October 15 is the International Day of Rural Woman and a chance to celebrate the accomplishments of rural women around the world. Rural women play key roles in their families, communities and countries, and yet they are often severely disadvantaged, economically, socially and politically.

In rural communities in northern Laos, an IFAD supported programme is using a television soap opera to help tackle extreme poverty and malnutrition.

Local varieties grown in the programme area. Clockwise from top: hands holding yellow maize, white maize and bambara groundnuts Zimbabwe: Scaling up People's

The President of IFAD, Gilbert F. Houngbo, will meet the Prime Minister of the Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR), Thongloun Sisoulith, the Prime Minister of Cambodia, Hun Sen, other high-ranking officials, as well as representatives of UN teams in country, to discuss investments that can improve food and nutrition security, generate employment and mitigate the effects of climate change in rural areas.

The heads of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) today concluded a joint visit to the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) with a call for greater investment in nutrition.

The Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), with a representative from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), will visit the Lao People's Democratic Republic from 14-16 May 2019 to raise greater awareness about the importance of integrated food systems to improve food and nutrition security, and to see first-hand the agencies’ collaborative programmes in action.

Vientiane, 29 April 2016– The UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the government of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic signed