IFAD social reporting blog

By Marie-Aude Even, Senior Regional Agronomist

During COP14, two side events and a publication sought to engage further policy makers in moving to a proactive approach through active engagement and economic assessment that shows positive returns in investing in pro-active management and watershed investments.

The first side event Changing minds on drought management was organized by GWP, WMO, WB, IDMP, FAO and UNCCD. It presented the publication WB & IDPM cost benefit of drought that promotes cost-benefit assessment to demonstrate that costs of managing drought crisis are much higher than investments required to prepare and mitigate drought. The publication includes a review of tools to assess drought impacts and an implementation framework to assess cost-benefits of action/inaction against drought.

A second session presented the GWP publication on mobilizing for a water secure world and facilitated a panel session where officials from Benin, SADC, Grenada and India water partnership presented their experience in mobilizing policy and resources. They emphasized the importance of multi-stakeholders process and public engagement through media, innovative information technology and education. Indeed, one official emphasized that policy makers are more easily mobilized through public opinion than by evidence. In addition, several participants emphasized the need to bring different sectors that are affected by drought, including industry, tourism, etc., to mobilize innovative financing.

10 step framework presented during the event and featured in the publication

A second side event was co-organized by GIZ, WOTR, W-CRES and the economics of land degradation and presented the Economic perspective on sustainable land and watershed management to combat land degradation in India. Such topics are also very important within IFAD portfolio in India and some related innovations were presented along the tech fair event. It presented various experiences to demonstrate effectiveness of an integrated multidisciplinary approach and utility of cost effective ecosystem restoration and watershed management implemented at community level. It emphasized the importance of empowering small-scale users and putting communities at the centre of implementation. Localized advisory services, including weather based advisory, are also crucial. Session included example on how community can manage and deliver water services and facilitate mobilization of various resources, including through women self-help groups. A presentation demonstrated positive cost-benefits of investing in watershed.

Finally, GIZ presented its long-term engagement to develop and promote holistic watershed and landscape based planning for environmental benefits. The latest programme is ProSoil that is implemented in various countries, including India. It emphasizes green innovation centre, secured land rights, food security and nutrition programs and soil protection and rehabilitation approaches. Implementation requires landscape and watershed approach, strong policy support alongside Land Degradation Neutrality process, institutional capacity development Soil Protection and Rehabilitation for Food Security in India and benefit from digitalization to provide local advise (e.g. NICE- Sustainable Soil Management, Harit ticket, market platform, etc.).

In conclusion, Ashok Dalwai, CEO of India National Rainfed Area Authority (NRAA) emphasized the importance of investing in rainfed agriculture, improving soil health, bringing “science for delivery” and to work with communities to ensure ownership and maintenance of water infrastructures and land investments.

By Marie-Aude Even, IFAD Senior Regional Agronomist

Droughts affect many regions, notably drylands, which include a third of world's population and majority of the world’s poor; produce 44 per cent of the world’s food; and support 50 per cent of the world’s livestock. Around 2.5 billion people live in water-scarce regions and water stress is one of the biggest risks for rural poor people. Thirty-eight per cent of IFAD investments have a water component, while IFAD investments in drylands are also crucial to mitigate drought. Drought was high on the COP14 agenda, and a global action on water was announced by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In his conclusion, the UNCCD Executive Secretary’s key message included “Recognizing the importance of drought and the need to support affected parties to better mitigate and manage risks”. Discussions enabled a stronger recognition of the importance of drought and the need to shift to more pro-active preparedness approaches.

COP14 established an inter-governmental working group on drought to better integrate it in the UNCCD and mobilize sufficient resources. African delegations and African youth were particularly pushing for more consideration and resources for drought, demanding a legally-binding drought protocol “with recognition and commitments from developed countries to address the humanitarian crisis we face,” once again underscoring the inextricable linkages at the nexus of Desertification Land Degradation and Drought, climate change, natural resource-based conflict, migration, and security.

Map presented during several side event and part of SPI publication on drought assessment

COP14 plenary sessions reported on the implementation of the drought initiative that promotes a paradigm shift – from a reactive and crisis-based approach to drought towards a proactive and risk-based one. Seventy-one countries have engaged in drought preparation plans with support from the UNCCD (against 30 targeted, and India joining recently); regional support focussed on Central Asia, the Southern African Development Community and Sahel. The toolbox that was launched addresses (a) drought monitoring and early warning; (b) drought vulnerability assessment; (c) drought risk mitigation measures and a decision support tool.

COP14 also discussed UNCCD Science Policy Interface (SPI) publications on 1) land-drought nexus, which emphasizes the role of “drought smart” land management to mitigate drought impacts, contribute to carbon sequestration and bring higher returns in drought prone areas and 2) drought and vulnerability monitoring, which was emphasized as priority topic by Africa group during plenary. Priority is also given to partnership and collaborations with several on-going initiatives and joint publications launched during drought day.

Participant from Malian delegation at seed producer cooperative in Lemo Bilbilo District.
Photo credit: S. Samuel, CCAFS

Emerging evidence show that interventions that can fully integrate multiple disciplines have greater potential to transform rural communities. However, in practice, issues related to youth, nutrition, gender and climate are often addressed separately. This affects the capability of our projects to fully meet their objectives and generate the desired outcomes.

Representatives from farmer’s organisations from southern African countries, from the Government of Mali and Ethiopia, IFAD project staff and donors recently participated in a one-week learning journey in Ethiopia, focused on transformative approaches to mainstream climate, gender, nutrition and youth. The purpose of the journey, organised by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and IFAD, was to learn and exchange on challenges and best practices to promote transformation approaches on mainstreaming climate change, gender, youth and nutrition into programming, as well as witness examples of rural transformation in Ethiopia.

Exploring pathways for transformative approaches in Ethiopia

At the Kulumsa Agricultural of Research Center, one of the many field visits, participants explored how private and public sectors could leverage climate services to bolster the resilience of food systems and agricultural livelihoods. ‘’It is great to see how they brought together young people into the promotion of improved technologies for smallholder farmers’’ said a participant from Madagascar’s farmers’ organizations.

At the fertile farm of Bekelech Belachew, a model female farmer, participants observed impressive water management and high biodiversity small-scale farming. ‘’Climate change does not affect both genders equitably. Here, she managed impressive results, always having something to harvest, while saving cash for herself and family,’’ said Judith Ruko from the Project for Restoration of Livelihoods in the Northern Region (PRELNOR) in Uganda, before questioning how the level of empowerment at household level can be replicated at the community level.

Bekelech Belachew and CCAFS East Africa Regional Program Leader Dawut Solomon at Bekelech’s climate smart farm.
Photo credit: Ilaria Firman, IFAD

After the learning journey, participants came back to Addis Ababa to explore more in depth different approaches to achieve transformative outcomes. It was recognized that because there are many types of farmers, there are also differentiated pathways for transformation to happen. However, the most important is to have a common understanding and be able measure it.

Findings from participant discussions on the development of transformation pathways.
Photo credit: Alice Brie, IFAD

In the words of Alex De Pinto from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), ‘’the concept of resilience for development can be key to connect these various components as it naturally combines the relations among human and natural systems. We shouldn’t‎ change the nature of our interventions, but focus more on co-benefits and enhance capacities for better risk management”.

11 October 2019
African Union Headquarters, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

The event was organized by Ecuador’s Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) 2019 Chair, in partnership with IFAD and the African Institute for remittances. Han Ulac Demirag, IFAD Country Representative delivered opening remarks, along with H.E. Santiago Chavez, GFMD 2019 Chair, H.E. Amira Elfadil, Director for Social Affairs, African Union Commission, and H.E. Mohammed Arrouchi, Ambassador Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Morocco to the African Union and UNECA, and Chair of the African Regional Forum on Sustainable Development.

