International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)

SDG 13, climate - IFAD has pioneered channeling climate and environmental finance to smallholder farmers with the establishment of its flagship "Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme, ASAP". ASAP is incorporated into IFAD’s regular investment processes and benefits from rigorous quality control and supervision systems. IFAD places strong emphasis on facilitating the restoration and sustainable management and use of ecosystems and their services in projects and through policy engagement and partnership-building. Its programmes develop capacities and incentives for rural people to become better stewards of natural resources by fostering creation of environmental service markets for carbon sequestration, watershed management and safeguarding biodiversity. By 2025, IFAD’s objective is to reach 100 per cent climate mainstreaming. POLICY ENGAGEMENT (supporting agricultural institutions in IFAD Member States seeking to achieve international climate change commitments and national adaptation priorities); CLIMATE RISK ASSESSMENT (facilitating the systematic use of climate risk information when planning investments to increase resilience); WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT (increasing the participation of women in, and their benefits from, climate-change adaptation activities); PRIVATE-SECTOR ENGAGEMENT (strengthening the participation of the private sector and farmer groups in climate change adaptation and mitigation activities); CLIMATE SERVICES (enhancing the use of climate information for when planning investments to increase resilience); NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT & GOVERNANCE (strengthening the participation and ownership of smallholder farmers in decision-making processes and improving technologies for the governance and management of climate-sensitive natural resources); KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT (enhancing the documentation and dissemination of knowledge on approaches to climate-resilient agriculture).

SDG 1 (No poverty), SDG 5 (gender equality), SDG 10 (reduced inequalities). Poverty targeting, gender equality and empowerment are cornerstones of IFAD’s work to reduce rural poverty and food and nutrition insecurity. This puts people – rural women, men, youth and indigenous peoples – at the centre of IFAD’s development projects and policy engagement. This unique approach aims to support the development of inclusive, equitable, sustainable and resilient rural societies and agriculture sectors that are food secure and able to take advantage of the opportunities provided by growing markets, thus providing a springboard to rural transformation.

IFAD supported interventions typically include asset development (water mobilization, storage and distribution for agricultural uses by crops and livestock), together with the development of the related institutions (WUA, water boards, etc) and capacities (water management from plot to basin levels). They also include activities related to the possible restoration of natural resources needed (soil and water conservation, flood control, etc) and support to more inclusive local governance of the natural resources (watershed management committees, watershed development plans, etc). Interventions being implemented locally and based on local demand (expressed at design and/or implementation), interventions also include WASH activities.

IFAD gives pride of place to capacity- and asset-building for agricultural water poor rural people through the programmes it supports and its complementary policy engagement to enable them to realize their full potential. IFAD also engages with partners with expertise in other sectors, particularly health, education and water and sanitation to leverage impact on health and nutrition. IFAD interventions focus on addressing four main sources of environmental threat: resource degradation, pollution, loss of habitat and biodiversity, and natural hazards. In this vein, IFAD will pursue “multiple-benefit” approaches that simultaneously enhance biodiversity, increase agricultural productivity and lower greenhouse gas emissions from the agriculture sector while contributing to poverty reduction.