Rural Development, Land Reform
2.3K views | +0 today
Follow
Rural Development, Land Reform

Rural Development, Land Reform

(1) Promoting sustainable agriculture and rural development (SARD) is the subject of chapter 14 of Agenda 21. The major objective of SARD is to increase food production in a sustainable way and enhance food security. This will involve education initiatives, utilization of economic incentives and the development of appropriate and new technologies, thus ensuring stable supplies of nutritionally adequate food, access to those supplies by vulnerable groups, and production for markets; employment and income generation to alleviate poverty; and natural resource management and environmental protection.  The Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) first reviewed Rural Development at its third session in 1995, when it noted with concern that, even though some progress had been reported, disappointment is widely expressed at the slow progress in moving towards sustainable agriculture and rural development in many countries. Sustainable agriculture was also considered at the five-year review of implementation of Agenda 21 in 1997, at which time Governments were urged to attach high priority to implementing the commitments agreed at the 1996 World Food Summit, especially the call for at least halving the number of undernourished people in the world by the year 2015. This goal was reinforced by the Millennium Declaration adopted by Heads of State and Government in September 2000, which resolved to halve by 2015 the proportion of the world's people who suffer from hunger.  In accordance with its multi-year programme of work, agriculture with a rural development perspective was a major focus of CSD-8 in 2000, along with integrated planning and management of land resources as the sectoral theme. The supporting documentation and the discussions highlighted the linkages between the economic, social and environmental objectives of sustainable agriculture. The Commission adopted decision 8/4 which identified 12 priorities for action. It reaffirmed that the major objectives of SARD are to increase food production and enhance food security in an environmentally sound way so as to contribute to sustainable natural resource management. It noted that food security-although a policy priority for all countries-remains an unfulfilled goal. It also noted that agriculture has a special and important place in society and helps to sustain rural life and land.  Rural Development is included as one of the thematic areas along with Agriculture, Land, Drought, Desertification and Africa in the third implementation cycle CSD-16/CSD-17.
(2) Land governance issues are often highly sensitive and politicized, and donors often find it difficult to intervene in land reform programmes. UNDP has a unique role to play in land reform due to its impartibility and its ability to bring together a wide range of stakeholders.

There are currently two initiatives in this area:

   Land Tenure Cross Practice Initiative on land rights empowerment for development.
   Support to SADC Land Reform Technical Facility and to land reform activities in the region.

Land Tenure Cross Practice Initiative: sustainable land management to combat desertification and drought. The objective is to promote and build UNDP capacity related to the critical and cross-cutting issues of land tenure practice areas to improve access to, productivity and sustainability of land resources through improved governance of natural resources. In this context, a global survey was undertaken on land governance issues in 120 UNDP country offices. In addition, a parallel survey was conducted to 63 land rights focused civil society organizations in 27 countries in collaboration with International Land Coalition.

The results generated from these surveys have helped in shaping and developing an action plan for UNDP’s engagement in land governance and the production of a booklet that provides guidance on how the UN can create more space on land governance issues for civil society voices. Regional summaries and national fact sheets highlighting particularly valuable projects of UNDP in this area have also been developed. A database of related projects has been created. Together these provide an insight into needs and perceptions by region, priority issues, suggested entry points, complementary partners, capacity needs, successful project modalities, etc.

Support to SADC Land Reform Technical Facility: In response to a call by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Council of Ministers, concerned about the linkages between land access and food security, a Regional Land Reform Support Facility has been established. The design of the Facility is based on a demand assessment from member clients, who highlighted a range of land related issues, many of which were common across multiple countries. Facility currently falls under the Environment and Sustainable Development Unit of the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources (FANR) Directorate, SADC Secretariat.
Curated by Dr Lendy Spires
Your new post is loading...
Scooped by Dr Lendy Spires
Scoop.it!

Rural Development in Eurasia and the Middle East: Land Reform, Demographic Change, and Environmental Constraints (9780295980478) $5.84

Rural Development in Eurasia and the Middle East: Land Reform, Demographic Change, and Environmental Constraints (9780295980478) $5.84 | Rural Development, Land Reform | Scoop.it
From www.dealnay.com - May 14, 2015 9:20 AM
(9780295980478) …by Turkic and Iranian peoples.
more...
No comment yet.
Sign up to comment
Scooped by Dr Lendy Spires
Scoop.it!

Ensuring financial inclusion for smallholder farmers

Ensuring financial inclusion for smallholder farmers | Rural Development, Land Reform | Scoop.it
From oecdinsights.org - May 12, 2015 3:31 PM
In the framework of the 2015 Global Forum on Development, which focused on “Financing sustainable development”, the OECD Development Centre, the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and the Better than Cash Alliance have developed a series of articles exploring the key issues and dimensions of financial inclusion. Improving citizens’ access to financing is key to support more inclusive social and economic development. Today’s post from Kameshnee Naidoo of UNCDF highlights the challenges of ensuring financial inclusion for smallholder farmers.

