On its 30th anniversary, IFAD is preparing a new flagship publication on key challenges and lessons for overcoming rural poverty today. The publication aims to provide policy-relevant lessons about what challenges the rural poor are facing in a rapidly changing world, what solutions are being developed in the field, and how these may be replicated or scaled up. The intended audience of the publication includes national and regional policymakers, development agencies, and civil society organizations or private sector actors working with the rural poor.
The publication focuses on rural people, the diverse challenges they face, and their positive experiences in overcoming these challenges. It understands challenges as a combination of objectives and constraints faced by the rural poor under rapidly changing conditions. It looks at what new constraints poor rural women and men are facing in trying to meet their livelihood objectives, due to new processes and issues such as climate change, rising food and energy prices, urbanization, migration and remittance flows, and the emergence or increasing integration of value chains in agricultural and related markets. Core chapters are based on five key areas in which poor rural people meet challenges today, namely: natural resources, agricultural services, markets, non-farm employment and enterprise development, and governance processes. Each chapter will look at how poor rural people can have better access to relevant assets and processes, and how they can make effective use of them to meet their livelihood objectives under fast-changing conditions.
22-24 July 2008
Sofitel Hotel, Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City, Philippines
Generally, the consultation aims to build a broad constituency for this publication and to ensure that it reflects current and new challenges from the standpoints of the rural poor. Specifically, it aims to:
- Identify and discuss priority challenges faced by the rural
poor from each region in the five areas mentioned. This
will build on work done so far in the preparation of the
publication, including a list of key challenges and
related constraints. Besides amending and prioritizing
this list, the consultations are expected to lead to the
identification of other challenges, to their analysis in
relation to different groups of poor rural people, and
to a better understanding of how they are affected by
new processes and issues at the global and regional
levels.
- Discuss some successful responses to the priority
challenges confronted by poor rural people in each region
and draw lessons for replication and up-scaling. In
particular, it is expected that regional consultations will
feed into the process of scouting for promising solutions
to current and emerging challenges, by enabling the
identification of what types of solutions are more
empowering for poor rural people and better able to
remain valid in the near future in light of current
changes.
- Discuss challenges relating to soaring food prices and
other risks and vulnerability faced by smallholders in the
region. In particular, the findings of two major studies
sponsored by IFAD on rising food prices and on risks
and vulnerability, will be shared and discussed with a
focus on policy implications.
All participants should be concerned with rural poverty
reduction and with better understanding, voicing, or
responding to the diverse challenges of poor rural people.
In terms of composition, the desired balance of participants
would include about one-third of participants from IFADsupported
country programs, one-third from organizations
of the rural poor, and one-third from think tanks, experts,
or regional networks. About half of the participants will be
affiliated with IFAD or involved in some manner in IFADsupported
programs. The consultation will strive for gender
balance among participants.
The consultation agenda is set up in such a way as to
enable a proper balance between validating work
already done (e.g., the list of challenges and related
constraints) and eliciting new proposals/stimulating an
open discussion about priority challenges and issues in each
region. The discussion is also expected to be as inclusive as
possible, in order to build legitimacy for the publication.
The consultation is expected to deliver the following
outputs:
- A set of priority challenges (4-5) for the region, analyzed
by agent groups and clearly related to changing issues
and processes at the global and regional levels (e.g.,
climate change, increasing food and energy prices, agrofuel
production, demographic changes, etc.). The choice
of priority challenges will be made based on the
following criteria of relevance: a) a large number of
poor rural people; and b) both the present and the
near future.
- A set of examples of successful and sustainable responses
to the priority challenges for the region. Sustainable
responses will be identified based on their likely
validity also in light of current and ongoing changes.
- A set of factors that may enable replication or scaling up
of these responses. This should include policy-relevant
lessons.
- A shared understanding of challenges and opportunities of
rising food prices and other forms of risks and vulnerability
for rural poverty reduction.
- A workshop report.
rpr2009@agri.searca.org
Dr. Maria Celeste H. Cadiz
Training Manager
Tel. No.: (63-49) 536-2554, local 173/125
Fax: (63-49) 536-2283
E-mail:
or
Ms. Nova A. Ramos
Training Associate
E-mail:
