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Ce document présente les résultats d’une étude portant sur le Programme de Microfinance Rural (PMR) au Mali. Il analyse les effets du Programme en termes de capacité d’action et d’utilisation des ressources dans les ménages, plus particulièrement sous l’angle du genre.

Ce document introduit deux critères pour définir et évaluer la ruralité: l’indice de ruralité relative et la contiguïté de zones de densité similaire. 

Cette troisième édition de la collection « Advantage » sur le partenariat FIDA-FEM met l’accent sur les bénéfices de ce partenariat dans différents domaines, notamment les systèmes alimentaires, la biodiversité, l’adaptation aux changements climatiques et la dégradation des sols.

Ce rapport sert de guide pour orienter les investissements réalisés par le FIDA et d’autres donateurs internationaux en faveur des actions d’atténuation des changements climatiques en Afrique orientale et australe.

Cette étude présente les conclusions d’un examen de la littérature spécialisée et les principaux facteurs de surpoids et d’obésité, en les mettant en regard avec les systèmes alimentaires et en donnant des exemples tirés de la situation dans cinq pays.

Ces quarante dernières années, la Chine a connu une transformation rurale rapide, qui s’est accompagnée d’une hausse des revenus des ménages ruraux et d’une baisse de la pauvreté rurale. Ce document étudie la transformation rurale qui a touché les provinces du pays et ses principales conséquences.

Cet article nous renseigne sur les variables climatiques à recueillir, et sur les sources à consulter pour les obtenir, lors de l’élaboration d’une évaluation de l’impact.

Cet article porte notamment sur les activités visant à améliorer la gestion des pâturages, les sources d’alimentation animale complémentaires et le développement de la filière de l’élevage.

Les auteurs de cette étude élaborent une stratégie méthodologique pour tenir compte des conditions météorologiques et des conditions climatiques à long terme dans le cadre des évaluations de l’impact, en s’appuyant sur un projet de stockage des céréales exécuté au Tchad et soutenu par le FIDA.

Cet article propose un cadre méthodologique pour intégrer les conditions météorologiques actuelles et les tendances climatiques à long terme dans les études d’impact.

Cette Note thématique présente la méthodologie employée pour évaluer l’impact des investissements du FIDA sur les moyens d’existence et la vie des participants à un projet.

IFAD measures the impact of its investments by systematically conducting impact assessments on a sample of projects closing during each replenishment period.

Cette publication s’interroge sur la façon dont le consentement préalable, libre et éclairé est sollicité au travers de la consultation et de la participation des communautés et des institutions locales à des étapes spécifiques du cycle de projet.

Le défi actuel de l’adaptation aux changements climatiques et des efforts de renforcement de la résilience est de passer à un processus qui contribue à améliorer, et non à menacer, les moyens d’existence.

Les auteurs de cet article présentent le rôle des animaux d’élevage dans les systèmes alimentaires circulaires des régions tropicales avec quatre études de cas.

Les auteurs de ce rapport étudient les tendances passées et explorent les trajectoires futures possibles de l’agriculture à petite échelle afin de déterminer le profil des agriculteurs de demain.

Grâce à une analyse des systèmes alimentaires, les auteurs de cette étude examinent les données existantes et déterminent les conditions, les groupes de population rurale et les délais nécessaires pour parvenir aux résultats visés.

Les auteurs de cette étude explorent le rôle de l’eau dans le système alimentaire égyptien et le dilemme auquel fait face le pays: améliorer l’autosuffisance alimentaire en allouant une part des ressources en eau douce du Nil à la production alimentaire ou dépendre des importations alimentaires de régions du monde où l’eau est disponible en abondance.

Cet article montre que les interventions à court et moyen termes sont les plus efficaces pour améliorer les moyens d’existence des agriculteurs pauvres, notamment leur sécurité alimentaire et leur santé, l’emploi hors exploitation et l’assistance sociale.

Les auteurs de cette étude se penchent sur les critères et les mécanismes de certification de deux produits d’exportation — les bananes et le cacao — en s’appuyant sur une analyse des systèmes alimentaires.

Les auteurs étudient ici la place de plus en plus prépondérante qu’occupent les PME dans la transformation des systèmes alimentaires, les faisant passer d’une structure traditionnelle, à une phase de transition jusqu’à une structure moderne.

Pour bâtir des filières alimentaires compétitives et inclusives, un pays doit se doter de politiques macroéconomiques à même d’améliorer l’environnement économique du secteur agricole et de créer des débouchés extérieurs, ainsi que de mesures ciblées propres à ce secteur afin de promouvoir la participation des petits exploitants aux filières compétitives en réduisant les coûts d’accès aux marchés.

Cette étude explore la manière dont la transformation traditionnelle des aliments fermentés peut être pratiquée à plus grande échelle, tout en améliorant les propriétés fonctionnelles des produits et en renforçant les filières locales.