With over 258 million people globally living outside their respective home countries, most migrants maintain a profound connection with their families and communities back home through remittances.

In 2018 alone, an estimated US$528 billion were sent to developing countries by migrants abroad. The trend for remittances marks a steep growth and suggests remittances will exceed US$8.5 trillion by 2030. In the African context, the data is just as impressive. Migrants’ remittances to and within Africa exceeded US$85 billion in 2018, benefitting over 200 million households.

Approximately 60 per cent of remittances are estimated to be sent to the 55 per cent of the population who live in rural areas. For millions of families across the world, remittances represent a vital source of income, allowing them to prosper and move out of poverty, improve household nutrition, health, education, as well as housing, water and sanitation. In other words, they themselves are contributing to achieving the SDGs. Evidence shows that remittances also represent a major source for savings and investment, which help create jobs.

The current question is how to make remittances count more, and how to help make them more catalytic for development. A number of global initiatives facilitate these discussions from commitment to action, including:

the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which sets the target to reduce the cost of sending remittances from currently 10 per cent to three per cent by 2030 (SDG 10.c)
the 2015 Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference for Financing for Development, which recognized the positive contribution of migrants for inclusive growth and sustainable development in their respective countries of origin, as well as in transit and destination countries
the 2018 Intergovernmental conference in Morocco on Global Compact for Safe, Regular and Orderly Migration (GCSROM), which reaffirms the role of migration in promoting faster, safer and cheaper transfer of remittances and foster inclusion of migrants (Objective 20).

The conference highlighted that remittances are crucially relevant part of IFAD’s work, representing a major opportunity for fostering job creation and supporting entrepreneurship in rural areas. IFAD’s work over the last 12 years on the development impact of remittances focused on making these flows count more where they are received. With more than 50 projects in 60 countries, IFAD explicitly aims to leverage the development impact of remittances to benefit recipient households and their communities. This year, with the support from the European Union, IFAD has launched PRIME Africa– the Platform for Remittances, Investment and Migrants’ Entrepreneurship in Africa. PRIME Africa will contribute for fostering viable local investments in rural Africa by helping to maximize the impact of remittances for millions of families.

The event provided a platform to exchange good practices and present new initiatives, foster synergies and discuss challenges and opportunities of migrants’ engagement in the countries of origin with all relevant actors in the African remittance market. To that end, achievements were presented towards SDG 10.c and Objective 20 of the GCSROM.

The outcome of the event will contribute to future discussions and bring forward the global debate on the contribution of migrants to sustainable development in Africa through better access and use of the remittances they send back home. The upcoming GFMD Summit in Quito, Harnessing migration for rural transformation and development is one such platform. IFAD is also organizing a Global Forum on Remittances, Investment and Development in June 2020 in Nairobi as a platform to build strong alliances for innovative solutions.

Read more: IFAD and remittances

By Marie-Aude Even (Senior Regional Agronomist), Michael Hamp (Lead Regional Specialist – Rural Finance, Market Access and Value Chain), Audrey Nepveu (Global specialist – Water & Rural infrastructure)

On September 11, the UNCCD secretariat dedicated the tenth day of COP14 to the theme of drought. The day brought together speakers to engage delegates in pro-active and gender sensitive drought management, present and discuss success and challenges of current tools and policies while IFAD contributed to the concluding session on resources mobilization.

UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw opened the day emphasizing that, "Drought is a major obstacle to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 15. Let us dust this villain, and mitigate climate change”. Rene Castro, FAO’s ADG for Climate, Biodiversity, Land and Water Department emphasized the “need to prepare, predict, plan. We need to work together across countries, UN agencies, NGOs, academia, indigenous and local communities, private sector, including family farmers and more”.

Drought day emphasized the importance of bringing women at the centre of drought integrated management. Deputy Minister of Environment of South Africa provided inspiring opening to engage all stakeholders to integrate fully gender in drought preparedness and management, highlighting that women empowerment and engagement can contribute to better drought management. The day then started with an all women panel on drought resilience, which featured representatives from science, policy and civil society. Men and women are differently affected by drought, men often having to migrate while women and children most often remain behind. Women need to be included in all process, actively engaged in restoration efforts and need to be given voice and tenure rights to benefit from restoration efforts.

Another session shared and discussed various integrated drought management plans while a full session was dedicated to present joint initiatives, launch publications and UNCCD toolbox that addresses drought monitoring and early warning; drought vulnerability assessment; and drought risk mitigation measures and a decision support tool.

Finally, the closing session brought together panellist from IFAD, World Bank and African Risk Capacity to discuss innovative ways to mobilize finances. Marie-Aude Even from IFAD provided first the draft framework from the finance working group of the Global Framework on Water Scarcity in Agriculture Water scarcity in agriculture program (WASAG). The framework provides three pillars: i) identify value that can be generated by investing in drought management and identify who benefits or suffers from it; ii) develop a de-risking strategy for each stakeholder, including insurance, risk mitigation and adaptation mechanisms and iii) mobilize other actors and finances. She then provided examples of how IFAD works on such different pillars: i) creating value through its investments; ii) working in partnership to develop insurance and guarantee mechanisms (examples of PARM, WRMF); iii) facilitating mobilization of inclusive finances for the rural poor, including innovative pro-poor public-private partnership and mobilization of remittances. She also reiterated the importance to leave no one behind and to identify mechanisms to ensure inclusion of poorer population, women and especially in most remote areas. She then provided example of the Upper tana water fund, which mobilizes downstream private sector actors to finances support to local agricultural communities in conserving upstream watershed. She concluded by evoking potential contribution of innovative digital financing in securing cash flow and facilitating engagement of various actors in water and landscape projects (example from CGAP).

Jean-claude Bidogeza, Lead Economist, Africa Risk Capacity, presented achievements of the initiative in supporting countries adopt early warning, contingency plans, insurance and accountability. Thirty-two insurance policies have been signed, and some countries already benefited from payouts. Challenges include difficulties for government to pay premiums, government turnover and limited regulatory frameworks.

Finally, Anupam Joshi, World Bank, provided World Bank experience in India in facilitating convergence of various welfare programmes at community level as well as mobilizing women self-help group to mobilize finance for water services. A similar approach has been used in various IFAD investments in India (see for instance CAIM completion report).

By Marie-Aude Even, IFAD Senior Regional Agronomist

On 5 September 2019, IFAD participated to the UN-water side event - Dealing with drought: a multifaceted view that shared country integrated drought management programmes that associate land and water conservation, as advocated by UNCCD drought initiative.

The International Organization on Migration highlighted that drought leads to increased migration and therefore we need to invest in drought mitigation and preparedness. They presented the integrated drought management framework. Vulnerability assessments review people and community resilience, maps land and ecosystems and measures water balances to identify drought risks and prioritize actions.

Turkey presented its country work on implementing integrated and concerted watershed approach to fight land degradation and retain water. The programme includes afforestation, terracing, dune fixations and small water collection infrastructures as well as watershed monitoring system.

South Africa presented its pro-active policy to drought that builds on a solid drought monitoring system associated to early warning systems and risk mitigation plans that includes different water restrictions for domestic and agricultural water use. Their system enabled them to face severe drought and start recharge their ground water. The presenter insisted on the importance of comprehensive drought monitoring system, institutional coordination and people engagement, short response time and innovations to facilitate behavioural change (water consumption data is public and rewards best consumers). The challenge is then to keep stakeholders engaged when drought risk decreases.

Tunisia presented its national drought plan that associates solid monitoring in connection with the Sahel observatory, early warning and alert system and implementation which requires strong institutional capacities and coordination. Promoting sustainable land management and ecosystem restoration is key to increase water retention and mitigate drought impacts.