Joacquim is a subsistence farmer from Etatara in Mozambique. At 46 years, he is his family’s sole breadwinner, responsible for supporting his wife and three orphaned grandchildren. He lives in a traditional house, which he is unable to use as collateral and grows maize, sorghum, cassava and beans. They consume a lot of the produce themselves, and what is not consumed is sold. Joacquim earns $300-500 per month depending on the season and his produce.

In the attempt to understand the real livelihoods of lower-income individuals and households in markets such as Mozambique, the lack of data and field-based insights are challenging. UNCDF’s Making Access to Financial Services Possible (MAP) project, for instance, seeks to place demand-side analysis at the centre of the research process to focus the minds of multiple stakeholders on the end consumer. Better provision of appropriate financial services is an ancillary tool to wider development goals of enabling more sustainable livelihoods for low-income populations.

Millions of smallholder farmers like Joacquim live in or close to poverty and rely on agriculture for their livelihoods. Agriculture is fundamental to poverty reduction, driving economic transformation and ensuring growth includes the poor. Pathways out of poverty – whether through farming, employment, non-farm processing and trade or migration – are all heavily reliant on agriculture. As stressed in a report to the G20 co-ordinated by OECD and FAO, improving agricultural productivity — while conserving and enhancing natural resources — is an essential requirement for farmers to increase global food supplies on a sustainable basis and enhance their livelihoods. Over the longer term, increasing agricultural productivity plays an even greater role in economic development by enabling economic transformation through a new green revolution.

For agriculture to work better and improve the livelihoods of the rural poor, however, financial services need to work better in helping the poor to diversify their source of livelihoods and reduce hunger, become more resilient to periodic shocks, and prevent them from falling into poverty traps. The rural economy requires a wide range of financial services and products, and no single type of financial institution is capable of efficiently providing such a range. Microfinance, for example, can help to meet the short-term needs of farmers and other low-income residents and help to finance microbusinesses but it is not so suitable for larger businesses or for the accumulation of capital and innovations to raise productivity.

The OECD’s Multi-dimensional Review of Myanmar found that of all the segments of the country’s economy, the rural sector is the most underserved by the formal financial system. Only about 2.5% of total loans go to the rural sector, even though it accounts for 30% of GDP and two-thirds of employment. The rural population has considerably less access to formal financial services than the population in urban areas and some groups, such as landless farmers, are effectively cut off from such services.

The current rural financial system is unlikely to be able to support the broader development of the rural economy in Myanmar, particularly the improvements in productivity and the creation of non-farm job opportunities that will be necessary to allow the rural population to share in rising living standards and to avoid a disruptive exodus from rural to urban areas.

Apart from the basic loan products, other financial products and services have been quite limited. For instance, remittance services are particularly important to Myanmar’s rural sector, given that an estimated 2-5 million of its citizens are working in other (mainly ASEAN) countries and annually send a substantial amount of funds back to their families.

Finance is also needed for the agricultural investment that is a major catalyst for job creation, higher incomes and increased productivity across the economy as a whole. Financing agriculture and rural development more broadly, however, is complex. All of the challenges that hinder financial outreach in regular markets are larger in a rural context. Rural populations are poor, sparsely distributed, poorly literate and mostly engaged in informal activities. Data from the FinScope surveys and the MAP diagnostics indicate that agricultural activity — mostly smallholder farming — has low returns and is subject to high risks. Information failures like moral hazard, adverse selection, poor enforcement and danger of exploitation all exist on a large scale. For suppliers of financial services, the cost of operating in rural areas is often extremely high which, when combined with the low and risky returns available, leads to a large under-supply of financial services.

If financial services are to work better for rural and agricultural populations, they need to be based on an understanding of the needs of the users, which can be very different to those of urban populations. But financial service providers, governments and donors do not have a good understanding of the financial behaviour, usage and needs of rural populations and this restricts the effectiveness of rural outreach.

On the supply side, an increasing number of traditional and non-traditional financial service providers are innovating in the agricultural space, driven by a combination of declining profitability in more advanced markets and the huge potential offered by the unbanked millions in rural areas. Innovation is taking place in delivery models led by technology and building alliances between those who have assets and those who have low cost outreach; in risk management enabled by big data and leveraging existing relationships within the value chain (buyers and sellers, farmers’ associations, co-ops); in products driven by a better understanding of what farmers need, matching tenor and interest and repayment schedules to agricultural cash flows and addressing agricultural development with finance.

If the goal is to alter the dynamics of markets so that they work more effectively for the poor and economic transformation, we need to recognise the interaction of these market systems. In this regard, understanding how agriculture shapes the demand for financial services and how the rural context in which it takes place affects the costs, risks and returns to supplying financial services is central. A key component of the MAP diagnostic is to build a target market profile based on the main income generating activities of consumers, and their financial services access, usage and needs. The analysis is informed by the context of the country and ultimately seeks to meet the policy objectives of financial inclusion as a tool to improve welfare and poverty alleviation. As a large number of the countries in which the MAP diagnostics have been undertaken are LDC’s reliant on agriculture, it is able to present a more complete picture of the nature of demand and usage of financial services and potentially inform better ways of serving farmers ‘s needs.