Les auteurs de cette étude avancent que la transformation des systèmes alimentaires devrait tenir compte des régimes alimentaires en s’appuyant sur des données relatives à l'alimentation, aux tendances en la matière, aux motivations des consommateurs et aux caractéristiques de l’environnement alimentaire.

Cette étude s’intéresse aux liens entre l’autonomisation des femmes, les systèmes alimentaires et la nutrition.

Ce document fournit un cadre d'évaluation de la dynamique du bien-être en zones rurales et de l'évolution des systèmes alimentaires.

Cet article s’intéresse à la façon dont les activités du système alimentaire influent sur les changements climatiques et à l’effet de la modification des habitudes alimentaires sur les systèmes alimentaires. Il montre que les émissions provenant de la production alimentaire augmentent dans la plupart des régions, contrairement à celles liées au changement d’affectation des terres, qui baissent.

Cet article démontre que si la hausse prévue d’ici 2050 de la demande alimentaire peut être largement comblée à l’échelle régionale, l’éventuelle augmentation ou diversification des rendements ne garantira pas automatiquement l’inclusivité de la transformation rurale. L’urbanisation peut au contraire renforcer la pauvreté et les inégalités en milieu rural.

 

Si le rôle majeur joué par l’inclusion dans la transformation des systèmes alimentaires est de plus en plus compris, les recherches et discours récents sur le sujet sont insuffisants, et des mesures doivent être prises pour garantir que la transformation ne se fasse pas au détriment des populations rurales pauvres.

Cet article s’appuie sur des données portant sur 85 pays à faible revenu et à revenu intermédiaire pour présenter l’indice relatif aux systèmes alimentaires et analyser les liens entre systèmes alimentaires, transformation structurelle et rurale et répartition des populations.

Cet article étudie la possibilité de créer un indice relatif aux systèmes alimentaires (FSI) qui aurait vocation à refléter plusieurs éléments clés influençant les différences de performances des systèmes alimentaires à l’échelle nationale.

Cet article met l’accent sur cinq changements de paradigme indispensables pour dépasser les compromis et créer des synergies entre santé et nutrition, moyens d’existence inclusifs, viabilité environnementale et résilience des systèmes alimentaires.

La présente note a pour but d’indiquer comment intégrer le Système de formation action pour l’égalité femmes-hommes (GALS) pour faire évoluer les rapports entre les femmes et les hommes dans les opérations du FIDA.

 

 

Comprendre la demande du marché est une étape clé du processus consistant à élaborer des solutions qui répondent aux besoins des populations rurales pauvres en matière de gestion des risques, en particulier d’assurance. 

La présente note propose au personnel, aux consultants et aux partenaires nationaux du FIDA des conseils pratiques pour obtenir le consentement préalable, libre et éclairé aux étapes de conception et d’exécution des projets et programmes financés par le FIDA, conformément aux politiques et procédures du Fonds.

Le deuxième rapport Biodiversity Advantage du FIDA sur la biodiversité présente cinq projets du Fonds en montrant le rôle indispensable de la biodiversité dans l'agriculture.

Le programme d'assistance technique du FIDA INSURED (Assurance pour la résilience et le développement économique des zones rurales) a permis d’apprendre comment faciliter l'accès des productrices agricoles à l'assurance contre les risques climatiques.

We investigate how perceptions of physical water availability in the past are related to farmers’ current irrigation behaviour.

Prototyping aims to gather direct feedback on the solution and the wider insurance scheme, incorporate changes before pilot testing, and make any additional adjustments before the official roll-out.

This analysis investigates the potential mechanism and the practical significance of the impacts of agricultural value chain development in a geographically challenging rural area of a developing country.

Cette note pratique est la première d’une série de cinq notes qui accompagnent le cadre opérationnel pour les espèces négligées et sous-utilisées.

Cette note pratique est la première d’une série de cinq notes qui accompagnent le cadre opérationnel pour les espèces négligées et sous-utilisées.

Cette note pratique est la première d’une série de cinq notes qui accompagnent le cadre opérationnel pour les espèces négligées et sous-utilisées.

Cette note pratique est la première d’une série de cinq notes qui accompagnent le cadre opérationnel pour les espèces négligées et sous-utilisées.

Cette note pratique est la première d’une série de cinq notes qui accompagnent le cadre opérationnel pour les espèces négligées et sous-utilisées.

This report presents selected achievements and lessons learned from the growing portfolio of small livestock investments supported by IFAD. 

Stress-tolerant rice varieties (STRVs) are bred to be high yielding and tolerant to climate shocks such as drought. 

PSSA aimed to unlock rural development and poverty reduction in Peru by supporting the design and implementation of business plans created by Producer Associations, targeting two of the country’s poorest regions.