Soumaila Abdoullaye, Coordinator of the Family Farming Development Programme (ProDAF) in Niger, presented the experience from IFAD supported ProDAF in mitigating drought. The approach includes both large investment in water infrastructures to recharge ground water, smaller infrastructure to retain water and investments in ecosystem restorations and sustainable land management practices.

An institutional framework is also important and includes a strong participatory process, multi-sectorial committees to manage water among different water users, including women, who manage domestic water use. The project also includes a monitoring system to measure water recharge and salinity.

By Elena Flores Ruiz

On Friday, 11 October 2019, we had the pleasure to celebrate the fifth edition of the IFAD Gender Awards at our headquarters in Rome, kindly sponsored by the Government of Spain.

Project representatives and implementing partners, IFAD member states, staff and development practitioners, gathered at IFAD to the achievements of the best-performing projects in meeting the strategic objectives of the IFAD Policy on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment and have driven innovative changes.

The event offered also an opportunity, in anticipation of the International Day of Rural Women (15 October), to celebrate women and girls who play a key role in rural areas and those development efforts that contribute to gender transformation improving the lives of thousands of rural women and girls.

In rural areas, women and girls represent a keystone for gender equality, transformation, empowerment and change. Through the winning projects, there was an increase in household income, a greater participation of women in decision-making and a significant reduction in women’s workload by providing them with savings. We want these projects become sustainable over time.

From West and Central Africa, the Youth Agropastoral Entrepreneurship Promotion Programme from Cameroon (GFP: Ndomo Ngono Josiane Nadège) looked to innovate and integrate the specific needs of women, such as medical care and nutrition subsidies, and focused on the development of business managed by young people in Cameroon.

From Latin America and the Caribbean, the winner was the Sustainable Rural Development Programme for the Northern Region (PRONENORTE) (GFP: Neida Mollinedo). It created new business plans that allowed community savings, income generation through natural resources and better living conditions. To boost their economic empowerment, the project is supporting women in various ways.

From East and Southern Africa was the Sustainable Agricultural Production Programme, in Malawi (GFP: Kenneth Welman Chaula), that boosted the role of women in decision-making, representing the 30 per cent of women in decision-making bodies. Its aim was to promote a household approach in target villages, reducing the workload of women and improving access and control of assets and benefits. It also focused on enhancing the project focuses on enhancing the agricultural productivity and food security of rural women and their families through simple, affordable income‑generating technologies.

From the Asia and the Pacific Region, in Pakistan, was the Pakistani Southern Punjab Alleviation Project (GFP: Muhammad Imran Nazir), a climate-safe project that promoted hygiene and created functional houses with running water. Also in this project women benefited from vocational training that led to a higher primary school enrolment. The project has adopted a unique poverty graduation approach for the ultra-poor and poor.

From the Near East, North Africa and Europe was the Murat River Watershed Rehabilitation Project in Turkey (GFP: Duygu Arduç). It helped to mitigate the impact of environmental disasters and helped women to earn more income from agricultural production. The project introduced innovative energy-saving technologies. To date, 3,200 households have received solar panels, 2,300 have benefited from insulation and 4,600 are using energy-efficient stoves. This has contributed to a significant reduction in women’s workload.

The event was accompanied by a share fair where the winning projects presented a wide range of products (art crafts, textiles, chocolate, honey and jam, etc.). It offered an opportunity to interact with the project representatives and know more about programme activities.

Taking place each two years, we have been proud to honour these champions and their achievements on gender equality and women empowerment.

By Isabelle Stordeur

October 2019

Responding to the ambitious goals of the Agenda 2030 requires a culture of results. This is to ensure that our activities on the ground are relevant, inclusive and cost-effective and its impact recorded so as to contribute to the corporate trend towards results-based decision making.

The NEN division is fully committed to contribute to these corporate efforts and strengthen its capacity to regularly measure results throughout project implementation.

To this effect, we have conducted a detailed review of the performance results of our operations, with a view to identify the best performing projects of the year 2019, in the areas of Monitoring & Evaluation, Gender Empowerment and overall Implementation.

As a result, the following 3 operations were selected:

Jordan REGEP for Best Gender Empowerment
Georgia AMMAR for Best M&E
Moldova IRECR for Best Overall Implementation

An award ceremony was held on 22 October 2019 in the context of the NEN Regional Strategic Forum, attended by government representatives and project staff from over 19 countries of the region. Awardees were enthusiastic and proud to be recognised publicly for the excellent results achieved and motivated other project teams present at the ceremony to increase their efforts towards improving performance.

The Rural Economic Growth and Employment Project in the Kingdom of Jordan (REGEP) strengthens horticulture value chains, boosts rural financial services and promotes entrepreneurship among rural populations. The project empowers women by encouraging their participation in farmer field schools and in savings and credit groups. So far, it has formed or strengthened 238 savings and credit groups with 3,192 members, 60% of whom are women. Women have been empowered through focused mentoring programmes on leadership and business creation skills. They have used the savings to invest in private businesses such as plant nurseries, greenhouses and mushroom cultivation. The project is not only increasing women’s access to and control over assets, but also their empowerment to take on leadership positions. The purchase of equipment through grants has reduced women’s workload, improved the efficiency of their production and, and contributed to increased income due to better farming and processing practices.

Following the positive results of the Saving & Credit Groups program on women's leadership, they have been linked with the governmental programme called IRADA. Around 9 of the established groups were registered as cooperatives under the Ministry of Social Development. Women accessing IRADA’s services report high impact on their businesses through accessing support and food safety certification.

The Agriculture Modernization, Market Access and Resilience Project (AMMAR) in the Republic of Georgia is in its 4th year of implementation. Its Development objective is to stimulate investment in climate-smart agricultural value chains to increase the incomes and strengthen the resilience of smallholder farmers.

The M&E Officer has participated in the PRIME training on M&E basics organised by CLEAR and IFAD. As a result, she has set up a very reliable system generating data and analysis aggregated by gender, age group, municipality and other characteristics linked to the investment done through IFAD grants. The M&E system is producing adequate and reliable information to monitor project implementation performance and measure outputs and outcomes. The Project has also conducted an adoption survey to measure the level of adoption by the farmers of smart agricultural techniques. They have also conducted an Outcome Survey to appraise the project impact on grant recipients and households benefitting from the small infrastructures. It is worth noting that the Project Manager was involved in all stages for the preparation of these surveys and the results have been used to make adjustments to the project implementation.

The Inclusive Rural Economic and Climate Resilience Programme of the Republic of Moldova is the sixth IFAD project in the country and it builds on previous investments in conservation agriculture, value chain development, infrastructure, financial services and capacity building. Its goal is to enable poor rural people to raise their incomes and strengthen their resilience.

The Project performance has been rated fully satisfactory in 2018 for 20 Performance criteria out of 28 criteria assessed by IFAD, and its M&E and Financial Management performance have been rated highly satisfactory.

The project has exceeded most of its targets for the key outcomes. About 1,500 households are reporting improved asset ownership index, exceeding target by 124%. About 410 rural enterprises are reporting an increase in profit, exceeding the target by 135%. According to interviews, 71% of the beneficiaries of infrastructure schemes, youth and micro-entrepreneurs indicate an increase in production. As a result of the loans, small and medium enterprises increase their production area by 22%, and production by 65% and productivity of fruit crops increased by 42%.

By Ilaria Firmian, Regional Specialist, APR, IFAD

KLMPE participants presenting a project experience on participatory mapping

Knowledge management and policy engagement are both high on IFAD’s agenda, however, I always struggled to find actual ways of effectively linking one to the other. The IFAD Country Office in the Philippines has developed over the years a process to make this happen: the Knowledge Learning Market and Policy Engagement (KLMPE).

Since 2014, the Philippines has been actively celebrating the International Year of Family Farming, through the KLMPE Conference. Each year, some 250 farmers from IFAD co-financed development projects and partners from across the country meet with government agencies such as the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and the Department of Agriculture (DA), civil society organizations and development partners to share and discuss best practices and policy issues on family farming.

