app to apply for loans, manage savings, and reach new buyers.

With land degradation gaining ground and affecting up to 40% of lands on Earth, IFAD today called for a significant increase in investments to help small-scale farmers protect and restore lands and ecosystems, build their resilience to climate change, and ensure long-term global food security.

International model, actress and Goodwill Ambassador for the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Sabrina Elba, arrives in Kenya today on an official visit.

From California to the Sahel, from the steppes of Central Asia to the Andes, drylands are some of the most productive ecosystems in the world. But they’re also some of the most fragile.

When Fatima-Zohra first arrived in her new home, a rural village in the Moroccan highlands, she discovered the local women didn’t have many job opportunities. But they were enthusiastic about the idea of going into business for themselves – and so Fatima-Zohra got to work.

The Vice President of IFAD, Dominik Ziller, will meet with Edouard Ngirente, Prime Minister of the Republic of Rwanda, as well as other high-level government officials during a visit starting 9 May.

As the risk of global food security rises due to the war in Ukraine, IFAD will launch its Crisis Response Initiative (CRI) at a press conference in Nairobi.

The war in Ukraine is testing the resilience of the people of Moldova, including its small-scale farmers. Our support is essential for helping them respond to the crisis – but opportunities to help are slipping through our fingers.

We know a thing or two about connecting youth with the financial services they need to start a business – but there’s always more to learn. Here, we reflect on some of our “lessons learned” as part of a recent grant programme in East Africa.

In many countries, we have the opportunity to partner with public policies and programmes to deliver the services our project participants need. Although effective inter-institutional coordination is never simple, it is doable – and entirely worth the effort.    

At the heart of this year’s session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues is “free, prior and informed consent.” Quite a mouthful! But what does it really mean? And why does it matter?

We used GIS to assess the impact of IFAD-supported projects on the likelihood of conflict in fragile contexts. Our results suggest that the presence of IFAD interventions may prevent conflicts from arising and reduce the overall number of conflicts.    

This episode is all about closing the social justice gap in rural communities and developing countries.

Learn more about food sovereignty and what it means for indigenous peoples with Dr Elifuraha Laltaika, a professor of law and expert on indigenous peoples’ rights.

Over the millennia, indigenous peoples have developed practices that honour the interconnectedness of people and nature – yet all too often, their contributions are overlooked and devalued. IFAD is committed to supporting indigenous peoples in overcoming poverty and meeting global challenges through building on their identities and cultures.

There is much interest in promoting workplace diversity recently. Not only is this long overdue, but it also makes financial sense.

Le FIDA et le Gouvernement de la République du Sénégal ont procédé aujourd’hui à la signature d’un accord de financement visant à améliorer la productivité et l'accès au marché des chaînes de valeur des produits de base prioritaires et de l'élevage, dans le bassin arachidier et les zones agropastorales du Sénégal.

IFAD and the Government of Mexico have signed a financial agreement today that will support the implementation of a project aimed to fight rural poverty by reducing small-scale farmers’ vulnerability to climate change in one of the Mexican regions most affected by this phenomenon.

Just as the shadow of COVID-19 was lifting from many parts of the world, new crises have arisen – and they’re a particularly difficult challenge for poor rural people in developing countries.

All too often, small family farms operate in isolation. By themselves, they often lack the resources and skills they need to thrive. IFAD is now bringing small-scale farmers and other stakeholders into clusters to work together for their common interests. We caught up with one of our technical specialists to learn more.

IFAD and the Government of Haiti signed a financing agreement today for the implementation of the Inclusive Blue Economy Project (I-BE). The project will help preserve the Three Bay Protected Area by providing economic opportunities to smallholder famers and artisanal fishermen living in the country’s north-eastern region.

Carlo Cracco, one of Italy’s most famous chefs, is helping IFAD promote jackfruit as a way to adapt to climate change in rural Sri Lanka.

The IFAD-funded Rural Adelante Project in El Salvador helps rural youth stay in their communities and make a living from agriculture, instead of migrating to cities or abroad.