Useful Links

OECD work on financial education

Report of the G20 on Sustainable Agricultural Productivity Growth and Bridging the Gap for Small-Family Farms

World Bank Financial Inclusion Data
more...
No comment yet.
Sign up to comment
Scooped by Dr Lendy Spires
Scoop.it!

Land ownership by foreign nationals in SA

From www.youtube.com - May 10, 2015 9:31 AM
Land ceilings and the prohibition of land ownership by foreign nationals is a sensitive topic in South Africa. During his budget vote debate in Parliament today, ...
more...
No comment yet.
Sign up to comment
Scooped by Dr Lendy Spires
Scoop.it!

▶ Ban Ki-moon on International Day of Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action - Video message - YouTube

From www.youtube.com - May 7, 2015 8:48 AM
United Nations - Video message from the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the occasion of the International Mine Awareness Day 2015 http://www....
more...
No comment yet.
Sign up to comment
Scooped by Dr Lendy Spires
Scoop.it!

Agriculture and rural development - European Commission

Agriculture and rural development - European Commission | Rural Development, Land Reform | Scoop.it
From ec.europa.eu - May 7, 2015 8:45 AM

Additional tools

Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development

The European Commission's Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development is based in Brussels under the authority of Commissioner Phil HOGAN.

With a staff of about 1000 and led by Director-General Jerzy Bogdan PLEWA, it is responsible for the implementation of agriculture and rural development policy, the latter being managed in conjunction with the other DGs which deal with structural policies.

It is made up of 11 Directorates dealing with all aspects of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) including farm support, market measures, rural development policy, quality policy, financial and legal matters, analysis and evaluation as well as international relations relating to agriculture.

Mission statement

The mission of the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development is to promote the sustainable development of Europe's agriculture and to ensure the well-being of its rural areas.

 

 The mission will be achieved through:

  • Promoting a viable food production, with the focus on agricultural income, agricultural productivity and price stability;
  • Promoting sustainable management of natural resources and climate action, with a focus on greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity, soil and water;
  • Promoting balanced territorial development, with a focus on rural employment, growth and poverty in rural areas.

 

The Directorate-General commits itself to achieving high standards in implementing its objectives and policies, and will in particular:

  • Manage the Union Budget in accordance with high standards of financial management, ensuring value for money, properly designed management and control systems as well as transparency;
  • Implement policy in an effective manner, in line with the Treaty and international obligations and the need to simplify legislation;
  • Contribute to other Union policies, in the fields of cohesion, competitiveness, employment, research, environment including climate action, food safety and external policies (enlargement, trade and development).

 

Read our Management Plan for 2014 [3 MB]

Directory

Who's who? Who does what?

Look it up in our Directory [204 KB] (also available as chart [161 KB] ).

Grants for information measures

The European Commission co-finances information measures relating to the common agricultural policy.

For more details, go to "Information measures relating to the common agricultural policy" .

Calls for tender

The Agriculture and Rural Development Directorate-General concludes public procurement contracts for the provision of services following calls for tenders.

For further information please consult the "Calls for tender" chapter on this website.

Selection procedures

The Directorate-General Agriculture and Rural Development organises selection procedures for temporary agents as necessary.

You will find further information on the page "Selection procedures for temporary agents".

Visit us!

Visit programmes including talks given by specialist speakers are provided for a wide range of groups, from students and general interest groups to farmers and farming organisations. They are free of charge.

For further information, contact us via e-mail.

NB: If you are interested in information conferences which cover not only agriculture but more than one other policy area or aspect of the work at the European Commission, please contact the European Commission's vsits service .

Contact

If you have questions or comments, please contact us.

more...
No comment yet.
Sign up to comment
Scooped by Dr Lendy Spires
Scoop.it!

El Salvador: UN rural development agency to boost support for youth, women and indigenous peoples

El Salvador: UN rural development agency to boost support for youth, women and indigenous peoples | Rural Development, Land Reform | Scoop.it
From www.ifad.org - May 7, 2015 8:40 AM
El Salvador: UN rural development agency to boost support for youth, women and indigenous peoples
Spanish

Rome, 22 April 2015 – A new strategy to improve the livelihoods of young people, women and indigenous peoples in El Salvador’s poor rural communities was approved today by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations agency specializing in rural development. The Fund’s 2015-2019 strategy for El Salvador will also pay special attention to addressing the impact of climate change in the country.

The strategy is backed by a planned investment of US$41 million between 2015 and 2021. This figure is in addition to $45 million in IFAD investments already approved in El Salvador.

These investments aim to increase employment opportunities, incomes and food security for small agricultural producers across the country. They do so by improving and diversifying family farmers' products, training smallholders to develop viable business plans, strengthening farmers' organizations and diminishing the effect of climate change on their production capacity.

