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. One of the most important insights emerging from the conference was that the causes of food insecurity and famine were not so much failures in food production, but structural problems relating to poverty and to the fact that the majority of the developing world’s poor populations were concentrated in rural areas.
Mission:
Enables poor rural people to overcome poverty.
Our focus is on poor, marginalized and vulnerable rural people. They are small farmers, landless people, labourers, herders, artisanal fishers and small-scale entrepreneurs who depend on agriculture and related activities to survive. We give special attention to gender differences and to empowering women, who account for a disproportionate number of the world’s extremely poor. We recognize the particular needs of indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities, especially in Latin America and Asia. Goal
Poor rural women and men in developing countries are empowered to achieve higher incomes and improved food security.
Objectives:
To ensure that poor rural people have better access to, and the skills and organization they need to take advantage of:
Natural resources, especially secure access to land and water, and improved natural resource management and conservation practices
Improved agricultural technologies and effective production services
A broad range of financial services
Transparent and competitive markets for agricultural inputs and produce
Opportunities for rural off-farm employment and enterprise development
Local and national policy and programming processes
Activities/Main areas of work:
Enable poor rural people to access the assets, services and opportunities they need to overcome poverty. We also help them build their knowledge, skills and organizations so that they can lead their own development and influence the decisions and policies that affect their lives.
Test new and innovative approaches to reducing poverty. We share our knowledge widely and work with our member countries and other partners to replicate and scale up successful approaches.
IFAD also acts as an advocate for poor rural people. Our multilateral orientation provides a strong global platform for discussing rural policy issues and ncreasing awareness of why investment in agriculture and rural development is critical to meeting the Millennium Development Goals.
Coverage:
Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America
Beneficiaries:
Target poor, marginalized and vulnerable rural people who have the capacity to take advantage of the economic opportunities offered by IFAD- Farmers, small scale entrepreneurs, indigenous people and ethnic minorities, community based organisations, international community, non-governmental organizations and the private sector.
Membership/Affiliations
− WFP-FAO-IFAD (Rome based UN agencies working together)
− CGIAR system
− Global Mechanism
− BSF (Belgium survival Fund)
