Contacts
Helene Ni Choncheanainn
Programme Assistant, East and Southern Africa Division
East and Southern Africa Division
IFAD
Via Paolo Di Dono, 44
00142 Rome, Italy
Fax: +39 06 5043463
Email: ESAMailbox@ifad.org
Past issues
About IFAD
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is a specialized agency of the United Nations, dedicated to eradicating poverty and hunger in developing countries. Its work in remote rural areas of the world helps countries achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
Change of the Division's Regional Director
Périn Saint Ange, Regional Director for East and Southern Africa (ESA), was recently appointed Chief of Staff and Director of the Office of the President and Vice President in IFAD. He was replaced by Mr. Sana F. K. Jatta, a Gambian national, effective April 1st 2015.
Farewell message from Périn Saint-Ange
Maintaining a team-building spirit among staff, while simultaneously encouraging the decentralization of activities and staff to the field, is not an easy task. However, Périn accomplished this by promoting staff development and capacity building along with the rotation of responsibilities to ensure that the division worked in sync and capably responded to the ever-increasing demands while maintaining an important work/life balance.
Ethiopia: Ifad-supported projects making strong headway
Developing irrigation widely to better harness the country's vast water resources and reduce farmers' reliance on rain-fed agriculture is one of the Ethiopian government's priorities in its ambitious five-year Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) for the period 2010-2015. The US$ 57 million Participatory Small-Scale Irrigation Development Programme (PASIDP), which aims at reforming small-scale irrigation practices in Ethiopia, is one of the successful IFAD-supported programmes which Robson Mutandi helped steer during his directorship in the country.
Uganda: Innovation Award for ground-breaking initiative
The Uganda Country Team, which includes Line Kaspersen, Alessandro Marini, Deborah Martin, Pontian Muhwezi, and Ann Turinayo, has been nominated for the Innovative Project Award. The Uganda portfolio is experimenting with an entirely new concept of project implementation through the EU-financed Small and Medium Agribusiness Development Fund (SMADF) project signed in December 2014, one of the first projects to use the national Integrated Financial Management System.
ESA Grants in support of development work in the region
Regional grants can make a significant contribution to IFAD's programme of work, by supporting complementary activities and initiatives which add value to the loan portfolio. In East and Southern Africa (ESA) alone, there are currently 11 regional grants which include themes for knowledge management, market access, land and natural resource management, and rural finance.
Rwanda, star performer after IFAD President's visit
IFAD's President, Kanayo Nwanze, travelled to Rwanda for an official visit from 22 to 27 October 2014. The main objective of the visit was to deepen the cooperation and partnership of IFAD with the Republic of Rwanda in the area of agricultural and rural development.