The new country strategy and investments will contribute to the Government of El Salvador’s fight against poverty through its Development Plan 2015-2019: El Salvador: productive, educated and safe. The plan focuses on promoting development with social inclusion for the poorest households. Increasing agricultural productivity by supporting family farming is a key component of that effort.

“The progress made over the last few years is evident, but strong challenges remain ahead, especially for the most vulnerable groups within the rural population – youth, women and indigenous peoples," said Glayson Ferrari, IFAD’s Country Programme Manager for El Salvador.

“IFAD is determined to work hand-in-hand with the Salvadoran Government to promote the economic empowerment of these groups and, moreover, to make public spending and investments in rural areas more efficient, effective and equitable,” he added.

Poverty has steadily decreased over the last few years in El Salvador. Between 2000 and 2013, the percentage of households living below the national poverty line fell from 38.8 per cent to 29.6 per cent. This drop was mainly due to reductions in rural poverty, which fell by about 18 percent over that period. Nonetheless, the situation remains fragile for a great portion of the rural population.

Rural youth in El Salvador are in an especially difficult position. Many live in conditions of poverty and vulnerability, lack the productive and financial assets needed to launch sustainable ventures, and bear the brunt of the pervasive criminal violence that affects the country.

Ferrari noted that, without empowered youth, all efforts to bring about greater and more inclusive rural development will be in vain.

“Young people have the answers to many of the challenges rural areas face," he said. "They are the ones who can increase the use of technologies, develop new services and undertake more competitive businesses. Without engaging them, there is no possible future for rural development.”

IFAD’s strategy also aims to improve family farmers’ access to resources, technologies and information that will allow them to practice more sustainable agriculture and better adapt to climate change.

El Salvador is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world. Although the scars left behind by the devastating earthquake of 2001 have faded, recurrent droughts and frequent hurricanes result in heavy losses in agriculture, which particularly affect small farmers.

The new IFAD strategy for El Salvador stresses, more than ever before, collaboration with the government, the country’s civil society and the private sector. It has been designed after extensive consultation with 132 key representatives of different segments of society.

Establishing partnerships between the private sector and small farmers’ organizations has been central to IFAD‘s efforts in El Salvador. One example is a 2014 agreement struck by farmers' groups participating in three IFAD-supported projects, who are now selling their fruits and vegetables to one of El Salvador’s main supermarket chains.

Notes to editors:

Since 1985, IFAD has financed nine projects in El Salvador for a total of $279.2 million, of which $125 million came directly from IFAD and $135.5 million from the government and other international donors. These investments have benefitted some 138,000 households. The country has also received IFAD contributions in the form of grants totalling $21.8 million.
Learn more about IFAD country programme in El Salvador on IFAD’s website. Photos of the Fund’s operations in the country are available on request. Glayson Ferrari, IFAD’s Country Programme Manager for El Salvador, is available for interviews.



Press release No.: IFAD/27/2015

IFAD invests in rural people, empowering them to reduce poverty, increase food security, improve nutrition and strengthen resilience. Since 1978, we have provided about US$16.3 billion in grants and low-interest loans to projects that have reached some 438 million people. IFAD is an international financial institution and a specialized United Nations agency based in Rome – the UN’s food and agriculture hub.
more...
No comment yet.
Sign up to comment
Rescooped by Dr Lendy Spires from @The Convergence of ICT, the Environment, Climate Change, EV Transportation & Distributed Renewable Energy
Scoop.it!

How do you connect a country of 17,000 islands to the Internet? | Devex

How do you connect a country of 17,000 islands to the Internet? | Devex | Rural Development, Land Reform | Scoop.it
From www.devex.com - April 20, 2015 9:07 PM

As the world’s largest archipelago, Indonesia is not an easy place to deliver Internet services.

The rural areas that make up most of the country often lack any form of Internet connection. Even where there is a signal, few rural users can afford the cost of broadband.

Telecommunications companies charge much higher prices for Internet in rural areas, resulting in an increasing rural-urban divide in the country. While Indonesia’s 150 million potential users attract attention from tech companies, less than 20 percent of the country is online.

With support from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the government of Indonesia recently made a big step forward in changing this landscape. Indonesia’s National Broadband Plan, signed by former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in September 2014, will enable an estimated $23 billion in investment in affordable, low-cost technologies to deliver Internet to underserved schools, local governments, rural health clinics and citizens at commercially viable prices.

About 140 countries, both developed and developing, have broadband plans. But very few are implementable and address the majority of the population’s needs. Indonesia’s broadband plan is exciting in that it provides a clear pathway to connecting rural communities.

The plan takes on four important reforms to do this:


Click headline to read more and access hot link--


Via Chuck Sherwood, Former Senior Associate, TeleDimensions, Inc
more...
No comment yet.
Sign up to comment
Scooped by Dr Lendy Spires
Scoop.it!

