IFAD in India

India receives more funding from IFAD than any other country in the world. Working in close partnership with the Government of India and other donors, IFAD funds projects for rural development, tribal development, women’s empowerment, natural resource management and rural finance. Since 1979 the organization has financed 23 programmes and projects, approving loans for a total of approximately US$656.4 million.

IFAD’s strategy in India centres on improving poor rural people’s access to economic and social resources. In all operations, IFAD emphasizes the importance of strengthening people’s capacities to establish and manage their own institutions. It supports self-help groups, community institutions and village development associations in tribal and non-tribal areas that work in synergy with local self-governments. These and similar groups participate directly in designing development initiatives, and become progressively responsible for programme and project resources and management. Empowering women and other disadvantaged groups is a strategic priority.

IFAD has an important role in developing replicable models through project activities, and it acts as a catalyst for far-reaching innovative change. In areas such as microfinance and women’s empowerment, IFAD-funded operations have tested institutional and technical innovations that have been scaled up by the government.

The country strategy of IFAD for 2005–2009 includes support for:

• providing access to microfinance services, which are particularly effective as a means of empowering women
• improving livelihood opportunities for communities in semi-arid tropical areas, where better water management and new technologies for agriculture help reduce poverty
• introducing development activities in the densely populated and impoverished mid-Gangetic plains
• improving productivity for coastal fishing communities and emphasizing sustainability of fishing resources
• developing partnerships with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the private sector to reinforce community-based organizations
• exploring possibilities for linkages with other donors and institutions
• promoting policy change through project activities

IFAD has developed close working relationships with other donors and agencies in India. It has a particularly strong partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP), involving joint funding and supervision of projects as well as collaboration on advocacy and other initiatives. IFAD has also cofinanced programmes with the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development  and the World Bank.

A recent example of the success of IFAD-funded operations in India was the decision of the government to scale up the North Eastern Region Community Resource Management Project for Upland Areas, which was piloted in two districts in each of the states of Assam, Meghalaya and Manipur. IFAD will assist in expanding the project to cover the entire North Eastern region, with support from the World Bank.
 

Source: IFAD