1. IFAD Strategic Framework 2011-2015 Concept Note
Henock Kifle, CDS
Kevin Cleaver, PMD
September 2010

2. Background
A new Strategic Framework (SF) covering will be presented to the December Board
A series of discussions have been held with IFAD staff and managers
The aim today is to get your views on the major propositions around which the SF will be built.

3. Approach Followed The work on preparing the Strategic Framework:
starts with the existing Strategic Framework;
assesses global and regional developments as they affect IFAD’s mandate;
analyses the opportunities and risks facing IFAD’s target populations;
takes into account IFAD’s comparative advantages and results and lessons of recent years; and
revises the current Strategic Framework taking into account the outcomes of the above analyses.

4. Presentation outline The scope and coverage of the Strategic Framework
The new and evolving context for IFAD
IFAD’s comparative advantage and role
IFAD’s development objectives
Principles of engagement
Delivering the Strategic Framework
Summary of Main Directions of Change

5. The Strategic Framework - Scope

6. The Strategic Framework - Coverage

7. PART II – The evolving context of the Strategic Framework

8. Factors determining rural poverty8 8

9. The number of hungry people is rising

10. The goal of halving hunger is off-track (IFPRI)

11. The global development architecture is changing
Greater Private Sector investment/ private-public partnerships
The “Delivering as One” initiative for UN system reform, the UN High Level Task Force on Food Security, World Bank Trust Fund (GAFSP-I), Committee on Food Security
The “Delivering as One” initiative for UN system reform, the UN High Level Task Force on Food Security, World Bank Trust Fund (GAFSP-I), Committee on Food Security
The emergence of new donor countries, such as Brazil and China, and the new South-South cooperation agenda
The general acceptance of the Aid Effectiveness Agenda (Paris and Accra)
The emergence of large foundations as major donors (e.g. Gates Foundation)
Remittances as a source of funding for rural development
Greater Global Integration

12. Opportunities and Risks
Environmental degradation - the need to make agriculture both productive and sustainable
Climate change - the importance of adaptation & mitigation measures
Increasing competition for scarce resources: land & water
Slower growth of agriculture productivity in relation to growth of demand
Food price volatility
Aid fatigue & fiscal crisis
Smallholders pushed aside by corporate farms
Bio-fuels substitute for food
Increasing demand for agricultural products
Emergence of regional & global value chains
Biotechnology-driven agricultural research changing technology options
New markets for bio-fuels
More resources for agriculture in short term (L’Aquila, GAFSP, EU)
More commitment by governments, e.g. CAADP
Globalised trade & private investment in agriculture
Changing business models
Payment for environmental services more widespread 12 12

13. PART III – Implications for IFAD and IFAD’s comparative advantage and role

14. Implications for IFAD IFAD will need to:
Consider smallholder farming as profit-making small businesses
Promote integration of household economies into national, regional, and global markets
Scale-up efforts to increase the assets, economic status, and decision-making roles of women
Support programmes which create economic opportunities for rural youth
Seek to reducing managerial, financial and marketing risks facing developing country agriculture by developing effective partnerships.

15. Implications for IFAD IFAD will:
Take more of a leadership role, and provide program and project vehicles into which other donors and governments can invest
Scale up its operations to have a larger impact on poor rural people
Provide more agriculture policy advice
Develop a more robust environmental policy to strengthen the positive environmental impact of projects, including in response to climate change
Expand partnerships with the private sector, internationally and locally
Strengthen its role as knowledge organization/broker providing knowledge products
Facilitate South-South cooperation and knowledge sharing

16. IFAD’s comparative advantage
Clear and specific mandate recognized by all: targeted reduction of rural poverty and food insecurity
Accumulation over 30 years of experience, knowledge and skills in agricultural and rural development
Effectiveness increasing (80-90% of IFAD projects now effective at completion)
Trusted by developing countries 16 16

17. PART IV – IFAD’s development objectives

18. IFAD’s development objectives
Overarching Goal
IFAD’s overarching goal is to enable the rural poor to improve their lives by building viable and sustainable rural farm and non-farm enterprises that are integrated into national and global markets and value chains and that provide higher incomes and greater employment opportunities.

19. IFAD’s strategic objectives
To achieve its overarching goal, IFAD will aim to ensure that, poor rural women, men and rural youth) have better and sustainable access to, and have developed the skills and organizational capacity they require to use effectively:
Natural resources (land, water, and biodiversity), that they manage efficiently and in a sustainable manner;
Improved agricultural technologies and effective production services; with which to enhance their productivity;
A broad range of financial services for productive and household needs;
Transparent and competitive agricultural input and produce markets, and integration into national and international value chains;
Opportunities for rural off-farm employment and enterprise development; which they can profitably exploit;
Local, national and international policy and programming processes, in which they participate effectively;

20. Outputs Results of IFAD-financed programmes and projects
Policy changes at national and international level

21. Accountability Framework
Direct local-level impact: increased incomes and enhanced food security
Improved policy frameworks at national, regional and international levels
Strengthened in-country capacities for pro-poor agriculture and rural development
Strengthened organizations of farmers and rural people

22. Inputs Results-based COSOPs Projects
Direct supervision and implementation support
Enhanced country presence
Structured knowledge sharing and knowledge products
Policy dialogue
Grants for global and regional initiatives