 In this paper, particular attention is given to the identification and promotion of productivity and resilience enhancing agricultural practices. 

Ce numéro de la collection "Advantage" sur la sécurité des régimes fonciers offre un aperçu de l'engagement du FIDA dans la sécurisation des régimes fonciers en faveur des pauvres des zones rurales (disponible uniquement en langue anglaise). 

Rice farmers in the mid-hills region of Nepal are vulnerable to drought, which can drastically reduce yields. Stress-tolerant rice varieties can mitigate this vulnerability, as can having a high seed replacement rate and using best management practices in rice cultivation.

The Rural Communities Development in the Poorest Areas of the State of Bahia (Project Gente de Valor) was designed to strengthen the capacity of rural communities to thrive in the drought-prone environment of Brazil's north-east region through improved access to water, increased productive capacity, and empowerment of participating communities. 

This is a baseline report for the impact assessment of the Yield Uganda Investment Fund (YUIF), an investment fund that provides targeted financing to small and medium agribusinesses (SMAs) to help them overcome barriers to accessing capital.

Baseline report for the impact assessment of the Yield Investment Uganda Fund (YUF), an investment fund that provides targeted financing to small and medium agribusinesses (SMAs) to help them overcome barriers to accessing capital.

This paper reviews the narrative on rural youth and economic opportunities in Africa, using a set of policy documents from various African countries and regional and international organizations. 

This study reviews the opportunities and challenges facing rural youth in the Near East, North Africa, Europe and Central Asia region.

This study offers a general picture of the situation of rural youth in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

This study characterizes the structural and rural transformation of the Asia and the Pacific region.

This study presents a framework to analyse the political economy of rural youth policy and institutions’ opportunity space with a quadrant that measures the extent to which rural youth are a priority in policies and institutions versus the extent that governments have to effectively implement rural youth policies.

This study analyses how migrants positively contribute to the sustainable economic development of rural youth in their countries of origin.

This study takes a unique look at the determinants of youth migration across seven different countries using recently collected data.

While conflicts are often defined as “development in reverse”, there is a general lack of research focusing specifically on young people living in rural areas. 

This study examines the intersections between youth access to land, migration decisions and employment opportunities in various African countries.

This analysis reviews existing research on the impact of digital initiatives on youth in the education, agriculture, financial and employment sectors.

This study analyses inclusive finance and rural youth through cutting-age research with new insights and approaches that have emerged over the years in the field. 

In this study, we show that rural transformation processes are associated with improvements in rural youth nutrition – malnutrition and underweight – in nearly all regions, although the pace of change varies considerably across countries.

Climate change matters for all young people, especially for those whose livelihoods depend on agriculture. This study shows that adaptation to climate change is feasible and options increase as new technologies and management approaches come on-stream. 

Research on rural youth aspirations suggests that many young people are not averse to agriculture as such, but to agriculture’s current neglected condition

This study is motivated by the consistent portrayal of agriculture and the broader rural economy in Africa as domains of opportunity for rural youth. 

A key lesson is that lack of technical skills does not seem to be the biggest obstacle youth face in entering the labour force. Evidence on agricultural extension programmes suggests that peer-to-peer learning works best.

This exploratory study focuses on participation in decision-making processes and how rural youth could benefit from its findings in development projects and initiatives. 

This study analyses sex-disaggregated data from various countries to characterize rural youths’ transition to adulthood by gender. 

Little is known about the economic activities of rural youth. This study provides empirical evidence on this gap in literature. 

This study uses the concept of the Rural Opportunity Space from economic geography literature to shed light on these questions. 

Building on United Nations data, this study analyses how past growth of the youth population was dramatic in Asia and the Pacific, while projections suggest a sharp rise in the youth population of sub-Saharan Africa until 2050.  

To hold itself accountable on progress made in achieving this goal and these three strategic objectives, IFAD has adopted a unique approach to reporting impact at the corporate level, building on rigorous project-level evaluations. This report provides the results of these efforts to assess the corporate impact of IFAD investments for the Tenth Replenishment of IFAD’s Resources (IFAD10) period of 2016-2018.

Development projects that integrate investments in rural indigenous people, youth and women with measures to adapt to climate change are more likely to be successful in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to a new report launched today by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

A new report from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) shows that by working with women, men, young people and indigenous peoples as change agents we are best placed to beat back the impact of climate change on rural communities in West and Central Africa (WCA).

Dans ce rapport sont présentés certains des résultats obtenus dans le cadre des investissements en matière de pêche et d’aquaculture appuyés par le FIDA.

La présente Note pratique propose des orientations opérationnelles sur l’intégration des enjeux nutritionnels dans les stratégies de pays et dans les projets d’investissement appuyés par le FIDA. 

This is the first study to quantify the general equilibrium impacts of introducing a new cash crop into a poor isolated economy, including impacts on environmentally sensitive fishing activities.

