36th session of the Governing Council of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)

13-14 February 2013. Rome. 36th session of IFAD's Governing Council. The power of partnerships: Forging alliances for sustainable smallholder agriculture.

Held annually at IFAD headquarters in Rome, the Governing Council consists of all of IFAD's Member States and is its main decision-making body. Against a global backdrop of unprecedented economic and environmental challenges, this year's Governing Council meeting looked towards new and improved forms of partnership with governments and other donors, the private sector and smallholder farmers themselves.

The power of partnerships: Investing in sustainable rural developmentUnited Nations Special Representative David Nabarro kicks off this high-level panel in conversation with James Mwangi, CEO and Managing Director of Equity Bank, Kenya. Their dialogue explored potential opportunities for smallholder farmers and rural entrepreneurs to strengthen food security, reduce poverty and build prosperity by forging alliances with public and private sector entities. Afterwards, a panel of experts discussed the pros and cons of different partnership models in the agribusiness value chain, ways to foster an enabling policy environment for such partnerships, and the circumstances under which they are a viable option for smallholder farmers.

Uploaded Feb 19, 2013 Duration 02:08:25


Secrets of mutually beneficial and successful partnershipsTulio Garcia, Executive Director of Cooperative 4Pinos; Salah Hegazy, Chairman of Agrofood; Mylène Kherallah, Senior Technical Advisor for IFAD on Private Sector Development; Tadesse Meksela, General Manager of Coffee Cooperative Orioma; Lucian Peppelenbos, Director of Learning and Innovation. Moderator: Alex Puissant, international journalist and facilitator. The speakers share their experiences in forging successful partnerships with public/private sector actors and also with and between smallholder producers, discuss the social impact of partnerships at community level, and examine the challenges and opportunities of: organizing smallholder farmers into cooperatives enabling smallholders to expand their operations in a cost-effective manner and gain access to markets providing smallholders access to knowledge, research, technology and finance developing policies that cater to the needs of all stakeholders and partners.

Uploaded Feb 18, 2013 Duration 01:50:02

Resources:

Keynote speeches and statements delivered at the 36th session of IFAD's Governing Council
Acceptance statement by Kanayo Nwanze, President of IFAD

Governing Council panels, round tables and side events:

1. Measuring impact – Understanding pathways to rural transformation
Concept note: Arabic | English | French | Spanish

Presentations:
Phillip Davies: The importance of measuring the impact of development projects. The perspectives of 3ie
Alessandra Garbero: Challenges of impact evaluation
Gero Carletto: Potential use of the Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) for impact evaluation

2. High-level round table with Governors: Partnerships for financing agricultural and rural development
Concept note: Arabic | English | French | Spanish
Opening statement of IFAD President to the high-level round table with Governors: Partnerships for financing agricultural and rural development

First Global meeting of the Indigenous Peoples’ Forum at IFAD
First global meeting of the Indigenous Peoples' Forum at IFAD
Synthesis of deliberations of the first global meeting of the Indigenous Peoples’ Forum at IFAD
Indigenous Peoples' Forum Concept note: English | French | Spanish
Policy brief on IFAD's engagement with indigenous peoples: English | French | Spanish
Indigenous Peoples Assistance Facility

Video: Watch the trailer for Black Gold, a documentary about Tadesse Meskela – one of the speakers at the IFAD Governing Council panel on secrets of successful partnerships – and his organization's struggle to protect 74,000 Ethiopian coffee farmers from exploitation. 

The Mozambique Country Team - the living proof of just how powerful a partnership can be, was presented the very first Award of Excellence: Working Together in the Field.