The main objective of this thematic study is to present an overview of the achieved IFAD experience in financing projects and programmes for the Rural Development and Market Mechanisms for the Rural Poor.
The specific objectives are to highlight: (i) IFAD strategy for increasing access to financial services and markets and partnerships with financial institutions; (ii) IFAD regional strategies for rural poverty reduction and lessons learned in Latin America and the Caribbean and in Western and Central Africa. These two areas are of geographical priority for the Italian Government investments in agribusiness for rural development. In these two regions, IFAD already finances projects and programmes; (iii) IFAD experience in financing market oriented programmes for rural development, through the selection of IFAD funded projects in the above mentioned regions. The projects and programmes selected for the study include rural innovation, filière approach and commodity chains components that characterize the PISA Programme of interest for the Italian Government investments; (iv) IFAD learning process through the selection of case studies on rural sustainable financing systems, including innovative mechanisms.