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The pandemic pushed up to 80 million people in Asia into extreme poverty. Governments across the region had to respond quickly as incomes fell and food security was threatened. IFAD worked with them to ensure vulnerable rural people got the support they needed.

When a massive tsunami devastated low-lying coastal areas in Tonga, local people had to rebuild their lives from scratch. For many, home gardens provided much needed fresh produce, as well as renewed hope for the future.

COVID-19 presented new challenges for poor rural farmers in Pakistan. An IFAD-supported project shared personalized advice to farmers via their mobile phones to help overcome the challenges of the pandemic.

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.

Two years ago, COVID-19 closures forced us all apart – but the creative use of technology helped keep us together. Today, with tech giants promising to take all of us into the metaverse, IFAD is exploring how cutting-edge technology can help us see the world through each other’s eyes.

Back in early 2020, when the first waves of COVID-19 were spreading around the world, IFAD launched the RPSF as a multi-donor initiative to sustain rural people around the world during the pandemic. With the RPSF’s help, many were able to start small businesses – and today, those businesses are sustaining local economies and building resilience.

COVID-19 lockdowns meant Juana could no longer go to her job in rural Guatemala. But thanks to a loan from her local rural savings bank and IFAD’s Rural Poor Stimulus Facility, Juana started her own business at home.

IFAD launched the Innovatech project today, which aims to develop agricultural (AgriTech) and financial (FinTech) digital solutions to facilitate small famers’ access to markets and to financial and non-financial services in Bolivia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras and Mexico.

A US$ 1.07 million grant agreement between IFAD and the Government of the Federal Republic of Somalia will finance the Resilience Livelihood Action to COVID-19 project (RLAC-19)—a move to strengthen the ability of poor rural people to cope with the effects of the COVID pandemic and threats to their livelihoods.

This year’s COVID-19 lockdowns cut off Djibouti’s fishing community from their markets. But with no way to store fish in the searing heat, many fishers were forced to throw their catch away. Now, thanks to some solar-powered fridges, they’re back on their feet and trading with new customers.