Around one third of the food globally produced is estimated to be lost or wasted along the supply chain. These losses affect disproportionally developing countries.

There are different views around the future of smallholder agriculture and its potential to contribute to the needed transformations of agriculture and rural economies. 

The Coastal Community Development Project (CCDP), implemented between 2013 and 2017, was designed to reduce poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth in 12 coastal districts of Indonesia.

Agriculture and rural development research will play a critical role in meeting the ambitious targets under SDGs 1 and 2. 

This study is an analysis of what drives cofinancing in IFAD-supported programmes/projects, covering 20 years of data from 559 projects in 109 countries.

The Participatory Smallholder Agriculture and Artisanal Fisheries Development Programme (PAPAFPA) and the Smallholder Commercial Agriculture Project (PAPAC) are complementary projects designed to improve the livelihoods of smallholders in Sao Tomé and Príncipe. PAPAFPA, which has now closed, created farmers’ cooperatives to improve the development of organic cacao, coffee, and pepper value chains through increased commercialization in domestic and niche export markets.

Cette étude examine les dynamiques de l'emploi dans l'agriculture en Tanzanie et au Malawi. 

Farmers in southwestern Bangladesh, an area prone to natural disasters, are sometimes unable to reach community markets in the monsoon season. 

From 2011 to 2016, the Plan VIDA project in Bolivia was implemented to address extreme poverty in rural areas by increasing the incomes and assets of rural people in the departments of Potosí and Cochabamba of the Plurinational State of Bolivia

This study estimates the mitigation potential of agricultural practices supported by IFAD’s current investments in order to provide guidance for the design of future investments. 

This paper considers the relationship between farm size and productivity patterns across countries and within countries. 

Dans ce numéro, on trouvera une présentation et une analyse des expériences tirées des projets et programmes suivants financés par le FIDA...

Despite decades of research and development of technologies and innovations which improve farming practices and productivity, small farmers in Tanzania continue to use technologies and practices which do not favour high yields and economic returns. 

Cette étude fait le bilan de l'impact sur la pauvreté et le niveau de vie de la recherche dans le domaine agricole, en passant en revue de manière systématique les évaluations d'impact (expérimentales ou quasi expérimentales) des variétés améliorées distribuées par le GCRAI entre 2007 et 2015. 

The Guangxi Integrated Agricultural Development Project (GIADP) was implemented in 623 Administrative Villages in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China to increase income of smallholder farmers by developing community infrastructures

The Rural Development Support Programme in Guéra (PADER-G) was implemented to improve the food security and livelihoods of farmers living in remote areas of Guéra, a drought-prone and conflict-ridden region of Chad. 

The Project for Rural Income through Exports in Rwanda, known by its acronym PRICE, aims to increase returns to farmers through the development of export-driven value chains for coffee, tea, sericulture and horticulture.

The Irrigated Rice Production Enhancement Project (IRPEP) was implemented between 2010 and 2015 to improve the rice productivity and livelihoods of smallholder farmers who cultivate on Communal Irrigation Schemes in three regions (Western Visayas, Central Visayas and Northern Mindanao) of the Philippines. 

The High-Value Agriculture Project in Hill and Mountain Areas (HVAP) integrated farmers living in the remote hill and mountain areas of Mid-Western Nepal into the local economy of goats and high-valued crops such as apples and Sichuan pepper (timur). 

Deforestation and unsustainable management practices have had a significant impact on the livelihoods of poor rural communities in the forest areas of Campeche, Chiapas and Oaxaca states in Mexico. 

In Khatlon Oblast, the poorest region of Tajikistan, decades of overgrazing has degraded pastoral land leading to low milk and meat  production, food insecurity and malnutrition in rural areas.

Rural people in the Ethiopian highlands depend mainly on rain-fed subsistence farming for their livelihoods.

The Agricultural Value Chains Support Project (PAFA) aimed to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Senegal’s Groundnut Basin. 

Ce document a pour but d'aider à comprendre le contexte dans lequel travaillent les petits exploitants.

En 2030, les jeunes représenteront environ 15% de la population mondiale, et les jeunes ruraux, environ 6%. Certaines régions du monde pourraient même se trouver confrontées à une explosion démographique de la jeunesse, qui constituerait alors une proportion sensiblement plus élevée de la population.

Investments in irrigation systems have been shown to substantially improve farmers’ productivity, and thus alleviate poverty. This study provides an example of such an investment: the Participatory Small-Scale Irrigation Development Programme. 

"Chaînes de valeur et enjeu nutritionnel: Guide pour la conception de projets" a été conçu pour combler une lacune de connaissances dans ce domaine émergeant en proposant des orientations sur la conception de projets de chaînes de valeur intégrant l'enjeu nutritionnel, une attention particulière étant portée aux petits producteurs.