Schemes to open within weeks as Rural Development Plan gets EU backing - Agriland

Schemes to open within weeks as Rural Development Plan gets EU backing - Agriland | Rural Development, Land Reform | Scoop.it
From www.agriland.ie - April 20, 2015 8:52 PM
The Department of Agriculture has received its 'letter of comfort' from the European Commission, which, in effect, is a stamp of approval for Ireland's Rural Development Plan (RDP).
more...
No comment yet.
Sign up to comment
Scooped by Dr Lendy Spires
Scoop.it!

Trends in sustainable development

From www.slideshare.net - April 12, 2015 11:03 PM
TRENDSIN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 2008-2009 AGRICULTURE RURAL DEVELOPMENT LAND DROUGHT DESERTIFICATION
more...
No comment yet.
Sign up to comment
Scooped by Dr Lendy Spires
Scoop.it!

Synthesis of the thematic reports on agriculture and land, rural deve…

From www.slideshare.net - April 12, 2015 10:56 PM
FOR PARTICIPANTS ONLY ESD/RIM/2007/1 12 November 2007 ENGLISH ONLY UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC in collaboration with…
more...
No comment yet.
Sign up to comment
Scooped by Dr Lendy Spires
Scoop.it!

Inclusive finance for food security and rural development challenges …

From www.slideshare.net - April 12, 2015 10:56 PM
  Inclusive  Finance  for  Food  Security  and  Rural  Development:  Challenges  and
…
more...
No comment yet.
Sign up to comment
Scooped by Dr Lendy Spires
Scoop.it!

Review of sectoral clusters second phase land desertificatiom forests…

From www.slideshare.net - April 12, 2015 10:56 PM
UNITEDUNITED ENATIONSNATIONS Economic and Social Council Distr. GENERAL E/CN.17/1995/6 6 February 1995 ORIGINAL: ENGLISH COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT …
more...
No comment yet.
Sign up to comment
Scooped by Dr Lendy Spires
Scoop.it!

Some highlights on national trends in sustainable forest management

From www.slideshare.net - April 12, 2015 10:55 PM
United Nations E/CN.17/2000/5/Add.1 Economic and Social Council Distr.: General 28 January 2000 Original: English 00-28449 (E) 020300 ````````` Commission on S…
more...
No comment yet.
Sign up to comment
Scooped by Dr Lendy Spires
Scoop.it!

Daniel Rosario, the EU Digital Single Market and the broadband in rural areas

From www.youtube.com - May 13, 2015 4:57 AM
Daniel Rosario, EU Commission spokesman for agriculture and rural development, talks about the "Digital Single Market" plan and, in particular, of the funds for ...
more...
No comment yet.
Sign up to comment
Scooped by Dr Lendy Spires
Scoop.it!

Deputy Minister Mcebisi Skwatsha - Rural Development and Land Reform Dept ... - AllAfrica.com

Deputy Minister Mcebisi Skwatsha - Rural Development and Land Reform Dept ... - AllAfrica.com | Rural Development, Land Reform | Scoop.it
From allafrica.com - May 12, 2015 9:41 AM
The year of the Freedom Charter and unity in action to advance economic freedom! Forward with radical socio-economic transformation!
more...
No comment yet.
Sign up to comment
Scooped by Dr Lendy Spires
Scoop.it!

Parliament TV: Broadcast Schedule - Parliament of South Africa

Parliament TV: Broadcast Schedule - Parliament of South Africa | Rural Development, Land Reform | Scoop.it
From www.parliament.gov.za - May 8, 2015 10:56 AM
Live now on Parliament TV #DSTV408, #BudgetVote2015 on Rural Development and Land Reform. See schedule http://t.co/XkucPsvEyL
more...
No comment yet.
Sign up to comment
Scooped by Dr Lendy Spires
Scoop.it!

UN rural development agency marks 30th anniversary year amid new challenges of climate change and rising food prices

UN rural development agency marks 30th anniversary year amid new challenges of climate change and rising food prices | Rural Development, Land Reform | Scoop.it
From www.unric.org - May 7, 2015 8:47 AM
UN rural development agency marks 30th anniversary year amid new challenges of climate change and rising food prices

Presidents of Ghana and Cameroon to address IFAD Governing Council


Rome, 4 February 2008 - Delegates from 164 nations convene in Rome on 13 and 14 February for the annual Governing Council (GC) of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).


The 2008 GC marks IFAD’s thirtieth anniversary. It comes at a time when climate change and rising global commodity prices present urgent new challenges and opportunities for smallholder farmers in the developing world.  IFAD, an international financial institution and a specialized United Nations agency for rural development, was founded following the food crisis of the mid-1970s.


The President of Ghana, John Kofi Agyekum Kufuor and the President of Cameroon, Paul Biya will deliver the keynote speeches at the opening ceremony.


The Minister for Agriculture of Saudi Arabia, Dr Fahd bin Abdulrahman bin Sulaiman Balghunaim, will also address the meeting on behalf of King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. 


The GC is IFAD’s highest decision-making authority and serves as a forum for international discussion on the most pressing issues in rural development in poor countries. The two-day GC will be held at the Palazzo dei Congressi, Piazza John Kennedy, 00144, Rome.