I had the opportunity to participate in the KLMPE 2019 last week in Manila. This year, in support of the Global Launch of the United Nations Decade of Family Farming 2019-2028 (UNDFF), and to celebrate the anniversary of the International Year of Family Farming (IYFF+5), the KLMPE Conference focused on ‘Strengthening the Role of Youth in Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development’.

The KLMPE Conference is an annual milestone initiated by IFAD in partnership with CSOs, national farmers organizations, DA, DAR and FAO in 2014 to launch the International Year of Family Farming. Building on the KLMPE, the Agriculture and Rural Development Knowledge and Policy Platform (ARDKPP) was set up in 2017 to carry out the policy engagement work beyond the annual event.

This year, the ARDKP with the support of IFAD and FAO led a number of consultations with farmers and FOs ahead of the conference, and developed a baseline study on family farming priorities in the Philippines. The KLMPE participants validated the results of the surveys and consultations. KLMPE therefore became the de facto entry point for the development of the UNDFF National Action Agenda. The Agenda covers seven pillars with very concrete actions, and a Statement of Support for the Agenda was issued at the end of the Conference.

The KLMPE Case Studies themes and the Pillars of the UNDFF National Action Agenda

In the coming months, the ARDKP members will be involved in continued advocacy to bring to the government’s attention specific policy proposals identified during the KLMPE and included in the National Action Agenda for their enactment into laws.

Some of them, such as the National Land Use Act and the Magna Carta of Young Farmers, have been on the agenda since last year and the government representatives attending the KLMPE were put under pressure to take quick action on those.

In addition, the farmers expressed concerns on the implementation of the recent Rice Tariffication Law, allowing for the removal of import quotas, taking off the cap on rice imports and placing tariffs on imported rice, because of the lack of sufficient safety nets or transition measures for local farmers. They called for an effective rolling out of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF), which is meant to use the taxes from the tariffs to fund mass irrigation, rice storage, and research initiative programs for the benefit of farmers.

Interestingly enough, I learned from Yolando Arban, ex IFAD CPO and one of the leaders of the event, that the KLMPE evolved from a more traditional model of knowledge exchange fair, initiated as far back as 2007, into a real policy engagement process in 2010. One of the early - yet outstanding - successes of the knowledge exchange fair was to convince the government - through a study recommended as an outcome of the fair - to lift restrictions on implementation of rural infrastructure projects, that were affecting a large number of municipalities unable to provide a counterpart value for the infrastructure

This experience made the knowledge fair stakeholders realise that it was worth bringing to the attention of policy makers the gaps in policy implementation, rules or regulations raised by farmers, based on their reality.

Since then, policy engagement made its way into the official title of the conference. Now every year, the farmers’ agenda is systematically tracked through the intense days of KLMPE consultation, with IFAD and other organisers pushing it up to the legislative level.

With Chile holding the presidency for the ongoing 25th Conference of the Parties in Madrid, Latin America and the Caribbean were always likely to feature prominently throughout proceedings. That proved to be the case at a CCAFS organised event entitled - Raising ambition for climate action in Latin America through transformation of food systems. With the overarching objective of catalysing a food system transformation across Latin America, participants from governments, academia and development institutions were invited to give their unique insights on what works and ways in which these interventions can be brought to scale.

During the keynote speech, Francisco Meza of the Universidad de Chile outlined the precarious state of affairs in the region-increasing urbanisation, ballooning energy needs and a rapidly changing climate, including the increased incidence of extreme events like droughts. These impacts have manifested themselves in declining yield trends. Deissy Martínez Barón, Regional Program Coordinator for CCAFS in Latin America, echoed these sentiments, highlighting the need for more dialogue from the local to the national levels. Agriculture can only be made more sustainable through value chains and dietary shifts. “Nothing short of an entire system transformation is required. The time to act is now,” said Martínez.

Following the keynote address, the expert panel gave some insight into country level perspectives. Walter Oyhantcabal, Director of the Agriculture & Climate Change Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture in Uruguay, underlined the need to build a triangle between government, farmers and scientists. In that way, all stakeholders can collaborate when forging the best way forward. Interestingly, Uruguay is adopting an umbrella framework on the concept of bioeconomy, which could be extrapolated to the global level. At the field level, Ana Cristina Quiros, Vice-Minister of the Costa Rican Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, spoke about the benefits of interventions with a proven track record. Using the example of agroforestry, Quiros explained that the strategic use of trees represented an easy entry point that increased the quality of coffee. Additionally, the government provided incentive by rewarding farmers for implementing sustainable practices like planting trees and farming organically.

Javier Aliaga of the Caribbean Network of Fair Trade Small Producers and Workers (CLAC) emphasised that farmers are not a homogenous group, and depending on the circumstances they face a diverse range of issues. It is therefore crucial that each farmer employ tailor-made strategies that fit the unique challenges they face.

Speaking from a development perspective, IFAD’s Margarita Astralaga pointed out that farmers often lack the means to protect themselves from the mal-effects of climate change. To compound matters, there is a notable dearth of investment in adaptation from both private and public sources. This, coupled with issues related to geographic isolation and a consequent lack of local-level data, means that investing in value chains is fraught with risk. Development organisations like IFAD need to channel finance to rural smallholders in order to mitigate this risk and crowd in additional funding. “Private sector support is crucial if we want to transform food systems under climate change, but we need to de-risk investments in agriculture and use blended finance,” said Astralaga. However, additional finance alone will be insufficient to catalyse food systems transformation. The policy environment needs to be recalibrated in order to incentivise farmers and other value chain actors to adopt sustainable practices, including the realignment of subsidies to reward farmers for the ecosystem services they provide.

In closing, the World Bank’s Martien van Nieuwkoop reiterated the points made by the panellists, adding that the role of farmers needs to redefined in the 21st century, emphasising their role as the custodians of biodiversity and ecosystem services. “Farmers are not just food producers, but are responsible for maintaining ecosystem services. They should be rewarded for that too," said van Nieuwkoop.

Overall, while the event provided an opportunity to showcase examples of interventions that can drive food systems transformation, it was abundantly clear that concerted action and coordination are needed among all actors throughout the entire food system.

IFAD at COP 25

Drawing on the latest scientific findings from the Transforming Food Systems Under a Changing Climate initiative, the CGIAR’s Research Programme on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) organised an event at COP25 to look at the science-based solutions to catalyze a transformation across food systems in Latin America, thereby enabling countries to enhance their ambition for adaptation and mitigation.

Speaking at the event IFAD’s Director for Environment, Climate and Social Inclusion, Margarita Astralaga said that increased investment and commitment from a wide range of stakeholders are clearly needed to kick-start efforts to galvanize action towards food system transformation in the face of an impending climate crisis.

“Despite growing levels of climate finance, there is currently a dearth of investment in climate change adaptation. In 2016, US$455 billion was invested in climate finance, but only US$22 billion of this went to adaptation, with only US$5 billion going to agriculture, forestry, land-use, and natural resource management,” said Astralaga.

Effectively and efficiently targeting the most vulnerable rural stakeholders is paramount if inclusive food system transformation is to be achieved. In this regard, IFAD recently revised its Operational Guidelines on Targeting, reflecting the 2030 Agenda and the leaving no one behind principle.

At the project level, these guidelines are manifested in a number of actions. When designing a project, initial poverty and target group analyses are conducted in the project area. This involves a combination of methods including rapid assessment surveys, interviews, focus groups and utilising results and data from impact assessments or existing projects to guarantee effective targeting.

The risk associated with investing in projects related to food systems needs to be reduced. Due to an array of factors including market fluctuations and climate change, investors already see agriculture as a high-risk, low-return area for investment.

