IFAD Member States renew commitment to the billions of rural people in developing countries

Rome, 19 December 2014 –The 173 Member States of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) today reaffirmed their shared commitment to the Fund’s mission by announcing a US$1.44 billion target of contributions directed at investing in rural people in developing countries.

The target of IFAD’s 10^th Replenishment will enable it to strengthen operations over a three-year period from 2016 to 2018. During this timeframe, IFAD’s plan is to expand its reach to up to 130 million rural people, which represents as much as a 31 per cent increase of those benefitting from its investments.

Successful IFAD-supported project helps influence national policy in The Gambia

Yai Ceesay is learning to write her name as a student in Sibanor village 

The Gambia is taking steady steps towards prosperity by scaling up proven land and water management practices across the country and developing national policies to back these efforts.
Nema, the local Mandinka word for prosperity, is also the name of the IFAD-supported National Agricultural Land and Water Management Development Project currently being implemented in The Gambia. This initiative, which is building on the achievements made over 30 years in partnership with smallholder farmers and the government, is scaling up the successes of the earlier IFAD-supported Participatory Integrated Watershed Management Project (PIWAMP). The two projects are part of a 20-year programme promoting community-driven agricultural land and water development.

"The achievements of those farmers that participated in PIWAMP, especially the women, convinced the Government of The Gambia that investing in agriculture on a wide scale is a path to prosperity – Nema - for the country and its citizens," said Moses Abukari, IFAD's country programme manager for The Gambia.

A Unique New Library for The Gambia – The African Poetry Library

The Gambia is one of only five recipient countries on the continent to host a new African Poetry Library donated by the African Poetry Book Fund, a foundation to promote poetry in Africa, based at the University of Nebraska in the USA.

The African Poetry Library – a Reading Library in The Gambia is thanks to the efforts of the African Poetry Book Fund (APBF), Prairie Schooner, (the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's literary journal), and University of Nebraska-Lincoln's (UNL) Libraries in conjunction with individuals and organisations in The Gambia, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda.

The African Poetry Library Initiative is a collaborative venture to establish accessible and user friendly small poetry libraries on the African continent to support aspiring and established poets giving them access to contemporary poetry in books and journals, and serving as a resource for poets interested in publication in Africa and around the world. Each library received 300 books, journals and magazines during the summer of 2014 and will receive a further 300 books journals and magazines in 2015 and again in 2016.

The National Centre for Arts and Culture (NCAC) have partnered on this prestigious project and are hosting the library at the Centre’s Office in Fajara, behind GT Bank. The caretaker organisations of the library are the African Homecomers Collective and SABLE LitMag who have negotiated the discussion with the AFPB to install and receive the Reading library which will be run by their volunteers.

Smallholder farmers are more than climate victims – says IFAD report

IFAD President Kanayo F. Nwanze

Smallholder farmers in developing countries are more than victims of climate change; they are a vital part of the solution to global warming, according to a report from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

The Smallholder Advantage, a report on IFAD’s response to climate change, shows how investments in access to weather information, technology transfer and disaster preparedness are helping smallholder women and men to feed themselves and their families on a warming planet - whilst restoring degraded ecosystems and reducing agriculture's carbon footprint.

“We see smallholder farmers as an important part of the solution to the climate change challenge,” said IFAD President Kanayo F. Nwanze. “With around 500 million smallholder farms responsible for around four-fifths of food supplies in developing countries, we recognize that rural women and men operate vital businesses on the climate frontline.”

“Small farmers often experience more extreme and unpredictable weather, yet they are among the least represented in national and global policymaking on climate change,” Nwanze added. “What IFAD emphasizes in the climate change debate is that smallholders are among the most effective clients for public funds for dealing with issues around climate change.”

Bioclimate Education Centre to provide income, employment opportunities

Kawsu Jammeh addressing participants

Mr. Kawsu Jammeh, Coordinator Sahel Wetlands Concern, Community-Based organisation in Dumbuto in the Lower River Region says that the modern-day Bioclimate Education Centre which construction is ongoing is to provide income and employment opportunities for the communities in Lower River Region and other regions across the country. 

The organisation gathered participation from the various levels of community in the region to took part in the inception workshop organized by Sahel Wetlands Concern..

Sahel Wetlands Concern proposal to construct a Bioclimate Education centre is funded by the Global Environment Facility-Small Grants Programme (GEF-SGP) to construct a centre in Dumbuto village in Kiang West, LRR.

New online series cultivates a change in thinking about how to feed a growing global population

Rome, 02 December 2014 – As the International Year of Family Farming comes to a close, an engaging new online video series produced by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) promises to keep issues affecting the world’s 500 million smallholder family farms alive and topical.

Launched today at IFAD’s headquarters in Rome, AgTalks: Cultivating Change asks prominent and emerging thought leaders to share their insights and views on how to address the challenge of feeding an expanding global population at a time when many of the family farms that grow 80 percent of food in developing countries are faced with enormous obstacles such as insufficient national policies, limited access to markets and changing weather patterns due to climate change.

CSG President Attends Regional Training Programme for Collective Management

Mr. Ibrahim Ceesay, President of the Collecting Society of The Gambia

Mr. Ibrahim Ceesay, President of the Collecting Society of The Gambia (CSG) returned from a Regional Training Programme for Collective Management Organizations in Africa,  organized by the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) and Norwegian Development Cooperation Association (NORCODE) from the 5-7 November 2014 in Harare-Zimbabwe. 

The training introduced participants to new issues in the area of copyrights and related rights, the linkages between copyright offices and the collective management systems. The meeting also discussed the current status and challenges of collective management organizations in Africa.