On 14 February, the GC will also host three roundtables with expert panellists from around the world. The themes of the roundtables are climate change, the expansion of biofuels and rising commodity prices (see below).


The GC will be preceded on 11-12 February by the biennial global consultation of the “Farmers’ Forum”. Farmers’ leaders representing millions of smallholders across the world from Nepal to Namibia will take part. The venue of the Farmers’ Forum will be the same as the one for the GC.


2007 IFAD loans and grants reach all-time high of US$597.4 million


In 2007 IFAD approved a record amount of new loans and grants totalling US$597.4 million, compared to US$556.8 million in 2006. Disbursements of loans already approved increased to US$398.7 million, from US$386.9 million. External funding for IFAD-supported projects nearly quadrupled to US$427.4 million in 2007, compared to US$108.3 million a year earlier.


At the end of the year, IFAD was investing US$3.2 billion in a total of 198 ongoing programmes and projects in 80 countries and one territory.


In December, the Executive Board approved IFAD’s proposed programme of work for 2008 for a total of US$650.0 million, a 10 per cent increase from that of 2007.


Western and Central Africa: Cape Verde and Ghana to reach MDG anti-poverty target


About 80 per cent of the Western and Central African population live on less than two dollars (US) a day, and about 50 per cent on less than one dollar. Despite positive trends in the region, only Cape Verde and Ghana are likely to reach the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by 2015.


Seventy per cent of poor Western and Central Africans live in rural areas, which is why agriculture must be the main driver for economic improvements in the region.


At the end of 2007, IFAD’s ongoing regional portfolio consisted of 45 programmes and projects in 18 countries, with a total IFAD investment of US$578.6 million.


Eastern and Southern Africa: Mozambique and Tanzania to reach MDG anti-poverty goal


Whilst there is economic growth in most of the region, only Mozambique and Tanzania particularly are expected to grow by seven per cent in 2007, the level required in Africa to realize the MDGs.


The proportion of people living on less than one dollar a day is declining marginally, but the absolute number of extremely poor people continues to rise.


About 70 per cent of the region’s population, around 230 million people, live in rural areas and more than half of them live on less than one dollar per day.


At the end of 2007, IFAD’s ongoing portfolio for the region consisted of 43 programmes and projects in 15 countries, with a total IFAD investment of US$694.3 million.


Asia and the Pacific: strong economic growth in some countries


Strong economic growth in Asia continued in 2007, with high growth rates for many developing countries in the region. The Vietnamese economy, for example, expanded 7.4 per cent in 2007 according to the International Monetary Fund.


However, the region is still hampered by natural disasters, livestock diseases, such as avian flu and an increasing income gap between rich and poor.


There is a wide economic disparity between IFAD borrowers in the region. Soon, some economies may have grown sufficiently that they could cease to qualify for IFAD’s lowest-level lending rates. Others –such as Afghanistan and Cambodia – are eligible for 100 per cent grant financing under IFAD’s newly adopted Debt Sustainability Framework.


At the end of 2007, IFAD’s ongoing regional portfolio consisted of 44 programmes and projects in 15 countries, with a total IFAD investment of US$891.5 million.


Latin America and the Caribbean: part of the region on track to meet MDGs


Despite continued rapid economic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean, poverty persisted at high levels during 2007, particularly in rural areas where poverty rates are about 54 per cent. Income inequality in the region remains among the highest in the world.


The region as a whole is on track to meet the first MDG target. But some countries, including Argentina, Bolivia, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Uruguay, look set to fall short.


Most borrowers in the region are middle-income countries, eligible for IFAD loans on ordinary and intermediate terms.


IFAD’s ongoing regional portfolio at year end consisted of 28 programmes and projects in 17 countries, with a total IFAD investment of US$502.7 million.


Near East and North Africa and Central and Eastern Europe: search for better water use and new trade links  


In the Near East and North Africa region, high levels of youth unemployment are a major concern. Making agriculture less water intensive in one of the driest areas in the world is also a priority.


Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States countries face the difficult tasks of reforming their financial sectors, developing new trade links and building effective institutions.


By the end of 2007, IFAD’s portfolio for the two regions consisted of 38 ongoing programmes and projects in 16 countries and one territory with a total IFAD investment of US$550.5 million.


IFAD Governing Council roundtables


Roundtable 1: Climate change and the future of smallholder agriculture. How can the rural poor people be a part of the solution to climate change?


Chair: Paolo Cento, Italian Under-Secretary of State for the Economy and Finance and Italy’s Governor to IFAD. Moderator: Francesco Nicola Tubiello, Research Scientist, Columbia University



For more information, please contact:


Farhana Haque-Rahman
Chief, Media Relations, Special Events and Programmes
Tel: +390654592485 /2215
f.haquerahman@ifad.org
more...
No comment yet.
Sign up to comment
Scooped by Dr Lendy Spires
Scoop.it!

