Stories

Simon Chottu works hard and plays hard. An events manager by trade, he’s spent the last few years hosting hip-hop parties and organizing music events and competitions across the South Pacific. 

In times of crisis, rural women are the key that holds families and rural communities together – and in times like these, they need our support more than ever.

On a dusty side street in Auki, a seaside market town on the island of Malaita, Arania Enterprises is bustling.

Life in the countryside isn’t always easy – especially for rural women, whose contributions and successes have only recently begun to receive the attention they deserve.

Along Indonesia’s coastal communities, many small-scale fishers struggle to make a living. Indonesia is the world’s third largest producer of fish, but many of these communities have historically lacked access to the technology and resources they needed to preserve their catch until it reaches the markets, which are usually far from their rural coastal inlets.

The restrictions put in place to contain the spread of COVID-19 in Pakistan were designed to keep the population safe and healthy, but have spelled severe losses for many rural businesses.

Ranjana Chaudhary’s story sounds like the stories of many thousands, if not millions, of young people in Nepal.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many people to re-examine everything: their priorities, their jobs, even their roles in society.

For all the chaos they bring, crises also have a way of giving birth to unexpected opportunities. One way they do this is by urging people to develop new tools to help them resist disaster. 

At first, when Nguyen Thi Bich decided to try her hand at highland chicken farming, she didn’t quite know what to expect.

Until COVID-19 hit in March, the G-Star Youth Group’s banana processing factory was buzzing with activity.

Fatima Amaguar came home from university with an idea. 

It is something of a paradox that, while there is broad agreement that micro-, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are an integral part of the economy in developing countries, they remain underserved.

Despite the lush greenery that surrounds Ngarpongtang village in Thangrong, Bhutan, until recently, it was impossible to grow vegetables there. “I used to have to go to other villages to exchange pinewood for vegetables,” says Wangdi, a 54-year-old farmer. “We couldn’t get vegetables to grow here.”

In rural Pakistan, women are important partners in agricultural development. They perform a variety of crucial tasks, including weeding and tilling land, planting seeds, collecting farmyard manure and harvesting. They are also responsible for cleaning, drying and storing grains.

In north-eastern Brazil, as in so many other places, rural women's work is often invisible. But a revolution is taking place – and IFAD is a part of it.

The COVID-19 outbreak has disrupted agricultural and food systems around the world, along with the livelihoods and food security of the poorest rural communities – precisely the groups of people whom IFAD concentrates its efforts on. 

The story of the Afro-Colombian community has always been one of resilience. Historically, this group has faced the country’s highest rates of poverty and food insecurity, and has lacked access to many basic services.

We’ve been asking our Recipes for Change chefs to tell us how they are adapting to life during the coronavirus pandemic – and to share a delicious recipe that can be made with basic cupboard ingredients.

The April morning sun beats down on Kontagora, a lively market town in central Nigeria. Generators hum as milling machines husk the brown bran from rice grains, revealing glistening white kernels. COVID-19 is on everybody’s mind. But the thriving Tudun Wada South Rice Processors women’s cooperative is open for business.

IFAD’s Recipes for Change chefs are carrying on with life under lockdown by sharing some excellent recipes that you can make with ingredients you’ve already got in your home cupboard. Senegalese Chef Pierre Thiam joins us from his home in New York State with a delicious recipe for vegan chilli.

As the world adjusts to life with COVID-19, we’re asking our Recipes for Change chefs to share some world-class recipes that you can make with ingredients you’ve already got in your home cupboard. Michelin-starred Chef Cristina Bowerman shares two simple and nutritious recipes involving chickpeas.

In Kenya’s Nyeri county, sustainable water system technologies have substantially improved the lives of students, staff and surrounding communities and have opened up a brighter future for many.

Development approaches must address structural barriers and power imbalances for women and other marginalized groups to adapt to climate change. 

We often think of elephants as gentle giants. Beloved by nature enthusiasts the world over, they are an iconic presence in the forests and grasslands of Africa and Asia. They are also a keystone species, indispensable for maintaining the biodiversity of the ecosystems in which they live.

Esther Wandia is an avocado convert. Two years ago, the single mother of four decided to set up a tree nursery on her farm in Makomboki, in a hilly area north of Nairobi known for its tea production.

With an estimated 30 million hectares throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia and the Americas, bamboo can provide a significant contribution to combatting climate change in the developing world, particularly in rural communities.

Grassroots and international farmers’ and rural producers’ organizations play an invaluable role as representatives of the farming community.

In the community of Larguero, in the Chaco Salteño, a group of indigenous beekeepers are raising the profile of a unique wild honey

We asked colleagues for their favourite podcasts on topics related to development, food, agriculture and climate. If you are looking to learn something new check out our suggestions.

Current food systems are at a crossroads. There is a strong need for transforming food production and consumption patterns in a sustainable way. One where farmers adapt and build resilience to the increasing challenges from climate change and where nutritious food is available for all. Agroecology provides one solution towards this transformation.

Tajikistan is a mountainous country nestled in Central Asia. Over five million people live a rural life, the majority of them depending on agriculture for their livelihoods.

An IFAD co-sponsored event at COP25 in Madrid brought together experts and celebrity chefs to examine how climate change is effecting food systems.

Against the backdrop of the climate crisis, José Gregorio Diaz Mirabal, Coordinator of the Congress of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA) visited IFAD in Rome, where he discussed the situation affecting the Amazon and the implications for indigenous peoples’ livelihoods and for humanity as a whole.

On the international day for the elimination of violence against women, IFAD reaffirms its commitment to eliminate and prevent gender-based violence.

Mohamed enjoys welcoming visitors to his vegetables garden in Fria town, in Guinea, and is proud to show every crop he has been growing. This 32-year-old rural entrepreneur recalls how his business succeeded thanks to an unexpected opportunity while he was pursuing a civil servant career.

A new framework will guide practitioners to use a broad portfolio of crop species to bring nutrition back to the table.

The latest SOFI report confirms that the number of hungry people in the world continues to increase, highlighting the challenge of reaching the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of Zero Hunger by 2030.

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) aims to facilitate the evolution of agricultural systems in the face of a rapidly changing climate. IFAD's approach to promoting CSA for smallholders focuses on three core objectives.

Ideas are the lifeblood of innovation. To accelerate rural transformation while tackling rural poverty, food insecurity, nutrition, job creation and climate change, innovative ideas are needed. 

Every day Dienaba Sow travels 3.5 kilometres from her home in Hodio village towards Toung, in Senegal's Louga region, to collect water for her family's daily needs.

A conference taking place this week in Buenos Aires, Argentina reminds us that developing countries today look as much to each other for help along their path to development as they do to the developed world.