International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialized agency of the United Nations, was established as an international financial institution in 1977 as one of the major outcomes of the 1974 World Food Conference.
IFAD is dedicated to eradicating rural poverty in developing countries. Working with rural poor people, governments, donors, non-governmental organizations and many other partners, IFAD focuses on country-specific solutions, which can involve increasing rural poor peoples' access to financial services, markets, technology, land and other natural resources
Working in partnership to eradicate rural poverty:
Through low-interest loans and grants, IFAD works with governments to develop and finance programmes and projects that enable rural poor people to overcome poverty themselves. Since starting operations in 1978, IFAD has invested US$12.0 billion in 860 projects and programmes that have reached some 370 million poor rural people.
Governments and other financing sources in recipient countries, including project participants, contributed US$10.8 billion, and multilateral, bilateral and other donors provided approximately another US$8.8 billion in cofinancing. This represents a total investment of about US$19.6 billion.
IFAD tackles poverty not only as a lender, but also as an advocate for rural poor people. Its multilateral base provides a natural global platform to discuss important policy issues that influence the lives of rural poor people, as well as to draw attention to the centrality of rural development to meeting the Millennium Development Goals.
IFAD OPERATION:
The Fund has designed and implemented projects in very different natural, socio-economic and cultural environments. Many IFAD-supported programmes have been in remote areas.
In addition, its local-level operations in 117 countries and territories keep IFAD in continuous and direct contact with the rural poor.
To build broad local ownership of the programmes it sponsors, IFAD works in partnership with others – borrowing-country governments, poor rural people and their organizations, and other donor agencies. Its focus on local development has given it a role in bridging the gap between multilateral and bilateral donors on the one side, and civil society represented by NGOs and community-based organizations (CBOs) on the other.
NINE MAJOR AREAS SUPPORTED BY THE IFAD:
- agricultural development
- financial services
- rural infrastructure
- livestock
- fisheries
- capacity-and institution-building
- storage/food-processing/marketing
- research/extension/training
- small and medium scale enterprise development
THE ISSUES THAT SHAPE IFAD’S WORK:
1. Food Security
2. Climate Change
3. Water and natural resource management
4. Land Tenure
5. Gender issues in agriculture and natural resource management
6. Indigenous peoples
7. Rural Finance
8. Remittances
9. Knowledge management
Ninth Replenishment of IFAD’s Resources (2013-2015)
The Consultation on the Ninth Replenishment of IFAD’s Resources agreed to a target of US$1.5 billion in new contributions to finance agriculture and rural development projects across the developing world. This represents a 25 per cent increase over IFAD’s Eighth Replenishment. In addition to the new funds, Member States mandated IFAD to find new sources of finance that share the development burden more broadly, including raising investment from nonmembers and others. The injection of new funds from Member States is a confirmation of our vital role as an effective organization delivering results in the area of food and income security, especially for the poorest people. Forty to fifty per cent of these resources will be channelled to sub-Saharan Africa for development projects.
Regional distribution of IFAD financing for programmes and projects approved in 2011 (Share of total of US$951.8 million)
* West and Central Africa: US$173.1 million - 18.2%
* East and Southern Africa: US$223.6 million - 23.5%
* Asia and the Pacific: US$345.4 million - 36.3%
* Latin America and the Caribbean: US$70.6 million - 7.4%
* Near East, North Africa and Europe: US$139.0 million - 14.6%