The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a Facilitating Agency of GFAR, has just launched Rural Development Report 2016: Fostering inclusive rural transformation. It is IFAD’s flagship publication bringing together leading thinkers to analyse lessons learnt from experiences across the globe, and to look at rural development in a new way. 

This report comes at a time of major change in the world. Structural shifts in the global economy, increased urbanization, climate change and protracted conflicts have altered the development landscape. While poverty has decreased, inequality has increased and forced displacement has become a global crisis. 

Against this backdrop, world leaders have agreed to ambitious goals to end extreme poverty and hunger by 2030. This cannot be done without developing rural areas and investing in smallholder farmers who are key to food security. 

Rural Development Report 2016 looks at how to bring rural people into the economic mainstream and how to transform rural areas so that development is not only inclusive but also socially, economically and environmentally sustainable.

The report examines 62 countries and looks at their development in the context of rural transformation, as well as the structural transformation of the wider economy. It also demonstrates the interconnectedness between rural and urban development.

Download the full report here.
 

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is a specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to eradicating poverty and hunger in rural areas of developing countries. IFAD is a GFAR Facilitating Agency and Partner in GFAR sharing in our mission to strengthen and transform agri-food research and innovation systems globally.