This paper addresses an important gap regarding the systematic knowledge and evidence on how value chains can contribute to nutrition, while remaining financially viable and inclusive of smallholder farmers. 

This paper explores the conditions for collective action to generate inclusion when agriculture transforms. 

This study estimates the impact of agricultural research, specifically improved maize seeds varieties, on agricultural productivity and welfare in Uganda using a three-wave panel survey. 

This report reflects IFAD’s ongoing efforts to generate evidence to inform decision-making at the corporate and project level.

This paper uses the available cross-country data to analyse the causes for the increase in the disparity between rural and urban areas in Asia. 

​In 2014, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) released a report celebrating achievements through its partnership with the Global Environment Facility (GEF). Since then, the world has been responding to critical environmental and climate challenges.

​With private contributions becoming increasingly pivotal to global climate finance, it is evident that scaling up and channeling private capital is crucial in meeting the goal of achieving the Paris Agreement and limiting global warming to two degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level.

Le pastoralisme est un mode de vie qui se fonde sur la mobilité territoriale, solution d'adaptation aux difficultés rencontrées par les populations humaines vivant dans des environnements difficiles.

Policy engagement is a difficult activity to accurately monitor and evaluate, particularly when development agencies are interested in attributing impact to their efforts. 

The toolkit focuses on end-user finance for renewable energy technologies for rural households, smallholder farmers, and rural micro, small and medium enterprises.

This paper aims to identify the main drivers of poverty reduction in Malawi. Using an augmented poverty decomposition methodology, it explores in what way the different farm and non-farm economic activities contribute to poverty reduction and income growth. 

This paper aims to explore the influence of nutrition-sensitive interventions on dietary profiles of the beneficiaries of IFAD-funded projects.

This paper analyses the channels through which growth reduces poverty by evaluating the relationship between the sectoral composition of economic growth and the rural-urban composition of poverty. 

This paper analyses the relation between urbanization and poverty reduction, by exploring the role of secondary towns, mega cities and rural non-agricultural sector in relation to poverty reduction.

L’agriculture débute avec les semences. Sans elles, il ne peut y avoir ni culture ni production alimentaire. Les mauvaises récoltes et la perte des stocks de semences entraînent une situation d’insécurité semencière susceptible de mettre en péril la sécurité alimentaire et les moyens d’existence.

This paper challenges the traditional view that portrays income maximization as the main driver of migration and tests whether relative deprivation and social inequality lead to migration in sub-Saharan Africa. Examining data from the Living Standards Measurements Study – Integrated Surveys in Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) from Tanzania, Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria and Uganda, the paper finds that a household’s migration decision is based not only on its well-being status, but also on the position of the household relative to the wealth distribution in the local community. Results indicate that relative deprivation of wealth was positively associated with migration, implying a need to renew the discussion of relative deprivation and social inequality as a cause of migration in sub-Saharan Africa.

Among ecosystems services, freshwater is one of the most fundamental for life. For smallholders, water means the difference between a decent life and poverty, hunger and malnutrition. 

This How to Do Note (HTDN) is intended to provide guidance on how to design smallholder agriculture adaptation programmes that consider the differential impacts of climate change on women, men and youth smallholder farmers. This includes recognizing that programme interventions – from design to staffing to capacity development of beneficiaries and local organizations – need to consider how gender will affect sustainability and impact. The experiences, social positions and differing access to resources of marginalized populations are fundamental considerations in the design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of gender transformative smallholder agriculture adaptation programmes.

This paper examines the transformation and diversification of the rural economy in Asia, focusing on the role and importance of the rural non-farm economy and employment in economic transformation and related diversification of employment and income opportunities for rural communities.

The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) can be a useful tool to measure the empowerment, agency and inclusion of women in the agriculture sector. However, computing the WEAI in its current form involves large data requirements, resulting in lengthy surveys with several questions on various dimensions and indicators within each dimension. This paper proposes a reduced version of the WEAI, or the R-WEAI, and examines two possible approaches to reduce the data requirements while ensuring comparability to the full WEAI.

Agriculture and fisheries, the backbone of food security and nutrition for coastal communities and globally, are under threat. 

Cash transfer and agricultural support programmes are both used to improve nutrition outcomes in developing countries. This paper examines previous reviews of the impact of these programmes and compares the evidence between the two. The paper finds that, although there are about the same number of programmes of each type, many more papers have been written about the cash transfer programmes than the agricultural programmes. While evidence suggests that both programme types improved the quality of food consumption, the paper concludes that both types show weak evidence of improvements in anthropometric outcomes.

The Smallholder Dairy Commercialization Programme (SDCP) aimed to foster market-driven development of the informal dairy sector in Kenya. 