However, blending grant finance with loans enables projects to integrate climate adaptation in a cost effective, low risk and appealing manner. Once the benefits of adaptation become clear, the prospect of investing in food systems becomes more attractive to governments and the private sector alike.

This has certainly been the case with IFAD’s Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP). From approximately US$300 million, ASAP has so far been able to build the resilience of over 3.1 million people, bring 760,000 million hectares under climate-resilient practices, build the capacity of people and community groups to manage natural resources and climate risks, and engage in policy dialogue.

Governments have already responded, with the governments of Mozambique, Mali and Bolivia upscaling climate adaptation projects as a direct result of the positive effects and insights gleaned from ASAP grant financing.

Similarly, ASAP grant financing has stimulated increased interest and investment from the private sector by lowering risk. For every dollar of ASAP investment between US$0.77 and US$2.85 were leveraged from the private sector, affirming the efficacy of the programme in meaningfully engaging and collaborating with the private sector.

International bodies also have a large role to play in increasing the deployment of grant financing. Bodies like the Green Climate Fund (GCF) have the potential to catalyse massive investment from governments and the private sector. With US$9.78 billion pledged in replenishments for the next four years, the GCF is well placed to provide grant funding for adaptation to countries in Latin America.

Indeed, IFAD has agreed to implement a project in conjunction the GCF in Belize. The project will adopt a two-pronged approach consisting of simultaneously fostering climate resilient production practices and improving access to markets. The project involves US$6 million in grant financing that will enable smallholders to pilot climate resilient production practices across an array of value chains.

IFAD’s Climate Action Report 2019 was released this week at the UNFCCC COP25 in Madrid, Spain.

The report is designed to inform as well as inspire those in the global community and in the field working to overcome the challenges of climate change and rural poverty reduction.

Liza Leclerc is IFAD’s Lead Climate Change Specialist. She spoke to IFAD’s podcast Farms. Food. Future. about the report and the challenges we face as move forward.

The Climate Action Report 2019 is the second edition of this report – what does it set out to do?

The report is particularly important right now as it highlights the work IFAD is doing to support smallholders addressing climate change in terms of both adaptation and mitigation. As you know agriculture and land-use is the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions after energy. More importantly, I think this year is a year of numbers – numbers in terms of climate change action and the climate change action at IFAD. The report highlights how we are making progress towards spending 25 per cent of IFAD’s programme of loans and grants on climate focused areas.

Why is this important? Well as we recently saw from the World Meteorological Organization’s report released here in Madrid, they confirmed that 2019 is already one of the top three hottest years since climate records began. The first and second hottest years were the previous two years, so we are definitely seeing a trend.

We also know from the report that we are now on track for a 3 degree Celsius warming above pre-industrial levels. We have already seen the world warm by 1.1 degrees and we expect that when we hit 2 degrees there will be a tipping point for ecosystems, as we move on the way towards a three degree world.

In the last three years, as well as being the hottest, we are also seeing that food security is actually on the increase. What is concerning in our client countries where we work is that climate change is one of the main drivers of this. In 26 out of 33 countries effected by growing food-insecurity climate change is a driver along with things like conflict. Conflict itself is related to climate change though such things as droughts, floods and cyclones leaving people displaced from their homes. In 12 of the 33 countries climate change is the main driver of increasing food insecurity.

What would you say are the main areas where IFAD has moved on its climate work over the past 12 months?

I think our journey started in 2012 with IFAD’s Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP), which is IFAD’s adaptation fund that has supported 41 countries on climate change.

As we have implemented this programme we identified activities that work really well which we want to replicate. We also have a better idea of things that don’t work so well and are not as effective. In doing all this we realised we need a number of tools to insure we do the right thing. So 2019 was a natural evolution of this work started back in 2012, where we are solidifying these tools as we have a better idea of what to do, where to do it and how much it costs.

How would you surmise how IFAD goes about doing climate change differently?

I think the primary thing is that we are the only UN specialised agency and International Financial Institution (IFI) that focuses on smallholders and rural development. This is so important because 40 per cent of the world’s population lives in rural area in developing countries, and most of these people are poor. Because we are an IFI we also have significant investments that we can build on and build our climate change portfolio on.

I think it has been interesting this year to see the issue of plastics and micro-plastics topping the agenda in peoples’ minds and climate change as well. But the third area we keep hearing about, and is a recurring theme in the media, is food insecurity and that the food system are broken.

I feel frustrated sometimes because a lot of the issues smallholders face to meet their food security needs are caused by global problems, such as climate change but also the growing demand for meat and dairy from the developing world.

In many ways the decks are being stacked against them so that is why events like this, COP25, are so important to mobilise the global community and address the problems facing rural people in developing countries. IFAD is well placed to understand the interaction between those two.

What will we be seeing in 2020 – what’s next?

I think you will see us placing an increased emphasis on food security. I think this concern from the global community related to food systems and the negative trend around food security will be even more central to the work that we do at IFAD.

One of the things that we have learnt from the past is that whatever measures we put in place when we work with countries, they need to be bottom up. So we will be engaging even more with countries and engaging even more with communities to really make sure that they get the tools and the resources they need to take development in to their own hands and design the life they want to have for themselves and their children.

IFAD at COP25

Veth Lay lives in Kdei Run Village in Cambodia and is the head of a family of five. Their livelihood was in a difficult situation with their main source of income from rice farming and construction work.

In 2018, Veth was selected by the Green Innovet Cam (GIC) project to test solar egg incubators. To take part she contributed US$625 for a cage, chicken house, feed, incubator, hens and the solar energy system for 500-egg production. She received training on chicken hatching, chicken raising, vaccination, breeding, feeding cage construction, prevention, treatment and operating the equipment.

Before her involvement in the project, she raised chicken using traditional practices, without cages, vaccinations or prevention and feeding practices.

Now, chick hatching is her main source of income for her family. She can earn up to US$400 per month. Her increased earnings has also enabled her to expand her business. She not only sells chicks, but also shares her knowledge and experience to other farmers from her and other surrounding villages.

By Fiona Flintan, ILRI (International Livestock Research Institute) and coordinator of the ILC Rangelands Initiative global component

The Committee on Food Security (CFS) of the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) meets on an annual basis at FAO headquarters in Rome. The CFS is the international and intergovernmental platform for working to ensure food security and nutrition for all. The Committee reports to the UN General Assembly through the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and to FAO conference. The 46th session of the CFS was held between 14-18 October and a number of Rangelands Initiative partners supported and facilitated side events on rangelands and pastoralism.

On Tuesday 16 November a meeting of the World CSO Coordination Committee of the UN Decade of Family Farming (UNDFF) 2019-2028 was undertaken. ILRI (International Livestock Research Institute), coordinator of the Rangelands Initiative of the International Land Coalition (ILC), attended the meeting on behalf of the International Support Group of the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP) who have observer status in the Committee.

Pastoralism is a sustainable food system benefiting billions of people around the world (Photo credit: Forum for Ecological Society, India)

The Committee provided an update on the development of national and regional actions plans of the UNDFF and progress on preparations for the decade. Several ILC members are involved in national committees for the UNDFF including in Kyrgyzstan and India, and the ILC Africa regional coordination unit is assisting in the establishment of committees in Africa, on which there will be a meeting in Douala, Cameroon on 4 and 5 December 2019.

International partners IFAD and FAO who launched the Decade in May are leading higher-level policy engagement and coordinating with member states on activities. The ILC Rangelands Initiative will be supporting the inclusion of pastoralists in the decade together with others including CELEP (Coalition of European Lobbies for Eastern African Pastoralism): see our Brief on Pastoralists as Family Farmers.

On Wednesday 17 November ILRI supported the Embassy of Mongolia in Rome to organize a meeting for delegates from the CFS to inform them about the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP) and request their support. Attendees at the meeting included delegates from Iran – Mr Mohammed Emadi, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to FAO and the Rome based agencies and chair of the Committee on Agriculture (COAG) of FAO who it is anticipated will vote on the year next October – as well as from Spain, Namibia and Madagascar. The Ambassador of the Embassy of Mongolia in Rome provided a presentation on the year, and discussions took place on next steps including how to garner support for the year from other member states. Further updates on the IYRP can be found here.

ILRI also participated in a number of other events over the week, raising the profile of livestock and sustainable livestock production systems including a side event organized by the Global Alliance for Sustainable Livestock (GASL) and IFAD on enhancing food security through innovation in sustainable livestock systems – a presentation and discussion of innovative multi-stakeholder actions and examples of good practices.

On Friday the 19th October, the Pastoralist Knowledge Hub (PKH) of FAO and partner in the ILC Rangelands Initiative organized a side event focusing on “Pastoral mobility and working animal welfare in a changing landscape: Why policies should support adaptive initiatives to facilitate mobility, resource access and animal welfare. The session was opened by Mr Mohamed Hossein Emadi (as above) and included presentations from Mr Sibiri Jean Zoundi, Deputy Director of Sahel and West Africa Club of OECD, Mr Michael Odhiambo, Director of People, Land and Rural Development, Mr Engin Yilmaz, Director of Yolda Initiative, Verdiana Morandi of RETE Appia and WAMIP (World Alliance of Mobile Indigenous Peoples) and the World Horse Welfare. And included More information on the side event can be found here.

The ILC Rangelands Initiative global.is a global network of international and national ILC members and partners working to make rangelands more secure for local rangeland users.

For more information contact: Fiona Flintan globalrangelandsinitiative.ilc@gmail.com

Marie-Aude Even - Senior regional agronomist for Asia/Pacific (IFAD)

Land tenure was high on the official agenda and side events of UNCCD’s recent COP14, held in New Delhi. A working document was presented, raised lengthy debates, and finally led to the adoption of an note titled ‘New and emerging issues: land tenure’. For the first time at such level, the fundamental importance of Land Tenure for combatting land degradation was recognized and integrated into the UNCCD. The New Delhi declaration reaffirms the relevance of the Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT) and encourages enhanced land governance, multi-stakeholders’ participation and community-driven projects. UNCCD concluding speech highlighted that COP14 “was the COP where we Put people at the heart of what we do”, referring notably to the adoption of the land tenure text.

IFAD emphasizes the importance of securing access to land and developed a toolkit to address it in its investments. IFAD already implements most principles along its strong mainstreaming agenda, widespread community-centred mechanisms and Social, Environmental and Climate Assessment Procedures (SECAP). IFAD also adopted the principle of “free, prior and informed consent” (FPIC) which could not be integrated in the text adopted at COP14. More could therefore still be done in the context of COP14, and it will facilitate further considerations of such issues in countries. An additional frontier would be to integrate the sensitive issue of water rights, which is not included in the VGGT. Indeed, drought was also a rising topic during COP14 and the land tenure paper recalls that secured land rights are required for water related investments. On the other hand, such investments in irrigation can also lead to individual appropriation of common ground water. However, the issue of water tenure (FAO, 2016) was not mentioned, although it closely connects to land tenure and may become increasingly sensitive in context of shared and scarce ground water.

Following requests by the Civil Society Organization Panel and recommendations in the scientific frameworks of the UNCCD, land tenure was included in the agenda of COP1 and a progressive working paper was submitted (see box). The paper and propositions raised discussions and oppositions during the first week. Some countries notably highlighted the need to consider country specificities and various definitions of land tenure. They also stressed that the VGGT remained voluntary and refused references to, inter alia, sovereignty and FPIC. Many parties and stakeholders were strongly supporting the agenda, notably many active CSOs (600) accredited to the UNCCD, including members from the International Land Coalition. Indeed, securing community and people’s tenure rights is even more important as UNCCD is calling for more private sector investments, including potentially large-scale restoration efforts.

Key elements from the Land tenure note submitted by UNCCD secretariat

“Humans have always had an intimate relationship with the land, and settlements have ebbed and flowed, appeared and disappeared, partly as a result of the interaction between natural resource management and climate conditions. Land tenure security increases the resilience of populations and ecosystems”

The working paper submitted by the UNCCD secretariat reviews the different types of land tenure and its relations to land degradation and land degradation neutrality. It mentions that “how secure land rights are significantly influences the way that land is managed”. Secured land rights are required to motivate long term investments in land. Land conservation and restorations practice often involve investment which often require long term tenure right to allow such practice and benefit from them (for instance planting beneficial trees, hedgerows, terraces and erosion control mechanisms etc.). On the other hand, lack of tenure security may lead to degrading practices to assert and defend claims to land (such as “clearing to claim” and “defensive farming”). Very degraded and unproductive land often have “no obvious occupants” while being used by most marginal populations. This can lead to more contentious situations or difficulties with owners appearing once the land has been restored. The paper does not only deals with private land tenure but also acknowledges the importance of “community management” and that “All tenure rights are limited by the rights of others and by measures of public interest promoting general welfare”. The paper recommends to explore “how best to recognize customary land tenure in the legal and policy framework” as well as to promote local community dispute resolution systems. It calls for the “establishment of social and environmental safeguard” to protect various user rights and livelihoods, notably women and more marginal farmers in context of large-scale reforestation, land rehabilitation and recovery schemes.

Apart from official negotiations, most side events also raised the importance of securing land rights not only for individual but also for community and communal spaces, contributing to enrich the dialogue and convince parties. For instance, land tenure was highlighted in the two side events that IFAD organized. The side event on “shifting cultivations”, organized with ICIMOD, ILC and Wocat, stressed the transversal importance of land tenure, participatory local governance of land use and access to information and data to support informed community land management. The specific context of “shifting cultivation” often falls under very specific customary land tenure systems whereby community institutions govern the shifting cultivation process. Lao representative presented successful results from the TABI FALUPAM approach that promotes participatory land use mapping, communal titling, and co-location of farmers in one block of land to practice shifting cultivation. Amalendu Jyotishi (FES, representing ILC) highlighted how land tenure regimes, building on informed community management, can support land degradation neutrality (LDN). The side event organized by GEF and IFAD on food resilient systems also highlighted the importance of participatory governance, engaging men and women and securing their right to motivate and secure returns to restoration investments. It provided success stories of landless women having obtained secured land rights over marginal land that they restored, contributing to increase their access to agricultural land. However, restored land may remain fragile. Collective governance is often required to regulate various uses of such restored land.

The agreed text of the note submitted by the UNCCD secretariat on land tenure includes land tenure as a new thematic under the convention. The text recognizes communities’ “legitimate tenure rights, including customary land rights” and invites parties to recognize and promote inclusive community-based conflict resolution mechanisms. It also calls for investment programs to adhere to environmental and social safeguards in line with the VGGT and national legislations. It also puts a strong accent on inclusiveness. It invites parties to recognize legally equal use and ownership rights of land for women. Land degradation measures shall be gender sensitive and non-discriminatory, promoting equal tenure rights and access to land, notably women and marginal groups. It encourages parties to implement the VGGT alongside LDN program and “invites parties to review and, where appropriate, adopt national land governance legislations and procedures in order to support sustainable land use and land restoration”. However, the parties failed to adopt specific recommendations that linked this need for inclusion with the principle of FPIC. It requests the secretariat to explore options to integrate the SDG land governance indicators into UNCCD reporting process. It invites FAO and other partners to develop guidelines to integrate the VGGT in the convention. It also requests the secretariat to promote further awareness raising on this topic during the future sessions and to report on the topic.

Photo credit @CADASTA 2019

By Jimmy Gaudin, Land Tenure analyst, IFAD; Madaleine Weber, Communications Director, CADASTA; Emmanuel Sulle, Consultant, IFAD

Secure and equal access to land is fundamental to reduce vulnerability and ensure legal recognition of collective tenure rights for local communities. Acknowledging the need of accurate data and sufficient land maps recognised by governments and the communities themselves, IFAD Land and Indigenous Peoples Desks in coordination with the corporate GIS-team, and in with the Secretariat of the International Land Coalition (ILC), are exploring an innovative approach to better inform GIS data on communities’ lands and to foster their inclusion through a strategic partnership with a public land mapping LandMark platform.

LandMark is the first online, interactive global platform to provide maps and other critical information on lands that are collectively held and used by IPLC. As of today, the indigenous and community land maps cover 12.4 per cent of the world’s land, out of an estimated 50 per cent or more that is held by Indigenous Peoples and communities globally.

The idea is to integrate LandMark data in IFAD corporate GIS platform with the support of technical actors, local NGOs and the communities themselves, thus improving and systematising land assessment and community consultation. In several countries, some but insufficient local communities’ maps are available, hence there is an opening for consolidating and complementing existing information with the collaboration of key stakeholders. The initiative is taking advantage of IFAD’s long-lasting operation and ILC Members’ presence in three African countries, namely Tanzania, India and The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The selection responds to key programmatic and contextual factors and builds on IFAD investments in areas inhabited by local communities.

In Tanzania, the initiative capitalises on the IFAD-funded Sustainable Rangeland Management Project (SRMP) embedded in the ILC National Engagement Strategy (NES) and the Rangeland Working Group. Under SRMP, a number of maps of community village lands as well as livestock routes were registered with the Government-led National Land Use Planning Commission (NLUPC) who established a database of maps. For the last three months, a consultant has collecting and uploaded the maps of village land use plans, certified land and ‘community lands’ that are publically available and/or can be made publically available. Scheduled for 20 December, a workshop will bring together practitioners in the field to first, discuss the initial results of this exercise of collecting available maps from various stakeholders in the land sector. Besides, the workshop will reflect on the challenges for a public platform like LandMark or any other national and international platform to access and collect official data from Governments and/or Communities. In addition, the report will elaborate on possible innovative approaches with recommendations to deal with the political context of maps in Tanzania.

In India, Cadasta Foundation provides services for mapping indigenous people and local communities’ land in Jharkhand and Odisha States to inform IFAD operation, namely Odisha Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups Empowerment and Livelihoods Improvement Programme (OPELIP). The ultimate objective is to strengthen the livelihoods of marginalized forest-dwelling communities through effective land and resource documentation. Cadasta staff worked with the local non-profit organization Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN) in Baliguda Block to provide training on land documentation theory and the technological application of surveying and data collection. The team went into the field in two forest villages to meet with community members, discuss the project and test data collection and survey materials. While in the field, Cadasta staff found that many individuals in this community had no clear documentation or guidelines for proving their land claims, disenfranchising their ability to develop the land and use its resources. With Cadasta’s training and Esri-based tools, the project team can more efficiently collect accurate geospatial data to document the rights of each individual to the parcel being documented. To date, the team has documented over 300 parcels.

In the DRC, the Réseau CREF, in collaboration with the National Commission for Land Reform and other ILC members support the newly launched IFAD-funded Projet d’Appui au Secteur Agricole dans la Province du Nord Kivu (PASA-NK). Their activities focus on improving the cadastre in rural areas while considering local communities’ lands that are suffering from poor access to land, and recurrent conflict related to natural resources.

Thanks to the Innovation Challenge Fund, IFAD and its partners have an opportunity to test the potential of a multi-actors partnership on geospatial interventions to improve and secure collective tenure rights. It also gives the opportunity to reflecting on the challenges to deal with the political context of maps and to develop innovative approaches accordingly. We believe that strategic partnership can facilitate the access to and the collection of validated data in an innovative and inclusive manner while ensuring their dissemination for a better recognition of indigenous people and local communities’ land.

Phatakasing is a small village consisting of 24 households of Saora tribe (one of the 13 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups inhabiting in the Indian State of Odisha) on the bank of Mahendra Tanaya river stream in Ganjam district of Odisha. This remote village is connected by an earthen road through forest area and is inaccessible for six months in a year due to heavy rains and poor road condition.

The remoteness of the village exacerbated the vulnerability faced by the Saora and absence of basic infrastructure and services marked their daily existence. The Saora did not have access to safe drinking water for a long period. The women from the community spent a significant portion of their day, fetching water for the family consumption from long distances.

There were measures taken by the Government of Odisha to deliver water supply to the village. Tumba Micro Project Agency and Odisha Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Department had installed solar operated water structure in the village (about four years back). These soon became defunct and the regular access to water remained elusive for the community. The Saora could not benefit from other schemes/programmes of Government of India that were dependent on regular supply of water. Under Swacch Bharat Mission (flagship programme of Government of India focusing on sanitation and provision of toilets), the toilets were constructed but remained unutilized due to scarcity of water and community continued the practice of open defecation. The absence of adequate water supply also affected the sanitation and hygiene level of the community with restricting avenues for bathing, washing and drinking water.

While rolling out the Entry Point Activities (EPAs) of Odisha Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups Empowerment and Livelihoods Improvement Programme (OPELIP), the community collectively voiced the need for having perennial access to drinking and household water supply. Tumba Micro Project Agency through a consultative process with the community arrived at a decision of establishing a drinking water project through Entry Point Activities (EPA), which was integrated and approved in the AWP&B 2017-18. The deliberations with the community, paved way for repairing the defunct water structures in the village and connecting each household with pipes and taps. The women in the community not only led the process of repair but also took the responsibility of maintenance of water structures in the village. The project interventions provided new water pumps, pipes, taps and other material to the community. The community in turn contributed labour and constructed stand posts. The positioning of the tap in each household enabled excess water to be drawn into the kitchen garden (mostly located at the backyard of each family). As a result, the women need not walk miles to fetch water anymore. This also helped the women to develop kitchen gardens and grow nutritious vegetables and fruits for the consumption of the family in their backyards.

In the last two years, there has been regular supply of water in Phatakasing and women of the community are ensuring the maintenance of the water structures. The community has taken to toilet usage and the hygienic conditions at the village level has improved. The Saora women are proactively engaging in nutrition-dense livelihood activities of OPELIP as SHGs members and have relatively more time at their disposal to pursue remunerative livelihoods. The availability and access to a perennial source of water has been a critical turning point in the lives of Soara women.

Like Phatakasing, there are other such 224 villages (project areas of OPELIP), which have access to water now and the Saora women with the community is ensuring that their villages have water throughout the year.

(OPELIP) is a comprehensive program designed to enhance the livelihood of particularly vulnerable tribal communities as well as surrounding other tribal and non-tribal communities in the state of Odisha. The OPELIP project has been implemented in 12 districts of Odisha, starting in mid-2017 and it will continue to provide support through 2025. The project specifically targets 13 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) in Odisha and aims to enhance the livelihood of the tribal people through agricultural transformation (improved agricultural practices and enhanced production), natural resource management, community infrastructure, drudgery reduction, food security and nutrition, education and community empowerment.

By Giulia Barbanente and Harold Liversage

Between 24 and 29 November 2019, IFAD attended the third edition of the Conference on Land Policy in Africa in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. The event was organised by the African Land Policy Centre (ALPC), a joint initiative of the African Union Commission, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, and the African Development Bank (AfDB). The conference gathered representatives from the continent’s traditional leaders, as well as representatives from academia, civil society organizations, intergovernmental agencies and governments. The theme was “Winning the fight against Corruption in the Land Sector: Sustainable Pathway for Africa’s Transformation”, which was discussed throughout the many conference sessions and was finally condensed in a call for actions to help root corruption out of the land sector.

Photo credit: UNECA 2019

During the conference, IFAD was invited to contribute to a session on ‘harnessing opportunities for operationalising land governance priority issues in the National Agriculture Investment Plans (NAIP)’. The session’s objective was to discuss the current status and way forward for the initiative, promoted by the Land Policy Initiative (LPI), to support governments in integrating and mainstreaming land governance issues in the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) and in the NAIPs. This initiative started due to the realisation that most of the initial NAIPs did not adequately reflect the need to address land tenure and governance challenges as a key element in order to achieve sustainable agricultural transformation. So far, the mainstreaming approach has been piloted in six countries: Cote d’Ivoire, DRC, Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda and Tanzania. During the session, moderated by Joan Kagwanja (ALPC), representatives from Cote d’Ivoire (Nanakan Quattara), DRC (Floribert Nyamwoga), Malawi (Paul Jere), Rwanda (Serge Rwamasirabo) and Tanzania (Maria Marealle, AfDB, Tanzania) shared their observations on the results of the piloting program. The panel speakers focused on both the progress made and the challenges that still limit the mainstreaming of land tenure and governance in the NAIPs. In particular, they raised the importance of promoting investment in land tenure, integrating land tenure reforms in agricultural development programmes and avoiding fragmentation in programmatic objectives.

IFAD has been a key partner of the LPI from the outset, valuing the contribution that LPI has provided, over the past 10 years, to the growing recognition of the importance of good land governance for development at a global scale. In particular, IFAD has supported the work being done in mainstreaming of land governance in the NAIPs of the six pilot countries, through a successful grant which closed in 2018. The grant resulted in tremendous progress in the mainstreaming of land policy and governance issues in the agricultural strategies and investment plans of the six pilot countries. IFAD recognises that equitable access to land and secure land and natural resource rights are essential for rural poverty reduction, agricultural development and economic growth more generally. Over the past five years, it is estimated that IFAD and its partners have invested about USD 150 million on tenure security measures, half of which in Africa. Typically, IFAD support for tenure security measures is integrated into broader agriculture and rural development projects and programmes, which benefit from supportive policy frameworks. For this reason, the work being done by the ALPC in mainstreaming land governance into National Agricultural Investment Plans at country level is particularly relevant for IFAD investments, as it provides a high-level framework supporting programme implementation on the ground.

@UNECA 2019

Building on the experience and the encouraging results of the piloting phase, IFAD looks forward to supporting the next steps of the initiative, replicating the approach of mainstreaming land governance in the agricultural investments plans and expand it to other countries in Africa. The experience obtained in the six pilot countries can help shape future country-level engagement and contribute to the documenting and sharing of promising practices and innovative approaches that address Africa-wide land governance challenges. IFAD’s support also presents opportunities for strengthening the engagement in land policy processes of government ministries and agencies that may have a substantial interest in good land and natural resource governance, in particular ministries dealing with agriculture, natural resource management and environment, finance and local government. Further, IFAD plays a key role in creating space for CSO engagement in land and natural resource governance through its involvement as one of the more active intergovernmental organizations in the ILC, as well as through the financial and technical support it provides to CSOs, including in particular farmer organizations.

By Jimmy Gaudin (Technical Analyst - Land Tenure Desk PMI), Fiona Flintan (Technical Specialist – ILRI), Bernard Baha (TALA Coordinator & NES Facilitator Tanzania), Juma Mwatima (Senior Country Programme Officer - IFAD Tanzania)

Photo credit: Jimmy Gaudin 2019

During the past years, the collaboration between international organizations, civil society organisations, and governments has led to substantial progress in improving tenure security for rural populations. Aware of the added value that multi-stakeholder partnerships can generate, and after having substantial results on their own, the International Land Coalition (ILC) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) understand the potential in developing their collaboration to deliver effective policies and programs for more sustainable impacts. For instance, ILC Members, platforms and initiatives offer an opportunity to support IFAD national policy engagement. Conversely, IFAD's programmatic operations at country level allow ILC members to partake in project implementation and policy dialogue. Hence, developing these comparative advantages and their complementarity is the first step to laying the ground for an enduring and fruitful collaboration.

A successful example of a multi-stakeholder partnership is the Sustainable Rangeland Management Project (SRMP), co-funded by IFAD, Belgian Fund for Food Security, Irish Aid and others. It has proved to be a strong multi-stakeholder partnership of donors, international agencies, national and local government, research institutes, international and national NGOs, and local communities.

In its first phase between 2010 and 2015, this partnership through SRMP assisted nine villages in Tanzania to carry out village land use planning (VLUP), and successfully piloted the implementation of a joint village planning across three of these, in Kiteto district, Manyara region in order to protect key shared grazing and other resources for village. Livestock keepers. Though supported by policy and legislation, such an intervention had not been implemented due to lack of capacity and funding. In its second phase (2016–2020) the joint village land use planning approach has been replicated in three new clusters of villages in Kiteto, the process started in a new district Chalinze, and kick-started the upscaling of the approach by national government. Not only was planning carried out but the first-ever Group Certificates of Customary Rights of Occupancy (CCROs) was issued to livestock keepers associations. (LKAs) for their grazing land. At the same time the Project has built capacity in such as conflict resolution, gender mainstreaming, and participatory rangeland management.

The SRMP contributed to the ILC’s Tanzania National Engagement Strategy (NES) as part of a larger program on inclusive land governance. Within the NES Tanzania, the rangelands working group (RWG) was established to take forward engagement on rangelands at the national level. ILRI and other members of this group supported this national engagement by covering costs of some RWG meetings and facilitating the development of national statement on rangelands by CSOs, among others. A second working group on land-based investments was also established. The RWG is composed of key stakeholders including representatives from government, multilateral organizations, and international and national NGOs. This diverse constituency provided for good discussions and interactions between members with its horizontal structure facilitating direct communication among stakeholders, transparency and inclusive decision-making processes.

Bernard Baha – Facilitator of the NES Platform Tanzania – explained how the RWG has been able to create a space for dialogue and allow the different stakeholders to address transversal issues from the local to the national level.

The SRMP equally contributed to IFAD country strategic objectives in Tanzania by ensuring that land governance responds to inclusive multi-stakeholder dialogue – in this case through the RWG – and independent monitoring of agricultural development by non-state actors, the land-based investments working group. The partnership also strengthened the capacity of the Government, the CSOs and communities to demand and undertake inclusive village land use planning and grazing-land registration. Initially, IFAD grant to the SRMP aimed to contribute to a larger project on dryland areas that unfortunately remained in the drafting phase.

Juma Mwatima – IFAD Country Program Manager in Tanzania – shares this perspective. In her view, IFAD has a technical and financial role to play to facilitate CSOs engagement at country level. This can be through non-lending financial supports such as grants for piloting initiative or through non-formal agreements such as consultations for the elaboration of a country strategy or a project document.

One of the main lessons emerging from this multi-stakeholders partnership experience is the positive impact of an enabling multilateral environment and a coordinated intervention among actors to deliver sustainable changes. Multi-stakeholder partnerships are powerful instruments to bridge the gap between public institutions, development actors, local organizations and the private sector. There, ILC members, including IFAD and its country offices, have a central role to play. Indeed, fostering ILC and IFAD collaboration at country-level through multi-stakeholder partnership can help to build trustworthy relations with the government and other key national actors. As the SRMP project has demonstrated, IFAD can promote CSOs' engagement by creating a space for policy advocacy though its programmatic operation, while ILC through its network can facilitate the connection between members; mobilize knowledge; and develop inclusive policy dialogue to advance its transformative agenda. Hence, both organisations present strong comparative advantages which, when accorded under an multi-stakeholder partnership, can help to bridge the gap between bottom-up and top-down approaches toward the implementation of more inclusive and sustainable land governance for all.

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