Rural development

Rural development | Rural Development, Land Reform | Scoop.it
From www.ilo.org - May 7, 2015 8:42 AM
Rural development
The world-wide goals of sustainable growth, jobs, poverty reduction and equitable development cannot be achieved unless directly tackled at the rural level. Rural areas hold considerable potential for high return activities and productive livelihoods. However they are often held back by scant investment and decent work deficits, particularly, high under- and unemployment among youth and women, widespread child labour, informality and poor working conditions, limited social and labour law coverage, and weak organization among employers and workers.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), environmental concerns, and the food security and economic crises now provide an additional sense of urgency to explicitly target rural revitalization, and to muster the needed political and economic will and resources.

The ILO can make important contributions to rural development by supporting governments, employers and workers promote productive employment and decent work. It can draw on a vast array of rural-relevant approaches and tools in core technical areas, long-time experience, and a network of external partnerships.
A look, in photos, at what the ILO is doing to connect women in rural areas with decent work.
The ILO is working to promote skills in the rural sector and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, over 2,900 women entrepreneurs were trained to start their own business. Not only did the women say the training boosted their confidence, a follow-up survey showed that one new business has been created for every two entrepreneurs trained. Two jobs were created for every two entrepreneurs trained and two jobs were added to each new business which was started after training, including the job of business owner.
© Evan Schneider / UN
Paid employment opportunities in sub-Saharan Africa are scarce and the vulnerable employment rate, at 77.4 per cent in 2013, remained the highest of all regions. Africa’s population is growing faster than anywhere else. The informal economy in sub-Saharan Africa is around 54 per cent. Cooperatives are fundamental to economic empowerment in rural areas and small villages. With ILO training and financial support, micro-insurance has been provided for 10,000 cooperative members, mainly women. In Ethiopia, around 6,300 women and seven women’s cooperatives have benefited from credit and business management training.
© Sonii David / Community Eye Health
Women and girls are regularly exposed to unacceptable forms of agricultural work in rural areas, but are often more vulnerable than their male colleagues in accessing support and voicing their concerns. Measures to protect all workers from unacceptable hazards and forms of work directly benefit women and girls. In El Salvador, the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) is working to combat child labour in rural communities by increasing women’s capacity for employment or entrepreneurship. Diminishing household dependence on child labour is at the core of these efforts. To date more than 2,400 women have been trained through project activities.
© Ben Beiske / Flickr
The ILO is active in environmental rehabilitation in Haiti. An ILO/UNDP/WFP joint project for natural disaster prevention and environmental rehabilitation in the Artibone Region implemented water and soil conservation projects that provide income and enhance agricultural produce. The programme provided combined food and cash payments and generated jobs of a 25-day duration to 3,600 households. Half of these are headed by women.
© CE / ECHO / M. Bernardez
In the area of agricultural value chain development, the ILO is striving to ensure gender equality and prevent the repetition of traditional patterns of gender discrimination, where poor and uneducated women remain in lower paid, less skilled and more insecure work. In northern Peru, Café Femenino is a brand of organic coffee created, grown, processed and owned by women. The product is sold in the US and Canada as fair trade. Inspired by these efforts, women in other Latin American countries have begun their own Café Femenino programmes. Organic and fair trade premiums have led to better nutrition in coffee-growing areas, as well as improved sanitation, new wet-processing mills and many miles of new roads.
© Miguel Alvarez / AFP
Training for Rural Economic Empowerment, or TREE, is an ILO community-based programme in Asia and Africa. In rural Pakistan, female trainers educated rural women at home because social norms restrict them from getting trained outside their homes. As a result, many of the trainees experienced increased mobility, self-esteem and socioeconomic empowerment.
© ILO
Decent work must also include social protection. But for women living in rural areas, it can be difficult, if not impossible to access benefits like healthcare or cash transfers. In Cambodia, the ILO is working with the government to facilitate access to social protection through a single window service. The first offices of the Social Service Delivery Mechanism (SSDM) were opened in June 2014. By the end of 2016, all communes of the Siem Reap province should have an office, thus allowing rural women access to healthcare, cash transfers and other social protection benefits.
© ILO
Policies & Tools
  1. Rural Policy Briefs 

    Action-oriented, synthetic leaflets providing guidance to practitioners on how to drive job creation, poverty alleviation, crisis resilience and equitable development through rural growth.

  2. Rural-related Tools 

    Descriptive leaflets on over 50 ready-to-use tools to stimulate employment and decent work in rural areas.

Highlight

  1. Instructional material

    Toolkit on Poverty Reduction through Tourism in Rural Areas 

    The toolkit outlines the background to poverty reduction approaches and how the ILO is involved within the context of decent work and the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

ILO strategy

  1. ILO Governing body, March 2011

    Unleashing rural development through productive employment and decent work: Building on 40 years of ILO work in rural areas
    1. Paper presenting ILO's rural development strategy  
    2. Report supporting the strategy and recommending follow-up work 
Contact us
  1. rural@ilo.org 
Historical background

  1. Report

    Building on the ILO Rural Work Legacy 1970-2010 

    Stocktaking of the approaches, tools, work methods, achievements and lessons learned.

