Make ‘rural transformation a reality,’ IFAD President tells Member States at annual meeting

Governing Council also endorses International Day of Family Remittances

 

 

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Rome, 17 February 2015 – The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) ended its 38th Governing Council meeting today by renewing its commitment to tackle persistent poverty and continued food insecurity by transforming rural areas in developing countries through better quality investments, ensuring greater equality and IFADinclusive growth that delivers economic benefits for women, youth and other marginalized people.

In his closing address, IFAD President Kanayo F. Nwanze said that “aid will work itself out of a job only once we have achieved rural transformation so that rural areas provide employment, services and opportunities for the three billion people who live in them, and particularly for those whose lives depend on smallholder farms.” This echoed Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam International, who spoke about the future of aid at the inaugural IFAD Lecture Series on the same day.

President of Ghana and King of Tonga call for greater investment to transform rural areas

IFAD President Kanayo F. Nwanze

Rome, 16 February 2015 – Development leaders and heads of state and government representatives gathered for the opening of the 38th Session of the Governing Council of the International Fund for AgriculturalDevelopment (IFAD) to call for additional investments towards the transformation of rural areas, which are key to the world’s food supply.

In his opening statement John Dramani Mahama, President of the Republic of Ghana, said that his vision for the country is “to transform the rural areas of Ghana in order to create a more diversified, better integrated, and modern rural economy. One that closes the gap between urban and rural areas in terms of access to services, opportunities, living standards, and prosperity.”

In Ghana, progress has been made, Mahama said, but only because benefits of development programmes “are tilted more to my farmers than to the bureaucrats.”

Mahama warned the international community that “neglect of the rural space can have dire consequences” and that “a strong connection between the rural and urban space cannot be taken for granted.”

HRH Tupou VI, the King of Tonga, conveyed his support to this year’s Governing Council theme, ‘Rural Transformation: Key to sustainable development’, and said that to make this transformation a reality there needs to be an increased focus on building the risk management and resilience capacity of rural people to manage a changing environment. Specifically, he called for increased access by rural communities to climate finance.

Unique global gathering highlights indigenous peoples’ role in fighting poverty and hunger

Rome, 11 February 2015 – Fifty representatives of indigenous Peoples' organizations from all over the world gather tomorrow at the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) headquarters in Rome to discuss the importance of traditional knowledge in eradicating poverty and hunger and transforming rural communities.

The participants in the forum represent more than 370 million self-identified indigenous peoples who live in some 70 countries around the world, many of them in rural areas.

“Indigenous peoples are long-valued partners for IFAD,” said Kanayo F. Nwanze, the President of the United Nations (UN) agency specialized in rural development. “From the local biodiversity they have protected and enhanced over generations, to their unique knowledge about the ecosystems that they manage – indigenous peoples’ traditional knowledge is a source of inspiration to everyone who works for sustainable rural transformation.”