Briefing note
on IFAD's support to NEPAD in 2005
I. IFAD and its support to African development
Since its creation in 1977, the International
Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has been involved
with funding agricultural and rural development in developing
countries, particularly in Africa. From the initial onset,
Africa has been a key priority for IFAD. By the end of 2004,
African countries had received IFAD loans totalling approximately
USD 3.72 billion, to finance 328 projects in 51
countries. In April 2005, out of 220 ongoing IFAD supported
projects worldwide, 108 are carried out in Africa, representing
almost 50% of IFAD's overall current financing. IFAD has also
been providing grants to countries and institutions in the
African region, supporting agricultural research, environmental
impact assessment, training, rural poverty assessment studies
and community development.
II. Context of IFAD's support to NEPAD
Regarding the institution's core business,
IFAD has identified national and regional priority sectors
within its ongoing lending programme - as for example rural
infrastructure - and supports their promotion through highly
concessionary loans and grants. About 50% of IFAD's lending
programme is devoted to African countries. Furthermore, continuous
efforts are being made to mobilise additional resources to
support stakeholder dialogue/involvement as well as the Secretariat's
activities in the formulation of regional programmes.
IFAD's most significant contribution to the
NEPAD process is to enable major stakeholders advocating for
the rural poor, particularly national and regional Farmer
Organisations (FOs) as well as International Governmental
Organisations (IGOs), to play a more proactive role in supporting
the process. IFAD's support focuses at strengthening their
capacity in agricultural policy formulation and enabling them
to contribute grassroots input to the African consultative
forums.
Regional consultations took place in 2003,
and a continental synthesis workshop was held in Johannesburg
in February 2004. Aside from the shared farmers' continental
vision of African agriculture, a key outcome of the workshop
was the FOs commitment to continue supporting the NEPAD agenda
by further organising the provision of grassroots inputs to
the regional, sub-regional and national levels. Representatives
of the regional FOs recently visited the President of IFAD
to express their appreciation for the process.
A Memorandum of Understanding between IFAD
and NEPAD, to collaborate in organising stakeholder dialogue
as well as participatory project design, was signed on 28
June 2004. To help the NEPAD Secretariat access and use the
contributions from the African Civil Society, IFAD has prepared
a Support Programme for partnership building and collaboration
with civil society, including farmers' organisations, the
private sector and other key stakeholders in participatory
programme inception and design. More specifically, this programme
consists in the provision of technical assistance in organising
the participatory design of selected agricultural projects.
In addition, the concrete outputs in the form of projects
and programmes will help expand the institutional framework
for the implementation of NEPAD-sanctioned projects and programmes
(see below).
These activities are backed by thematic studies,
for example on innovative approaches for agricultural water
use, on competitiveness of agricultural products and access
to markets, on rural finance, as well as on empowerment of
the rural poor through community-based participatory approaches
or farmer field schools.
IFAD continued to collaborate closely with
the other core partners in the NEPAD-led CAADP Support Group
(FAO, WFP, AfDB, WB, UNECA, UNIDO, etc.), particularly benefiting
from the well-established traditional working relationship
with the other two Rome-based agencies, which are meeting
regularly to share information and coordinate their activities
together.
III. Support extended to NEPAD in 2005
During 2005 IFAD continued to support the
New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), in particular
working to ensure that farmers' organizations are fully involved
in implementation planning for the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture
Development Programme (CAADP).
IFAD supported consultations among national
and sub-regional farmers' organizations to enable them to
agree on a common vision for African agricultural development.
Based on these consultations, delegates were prepared to represent
the grassroots position at a series of CAADP regional implementation
planning meetings held by NEPAD.
In May 2005, IFAD took part in the G8/NEPAD
Summit on the Implementation of the CAADP held in Accra, Ghana.
The summit brought together government representatives, private
sector leaders, G8 members, heads of bilateral and multilateral
development organizations, regional economic communities,
and civil society and farmers' organizations, whose contributions
were among the highlights of the meeting.
At the summit, IFAD's Vice President stressed
that the organization would continue its work to support the
CAADP implementation process, enabling farmers' and professional
organizations to play an active part, and strengthening the
capacities of regional economic communities.
IV. Outlook
IFAD is committed to provide continued support
to NEPAD's stakeholders' capacity strengthening. By doing
this, special attention will be given to regional NEPAD initiatives
aiming at up-scaling innovations, such as New Rice for Africa
(NERICA), the dissemination of processing technologies and
the development of regional markets for cassava, improved
approaches for agricultural water use and the promotion of
rural finance at regional and continental levels.
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