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Preface<br />
The Belgian Survival Fund Joint Programme<br />
(BSF.JP) represents <strong>IFAD</strong>’s longest partnership<br />
with a single country. It has been a unique<br />
experience, born from a joint <strong>IFAD</strong> and Belgian<br />
Parliament initiative. Together, the Belgian<br />
Survival Fund Joint Programme and <strong>IFAD</strong> have<br />
tackled the broad range of problems faced by<br />
the most vulnerable rural people in the poorest<br />
countries in Africa.<br />
BSF.JP grant resources complemented activities<br />
supported by <strong>IFAD</strong> loans in strategic ways. The<br />
grants, totalling about EUR 150 million, have<br />
improved the livelihoods of rural smallholders in sub-Saharan Africa,<br />
especially women. For <strong>IFAD</strong>, BSF.JP has served as a vehicle to broaden its<br />
activities, using a special partnership-oriented approach.<br />
But the <strong>IFAD</strong>/BSF.JP partnership has gone beyond simple cofinancing.<br />
It has fostered a mutual learning process and enhanced knowledge<br />
management. This has allowed us to embed our agricultural development<br />
activities within the broader context of rural development, thereby<br />
improving our targeting of some of the most vulnerable individuals and<br />
households, and increasing the impact of income-generating activities<br />
in the agricultural and non-farm sectors.<br />
When people have better health care, they are stronger. They are<br />
more productive and more willing to try innovative approaches. Rural<br />
women often spend long hours each day fetching water. When they have<br />
easy access to clean water, they have more time <strong>for</strong> their families and<br />
income-generating activities. When women have access to literacy classes<br />
and learn to read, they gain the confidence to start their own businesses.<br />
For nearly 30 <strong>years</strong>, the BSF.JP and <strong>IFAD</strong> have <strong>shared</strong> a <strong>path</strong>,<br />
a commitment and a vision. The BSF.JP made it possible <strong>for</strong> rural<br />
smallholders to attend to some of their most urgent priorities and needs,<br />
especially basic health care and access to safe drinking water. BSF.JP<br />
grant funding of health facilities and deep wells in remote rural areas has<br />
meant great savings in money and time <strong>for</strong> the local population. And this<br />
has in turn enabled them to invest some of the money and time saved in<br />
their farms or in their microenterprises.<br />
The testimonies in this book tell the story of this partnership and<br />
what was achieved. The stories of people who have trans<strong>for</strong>med their<br />
lives and created a brighter future <strong>for</strong> their families are an inspiration<br />
to all of us. They bear testimony to the impact of this important<br />
partnership, and how it has allowed them to look to the future with<br />
more hope and ambition.<br />
I wish to express my personal gratitude <strong>for</strong> the support that Belgium<br />
has always offered to <strong>IFAD</strong>, and of which BSF.JP is one part. We will<br />
continue on the <strong>path</strong> that we have <strong>shared</strong>, working together to overcome<br />
any obstacles and embracing new opportunities so that poor rural people<br />
have the ways and means to make lasting changes in their own lives.<br />
Kanayo F. Nwanze<br />
President of <strong>IFAD</strong><br />
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