  2. Timeline 

    Milestones in ILO rural development work (1920-2011)

  • Family of farmers in the Nha Trang province, Vietnam
  • Woman employed in a small poultry breeding station, Egypt
  • Adolescents (taken out of domestic work) in rural school, Tanzania
  • Employees of a fruit and vegetable wholesaler. Argentina.
  • The auction room of the Bloemenveiling at Aalsmeer, the largest flower marketplace and exchange in the world, Netherlands
  • Woman working in a laboratory in an orchid farm, Thailand
  • Director of a boi-tech enterprise, which produces mushrooms, China
  • A labourer clearing the logs, Brazil
  • Reintegration of former child soldiers into civilian life, fixing a tractor motorization, Democratic Republic of the Congo
  • Woman cutting hay for cattle, Indonesia
  • Employees of a fish farm, Ecuador
  • Woman painting clay pots, Sri Lanka
more...
No comment yet.
Sign up to comment
Scooped by Dr Lendy Spires
Scoop.it!

Keynote address by HE President Jacob Zuma at t...

Keynote address by HE President Jacob Zuma at t... | Rural Development, Land Reform | Scoop.it
From www.scoop.it - May 5, 2015 12:50 AM
Keynote address by HE President Jacob Zuma at the launch of the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme at Muyexe Village; Greater Giyani Municipality, Limpopo Province 17 August 2009 Photo of: President Jacob Zuma The Premier of Limpopo, Mr...
more...
No comment yet.
Sign up to comment
Scooped by Dr Lendy Spires
Scoop.it!

Rural Development Conference - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Rural Development Conference - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development | Rural Development, Land Reform | Scoop.it
From www.oecd.org - April 20, 2015 9:01 PM
We are pleased to announce the OECD Rural Development Policy Conference, National Prosperity through Modern Rural Policy: Competitiveness and well-being in rural regions, which will take place on 19–21 May, 2015 in Memphis, United States.

The conference is hosted by the White House Rural Council with the support of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and Mexico’s Secretariat for Agrarian, Territorial and Urban Development.

Objective

This conference will mark the 10th meeting of the world’s leading policy officials, international experts and representatives from the private sector for discussing best practices for rural areas. This meeting will take stock of the evolution and progress made in rural development since the first conference held in 2002.

Who will attend?

The conference will gather together a wide range of leading international and national experts on rural development. Building upon the New Rural Paradigm framework; Promoting Growth in all Regions; and Rural-Urban Partnerships, policy makers and high-level officials both from OECD and non-OECD countries will discuss modern rural policies, and how the implementation of such policies contributes to national growth and well-being.

Information

There are no conference fees for this invitation only event.

Contact

For any questions please contact us at 10thRuralConferenceMemphis@oecd.org.‌
more...
No comment yet.
Sign up to comment
Scooped by Dr Lendy Spires
Scoop.it!

Communication for Development, Community Media and ICTs for Family Farming and Rural Development

Communication for Development, Community Media and ICTs for Family Farming and Rural Development | Rural Development, Land Reform | Scoop.it
From www.comminit.com - April 20, 2015 12:58 AM
"Communication for development, community media and information and communication technologies (ICTs) can help family farmers to acquire and exchange knowledge and information, strengthen rural instit...
more...
No comment yet.
Sign up to comment
Scooped by Dr Lendy Spires
Scoop.it!

Sustainable devlopment innovation briefs

From www.slideshare.net - April 12, 2015 11:03 PM
The global level of urbanization has recently reached the 50 per cent watershed. Urbanization will continue to expand rap- idly. It will touch upon the lives a…
more...
No comment yet.
Sign up to comment
Scooped by Dr Lendy Spires
Scoop.it!

An assessment of progress in promotinh sustainable rural development …

From www.slideshare.net - April 12, 2015 10:56 PM
FOR PARTICIPANTS ONLY ESD/RIM/2007/INF. 2 12 November 2007 ENGLISH ONLY UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC in collaboration…
more...
No comment yet.
Sign up to comment
Scooped by Dr Lendy Spires
Scoop.it!

Africa review report on agriculture and rural development main report

From www.slideshare.net - April 12, 2015 10:56 PM
Distr.: Limited ECA/FSSD/ACSD-5/4 August 2007 UNITED NATIONS ORIGINAL: ENGLISH ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR AFRICA Fifth Meeting of the …
more...
No comment yet.
Sign up to comment
Scooped by Dr Lendy Spires
Scoop.it!

Promoting sustainable agriculture and rural development chapter 14 of…

From www.slideshare.net - April 12, 2015 10:56 PM
UNITED ENATIONS Economic and Social Council Distr. GENERAL E/CN.17/1997/2/Add.13 22 January 1997 ORIGINAL: ENGLISH COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Fifth …
more...
No comment yet.
Sign up to comment
About Follow us Resources Terms Mobile Features
Facebook
X
LinkedIn