In Madagascar, the Project to Support Development in the Menabe and Melaky Regions (AD2M) aimed to improve the livelihoods of poor farmers by strengthening their tenure security and access to well-functioning irrigation systems.

This study describes the shifting age and sex patterns of populations across rural and urban sectors in sub‑Saharan Africa from 1980 to 2015. It examines the relationship between the slowdown in urbanization and rural and urban age structure gaps, sex composition and dependency ratios. Findings show that rural-urban migration of young adults plays a key role in explaining dependency ratios and sex compositional gaps in rural and urban areas. Results also highlight the value of taking into account local age and sex structures to better prepare for the demographic dividend and other consequences of demographic shifts in sub-Saharan Africa.

Climate change and malnutrition are among the greatest problems in the twentyfirst century; they are “wicked problems”, difficult to describe, with multiple causes, and no single solution.

This issue presents and analyses experiences from the following IFAD-funded projects and programmes:
Ethiopia: Pastoral Community Development Project; Nepal: Leasehold Forestry and Livestock Programme; Palestine: Participatory Natural Resource Management Programme; Peru: Project for Strengthening Assets, Markets and Rural Development in the Northern Highlands (Sierra Norte); Sierra Leone: Rehabilitation and Community-based Poverty Reduction Project

This paper describes the Participatory Impact Assessment and Learning Approach (PIALA) which was developed and piloted by IFAD. The approach aims to produce rigorous qualitative and quantitative evidence that can be used not only to identify and assess the impacts of development projects, but also to promote learning and improved understanding of the associated processes and pathways of socio-economic change. Illustrated with cases from Viet Nam and Ghana, the paper assesses the value of the approach for collaborative learning and reporting for IFAD’s country programming and global policy engagement, as well as for the wider development community.

Remittances have increased in low-income and lower- middle-income countries in recent years, playing an important role as a stable source of finance at the macro-level, and in poverty reduction at the micro-level. 

Drawing on a critical review of the literature and econometric analyses based on cross-country panel data, this study examines the relationships among remittances, growth and poverty reduction in Asia and the Pacific and highlights policy implications to be considered by governments and policy-makers.

This paper investigates the trends and the influencing factors of IFAD’s project disbursement performance over the past 20 years. Based on data from 577 projects in 111 countries, the study finds that disbursement of funds are often delayed and time-consuming.

Using econometric analysis, the study assesses the internal and external factors affecting the amount and timeliness of disbursements, and provides important lessons on how international financial institutions such as IFAD can better monitor and manage this important aspect of their development effectiveness. 

Le ciblage de la pauvreté, l'égalité des sexes et l'autonomisation des femmes sont les pierres angulaires de l'action menée par le FIDA pour réduire la pauvreté rurale et l'insécurité alimentaire et nutritionnelle.

Graduation out of chronic poverty has recently been receiving considerable attention by the global development community for its potential synergies with social protection, microfinance and livelihoods development approaches to poverty reduction. 

This paper examines the evidence regarding the effectiveness of graduation strategies in reducing extreme poverty, with a focus on rural households, and proposes a new analytical framework to support future work on graduation as a learning and adaptation process in development practice.

Project Completion Reports (PCRs) are a critical tool for development organizations, both for accountability purposes, and as a means of learning from project experience to inform the design of future operations. This paper analyses a sample of PCRs from IFAD to assess the extent to which evidence is used to determine a project's effectiveness in bringing about development. 

The report finds that most claims on results are not supported by evidence, and discusses implications for the objective measurement of development effectiveness.

This paper analyses how food safety challenges and requirements affect smallholder farmers' access to markets. High food safety standards in destination countries force governments of developing countries to make strategic choices about establishing domestic standards and upgrading the infrastructure and knowledge base of smallholder farmers.

The paper suggests mechanisms that can be used to respond to these challenges, to enable smallholder inclusion in different markets.

This issue presents and analyses experiences from the following IFAD-funded projects and programmes:

Brazil: Sustainable Development Project for Agrarian Reform; Settlements in the Semi-arid North-east (Dom Hélder Câmara Project);

China: South Gansu Poverty Reduction Programme;

Ghana: Rural Enterprises Programme; Morocco: Rural Development Project in the Mountain Zones of Al-Haouz Province; 

Uganda: Vegetable Oil Development Project.

This paper provides an overview of concepts, issues and research on the relationship between financial inclusion and inclusive rural transformation.

It demonstrates how changing demand for financial services, innovations in rural finance, and different investment strategies affect the interplay of supply and demand.

This paper analyses how different types of social protection interventions affect rural livelihoods. It examines how these interventions can help rural transformation by increasing productivity and asks how they can influence inclusiveness.

Using country-level evidence, it suggests that the effectiveness of social protection depends upon specific contexts and combinations of interventions, and asks what this means for building policy. 

