Meet IFAD’s new Disability Inclusion Champion as she works towards amplifying the voice and potential of persons with disabilities.

In Ethiopia, community driven development puts small-scale farmers in charge of identifying what they need to prosper and how development funding should be used.

In Sierra Leone, IFAD helps persons with disabilities overcome the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic through farming.

18 million persons with disabilities are expected to be displaced by climatic events by 2050, we must urgently include them in climate action—both as participants and decision makers.

In a remote village in wester Nepal, an IFAD-supported project is working to enhance the resilience of the most vulnerable members of the community, including women and people with disabilities.

Job opportunities in the agricultural sector can be very limited for people with disabilities. In rural China, therefore, initiatives dedicated to including people with disabilities in their local economies – including IFAD-supported projects – have been central to national efforts to eliminate extreme poverty.

Many persons with disabilities face barriers to accessing education, training and employment – and for women with disabilities, those barriers are even higher. Fortunately, there are a growing number of programmes designed to help rural-dwellers with disabilities find decent jobs and fully participate in their local societies.

Our vision of inclusive, sustainable, green, and resilient rural economies can’t be accomplished without the inclusion of persons with disabilities. We are committed to finding ways for persons with disabilities to participate fully in society and realize their potential as contributors to vibrant rural economies.

Determination and perseverance are what make an entrepreneur successful. That’s doubly true in a country like Syria, where ongoing conflict has disrupted people’s lives for the past decade.

One billion people – 15 per cent of the world’s population – currently have a disability, and 80 per cent of them live in developing countries. People with disabilities, despite being “the world’s largest minority,” are often overlooked.

Djenalib Ba and Daba Diom are Persons with a Disability. Training received from IFAD-supported projects in rural areas of Senegal made them able to feed their families and send their children to school.