ANNUAL REPORT 2011 - IFAD

12
volatility for vulnerable people and countries, and
suggesting policy options to address the problem.
IFAD’s contribution focused on the impact of food
price volatility on smallholder farmers, while also
stressing that farmers can nevertheless be an
important part of the solution. The report was a key
input into the G20 Action Plan on Food Price
Volatility and Agriculture issued in June 2011.
We also continued our assistance to the work of
the United Nations High-Level Task Force on the
Global Food Security Crisis, preparing a summary
of the Updated Comprehensive Framework for
Action on food and nutrition security, which was
circulated at the 37th session of the Committee on
World Food Security (CFS) in October. IFAD led
the team that prepared a CFS round table on How
to Increase Food Security and Smallholdersensitive
Investments in Agriculture (see page 44).
In addition, we served on the monitoring and
evaluation task force of the global Scaling Up
Nutrition movement, which is helping hard-hit
countries to expand their efforts to combat
undernutrition. We contributed to a road map for
the new Food Security Information Network,
which will help strengthen country and regional
food security information in the most at-risk
regions. We participated in the steering committee
overseeing reforms of the United Nations Standing
Committee on Nutrition. We also helped to
expand the Ending Child Hunger and
Undernutrition Partnership as a member of the
Advisory Group.
Land tenure and responsible
investment in agriculture
Having secure tenure of land is fundamental if poor
farmers are to improve their food security and
increase their productivity. The path to achieving this
is becoming more complex as world population
grows and the amount of usable land diminishes
because of declining soil fertility and climate change.
It is crucial for all parties to agree on policies
governing land tenure.
In 2011, IFAD worked with the CFS, FAO and
other partners to elaborate the Voluntary Guidelines
on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land,
Fisheries and Forests. These guidelines are intended
to help states, civil society and the private sector to
improve tenure governance by setting out principles
and internationally accepted standards for
responsible practices.
The CFS led intergovernmental negotiations to
review the draft guidelines, which began in July
and continued in October. Representatives of
approximately 70 countries, 45 civil society groups
and one private sector organization attended. We
participated in these negotiations, promoting
smallholder farmers as the principal investors in
land and agriculture.
In May 2011, an IFAD-FAO team took part in an
assessment of land reform in Madagascar. The final
report gave recommendations for continuing this
important process, which meets a genuine demand
for a simplified, decentralized, accessible system that
enables smallholder farmers and other poor rural
people to obtain security of land tenure. The
Malagasy experience was presented during the 2011
Share Fair, and discussions continued after the event
through the recently launched Land Portal. See
http://www.landportal.info.
During the year, IFAD began an analysis of lessons
learned on land tenure issues to inform the
operations we support in Latin America and the
Caribbean, and Asia and the Pacific. The aim is to
produce a ‘way forward’ document. To substantiate
the analysis, case studies from the Plurinational State
of Bolivia and the Lao People’s Democratic Republic
will be used. We also took part in the fifth
International Conference and Assembly of Members
of the International Land Coalition in Tirana,
Albania, in May 2011 (see page 43).
Remittances
Migrant workers and the money they send home
have a tremendous impact on families,
communities and nations. IFAD estimates that well
over US$350 billion in remittances was sent home
during 2011. IFAD’s Financing Facility for
Remittances works to reduce the cost of
transferring money, provide banking services in
rural areas and promote productive investment in
migrants’ home countries.
The Facility is grounded firmly in the experience
of almost 50 projects throughout the world,
along with independent research and the knowledge
of its partners. Starting with a modest US$9 million
in grant funding, the Facility has become a
US$22 million centre of expertise on remittances.