This paper seeks to answer three main questions: (i) What are fragile states and situations and how do they relate to issues of inclusive
structural and rural transformation? (ii) In three selected case studies of diverse fragile situations (in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of Haiti and the Republic of the Sudan – drawing on IFAD financed programme and country experience), what have been the key elements of structural and rural transformation and to what extent has rural transformation been inclusive? (iii) In these cases, how does fragility affect the inclusiveness of rural transformation? Which policies and approaches can successfully promote inclusive rural transformation in
fragile situations?

Conservation agriculture (CA) in sub-Saharan Africa has multiple, but often very specific, niches for investment that need to be understood to support its inclusion and implementation in projects.

​Smallholder farmers use different strategies to improve their market presence and to capture more value added in the agricultural sector. These strategies include the creation of cooperatives and other farmers’ organizations (FOs).

This paper examines the impact of IFAD-supported projects so as to learn lessons for future projects. It analyses the different methods used by IFAD to measure a project's impact, finds that IFAD is improving the well-being of rural people, and recommends that impact assessments be built into future projects from their inception.

​Biodiversity is about more than plants, animals, and micro-organisms and their ecosystems – the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD, 1992) recognizes that it is also very much about people and our need for food security, medicines, fresh air, shelter, and a clean and healthy environment. Biodiversity is also essential for the maintenance of ecosystem-based services, such as the provision of water and food for human, animal and plant life. When we make an effort to conserve biodiversity, we are helping to maintain critical global biological resources to meet our needs today as well as those of future generations. Biodiversity conservation is therefore central to achieving recent global commitments for sustainable development under “Agenda 2030”, adopted by the United Nations in 2015. The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) recognizes that losing biodiversity means losing opportunities for coping with future challenges, such as those posed by climate change and food insecurity. 

​This report is aimed at readers who seek to build economic evidence in support of the inclusion of actions on agriculture in climate change plans and programmes, particularly at the national level under the umbrella of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to the December 2015 Paris Agreement, which aims to restrict a rise in global temperatures and manage risks. Agriculture is a sector especially sensitive to climate change. It also accounts for significant emissions and is, therefore, a priority for both adaptation and mitigation plans and actions at global, national and local levels. 

Que sont les terres arides et pourquoi sont-elles importantes? Présentes sur tous les continents et couvrant plus de 40% de la surface terrestre, les terres arides se rapportent généralement aux zones arides, semi-arides et subhumides. 

This paper challenges current thinking on the connection between rural transformation and food security & nutrition. It advocates that improving rural and structural transformation has a positive cyclical effect upon communities by improving food availability, access, supplies and utilization which in turn improves the health and education of communities. 

Using evidence from across the developing world, the paper creates a policy agenda to maximise potential for smallholder farming to transform local economies.

De nos jours, les institutions de microfinance (IMF) se présentent sous diverses formes: projets, réseaux de caisses ou de banques villageoises, institutions coopératives et mutualistes d’épargne et de crédit, associations, sociétés de capitaux, etc. 

This paper examines the role of rural-urban linkages in fostering inclusive and sustainable food systems and how these contribute to rural transformation and,  more broadly, to sustainable and inclusive development. Focusing on sub-Saharan Africa, the paper analyses the interdependencies between rural and urban areas and points to the key roles played by rural-based populations and producers, particularly smallholders, in promoting inclusive, mutually beneficial and sustainable urbanization. 

It is now beyond a reasonable doubt that the earth’s changing climate is a result of human actions.

The expanding total volume of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere is precipitating higher global surface temperatures and sea level rise.

The effects of human-induced climate change threaten the very existence of numerous species across the planet, including our own.

This paper investigates how household agricultural involvement affects food consumption and dietary diversity in rural Malawi. It analyses the relationship between on-farm income shares and the caloric consumption levels and shares across food groups. It finds that while food consumption and dietary diversity increase with agricultural involvement, the quality of diets does not improve. It highlights the importance of income diversification to dietary diversity and the need for investments in nutrition-sensitive agricultural value chains, nutrition education and crop diversification programmes. 

Cette boîte à outils comprend un aperçu général, une note pratique et une note sur les enseignements tirés des technologies permettant de réduire la charge de travail domestique. Ces documents illustrent l'importance de la question au moyen d'une description des techniques, de leurs avantages, et de la façon dont elles pourraient être intégrées aux opérations du FIDA.

Higher temperatures, wildlife extinction, rising sea levels, droughts, floods, heat-related diseases and economic losses are among the consequences of climate change. Climate change disproportionally affects the poorest and most marginalized communities living in vulnerable regions, among them indigenous peoples, whose livelihoods depend on natural resources. 

This paper looks at the role of agriculture in fostering inclusive and sustainable development in Sub-Saharan Africa. It discusses how improving agricultural productivity, smallholder access to markets and expanding agribusiness opportunities can accelerate transformation, investment and industrialization. The paper presents key investment and policy elements to be considered and points to the centrality of smallholders for the rural transformation process to be inclusive.

