Rural women are just as enterprising as their male counterparts, if given equal opportunity and tools. Through training and skills development, rural women can play a much greater role in the development of their communities and boost the local economy.

Today's generation of young people – defined by the United Nations as those aged 15 to 24 – is the largest in history. An estimated 87 per cent of the world's young people live in developing countries, and the majority live in rural areas. However, in the world's poorest countries, opportunities for youth are often limited or non-existent, leaving them marginalized politically, economically and socially.

The Vice-President of IFAD, Michel Mordasini (centre) meets with a group of female shea processors at Kanvilli in Northern Ghana. ©IFAD/Francis Kokoroko

Thanks to an IFAD-supported programme in north-east Ghana, women's groups are still building their small-scale ruminant-breeding businesses, feeding their families and sending their children to school 13 years on.

The Financing Facility for Remittances (FFR) of IFAD is pleased to announce the 2020 National Calls for Proposals: Supporting Remittances in Times of Crisis in Africa.

This Call for Proposals is to identify the recipient of a three year grant financed by IFAD for a total amount of up to US$3.5 million to implement a project titled: Integrated fish-rice-vegetable food systems for improved livelihoods, food and nutrition security and climate resilience in Malawi, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire: Scaling-up lessons learnt from Cambodia (or Asia).

Today the Government of the Republic of Ghana and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) signed a US$36.6 million loan and $10 million grant agreement to finance the Ghana Agricultural Sector Investment Programme (GASIP).

Rome, 16 February 2015 – Development leaders, heads of state and government representatives gathered for the opening of the 38th Session of the Governing