23. PART V – Principles of engagement

24. Principles of engagement – One size does not fit all
Differentiation between different regions and different country situations
Differentiation by income and institutional development
Low income countries
Basic agricultural and rural services, increasing public-private partnerships, farmer-led agriculture, private sector marketing and input supply, adaptation to climate change and rural environment, land issues, bringing women and vulnerable rural people into rural development remittances
Low-Income countries:
Basic agricultural and rural services
Increasing public-private partnerships
Private sector marketing and input supply
Adaptation to climate change
Land issues
Bringing women and vulnerable rural people into rural development
Fragile states 
Institution building
Basic agriculture and rural services,
Country/sector-wide coverage
Focus on poor rural people in the poorest regions
Knowledge development and knowledge sharing
Private sector engagement
Middle income countries 
Focus on poor rural people in the poorest regions; knowledge development and knowledge sharing; private sector engagement

25. Principles of engagement – Targeting
IFAD will:
Continue to target poor rural people who have the capacity to take advantage of economic opportunities;
Continue to employ specific targeting mechanisms to enable the poorer, women, indigenous people, the landless, to benefit;
Increase its focus on gender equality/women’s empowerment;
Increase its capacity to enable rural youth to engage in gainful economic activities
Co-finance programmes covering the entire rural sector and support measures to assure that benefits are oriented towards the poor and their participation in decisions;
Supplement its targeting policy with evidence-based guidance on targeting approaches

26. Principles of engagement – Empowering poor rural people
Enabling rural people to build their assets, knowledge, skills and confidence
Helping rural people to build their own collective and inclusive organizations;
Increasing the decision-making and organizational capacity of the poor, especially of women and youth

27. Principles of engagement – Innovation, learning and scaling up
Continued focus on developing innovative approaches
Emphasis on knowledge generation and sharing
Scaling up successful approaches and innovations and making it “mission critical”

28. Principles of engagement – Effective partnerships
Strengthen key partnerships;
Become an assembler of resources obtained from many sources and package them into larger programs;
Eliminate non-performing partnerships;

29. Principles of engagement – Sustainability
Continue improvements in project design quality to ensure sustainability of development impact
Continue to promote national leadership of projects and programmes
Ensure ownership of projects and programmes by rural people
Scale up sustainable programs and projects
Promote sustainable Public-Private Partnerships
Focus more on the economics of its investments to assure more sustainable outcomes that contribute to agricultural and economic growth

30. PART VI – Delivering the Strategic Framework

31. Delivering the Strategic Framework – Managing for Development Results
Implement a Medium-Term Plan (MTP) at all levels and across all units as the basis for all activities, budgets and staffing
Align human and financial resources with strategic priorities
Strengthen capacity to manage and monitor performance and instill a culture of accountability
Work will be guided by country strategies and project designs, agreed with governments
Use Results Measurement Framework (RMF) to measure the impact of work

32. Delivering the Strategic Framework – Managing Quality
Continue to use and improve Quality Enhancement (QE) and Quality Assurance (QA)
Support locally-developed approaches
Ensure coherence of policies and guidelines
Continue to develop Knowledge Management (KM) strategy to promote knowledge-sharing and innovation

33. Delivering the Strategic Framework: Managing Resources
Refine and use the Medium Term Plan and zero-base budgeting
Continue to develop Strategic Work Force Plan (SWP)
Increase administrative expenditures for operations
Benchmark process costs
Explore outsourcing and service-sharing opportunities
Strengthen Enterprise Risk Management
Make better use and leverage information technology

34. Delivering the Strategic Framework: New Instruments
Traditional loans and grants will continue to be the main instruments but in addition:
Expand co-financing with the private sector
Set up investment funds to contribute to provide equity investments in private-public partnerships
Explore direct lending and/or equity investment in private enterprises;
Mobilize climate change funds and other funding sources.

35. Delivering the Strategic Framework – Communications and Advocacy
Enhance role of communications and advocacy in corporate strategy, policy, programmes and projects
Champion efforts to eradicate rural poverty and boost food security
Advocate for increased investment in agriculture and rural development
Amplify the voices of poor rural people particularly of women
Share corporate objectives and results with key audiences
Develop a corporate advocacy strategy and a corporate communications strategy

36. Conclusions: Main directions of change
New Paradigm for agricultural development: smallholder farming as a profit-making small business with potentials for integration into national and international value chains;
Holistic view of the rural economy: greater attention to enhancing the linkages between the farm and non-farm sectors and rural economic growth;
Empowering women; scale up efforts to increase their assets, economic status and decision making roles;
Rural youth: make farming attractive to the rural youth as a viable profit-making small-scale enterprise;

37. Conclusions: Main directions of change
Scaling Up: IFAD strategy to have broader impact on larger population of rural poor in developing countries; scale up
Policy Advocacy: IFAD to have impact on broader agriculture and food security policy
Assembler of Resources: IFAD to catalyse partnerships and resources for rural development with other donors, governments, rural organizations, private sector, NGOs
Knowledge Broker: IFAD to be a knowledge broker within and between countries
Environment and Climate Change Role: Higher Profile to focus more actively on rural environment issues and climate change 37 37

38. Thank you!