Recent advances in technology and telecommunications have the potential to make financial services more accessible and affordable for smallholder households in rural areas. With digital platforms such as mobile phones, smallholders can now use financial services without having to visit a bank branch. 

This paper analyses the role of migration in promoting rural livelihoods and discusses how migration interacts with transformative economic processes. Focusing on migration out of rural areas, it examines the impacts of migration on rural livelihoods and challenges the perspective that sees rural outmigration as a failure of rural development. 

This paper is a guide to current debates about agricultural development. It analyses the changes in development approaches and thinking in recent decades and explores today's critical issues in agricultural and rural development policy. With the main focus on Africa, the paper also includes insights from Asia and Latin America.

Prendre en compte les priorités des petits exploitants en matière d’adaptation

Since its founding, IFAD has focused on enabling smallholder farmers to increase agricultural production and productivity as a means for reducing poverty.

However, experience shows that increased productivity and incomes do not automatically translate into improved nutritional status of poor rural people, especially women, young people and children. 

La pêche et l'aquaculture apportent une contribution importante à la sécurité alimentaire et aux moyens de subsistance, tant à l'échelle des ménages qu'au niveau local, national et mondial. Toutefois, si la production aquacole se développe rapidement à l'échelle planétaire, en particulier en Asie et en Afrique, nombre de pêches à travers le monde sont en grand danger du fait des pressions anthropiques, notamment la surexploitation, la pollution et la modification des habitats.

​Le Groupe intergouvernemental sur l’évolution du climat (GIEC) a soulevé un dilemme difficile entre développement agricole et atténuation des changements climatiques. 

Les projets relatifs à des filières, qui sont performants et contribuent à réduire la pauvreté, peuvent aussi favoriser l’adaptation au changement climatique, en entraînant une augmentation des ressources des exploitants et en renforçant leurs liens avec les institutions. 

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

L'accès à des services d’énergies renouvelables modernes est un facteur clé pour lutter contre la pauvreté et assurer la sécurité alimentaire. 

With the mounting awareness of the unmet demand for youth financial services and the growing evidence that serving young people is viable, there is also a need to assess and document the implications for rural areas. This toolkit on Youth Access to Rural Finance aims to contribute to filling that gap.
The Lessons Learned and How To Do Note on this topic provide IFAD country programme managers, project design teams and implementing partners with insights and key guidance on designing and offering appropriate financial services for rural youth. The toolkit on Youth Access to Rural Finance synthesizes best practices and offers examples from around the world.  

The “Strengthening smallholder institutions and organizations toolkit” provides valuable guidance to help practitioners analyze and address issues related to smallholder institutions and organizations during the devopment of country strategies and in the design and implementation of programmes and projects.

IFAD sees smallholder farmers as more than just victims of climate change: they are a vital part of the solution to the ‘wicked’ climate change problem.

La ligne de crédit est un prêt consenti à une institution financière participante, qui en rétrocède le produit à ses clients sous forme de prêts assortis d’intérêts. 

This note provides an overview on Loan Guarantee Funds highlighting the main issues, challenges, opportunities and benefits.

La desserte des zones rurales reculées n'intéresse pas les banques du secteur formel, du fait de l'absence d'économies d'échelle, de coûts de transaction élevés et de la conviction que les ruraux pauvres n e constituent pas un marché viable. Les organisations financières à assise communautaire (community-based financial organizations – CBFO) sont souvent les seules structures disponibles pour fournir aux ruraux pauvres les services financiers de base, surtout dans les zones dépourvues des infrastructures élémentaires. 

This note provides an overview on key performance indicators and performance-based agreements highlighting the main issues, challenges, opportunities and benefits.

The toolkit on Household Methodologies (HHMs) is composed of three parts.

Strong links to markets for poor rural producers are essential to increasing agricultural income, generating economic growth in rural areas and reducing hunger and poverty. Every product that is sold locally, nationally or internationally is often part of an agricultural value chain (VC). From a development perspective, VCs are one of the instruments through which market forces can be harnessed to benefit poor rural women and men – not just producers, but wage earners, service providers and others.

Le régime foncier désigne les règles, les autorités, les institutions, les droits et les normes qui régissent l’accès à la terre et aux ressources qu’elle offre, ainsi que leur contrôle. Il définit les règles et les droits qui régissent l’appropriation, le choix des cultures et l’utilisation des ressources naturelles sur un territoire ou une parcelle de terre donnés.

In 2001, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Council approved the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) as an executing agency under its policy of expanded opportunities for executing agencies. 

This publication illustrates IFAD’s experience in closing the gender gap and mobilizing the ‘gender advantage’ in climate change adaptation through ten case studies from across the world.