When: 18 -19 October 2018

What: The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Asia and Pacific Regional Forum on Inclusive and Sustainable Rural Transformation 

Where: Hyatt Regency, Yogykarta, Indonesia

Who: Keynote speakers for the opening on 18 May:

• Prof. Bambang Brodjonegoro, Minister for National Development Planning, Indonesia
• Donal Brown, Associate Vice-President, Programme Management Department, IFAD
• Nigel Brett, Director, Asia and the Pacific Division, IFAD

 

Despite rapid economic growth over the last three decades, the Asia and the Pacific region remains home to two thirds of the world’s poorest people. Small farm businesses across the region are struggling in the face of rural-urban migration, land and water degradation, and economic, institutional and political constraints. Much of the region lacks the basic infrastructure required to ensure integration with the global economy through efficient market linkages.

Vulnerability to climate change, natural disasters and a gradual degradation of the productive resource base are growing problems. In some cases, climate change is already posing an existential threat, with a number of Pacific islands severely threatened by rising sea levels and extreme weather events.

IFAD is empowering smallholders through its loan and grant programmes, policy engagement, and pro-poor partnerships, to enhance rural productivity, prosperity and quality of life, and mitigate the effects of climate change in rural areas.

The Asia and Pacific Regional Forum will include a keynote speech from Prof. Bambang Brodjonegoro, Minister for National Development Planning, Indonesia, entitled Inclusive and Sustainable Rural Transformation: Learning from Indonesia.

Donal Brown, Associate Vice-President, Programme Management Department, IFAD, will speak to IFAD staff and rural development practitioners from IFAD-supported projects across the region on how to make rural transformation happen. He will also present IFAD’s development priorities and strategies in the region for the period 2019 - 2021. 

Nigel Brett, Director, Asia and the Pacific Division, IFAD, will review the regional portfolio and work with participants over the two days to map out concrete actions going forward.

IFAD’s Asia and Pacific portfolio currently includes 59 ongoing rural development projects in 20 countries and is currently receiving US$2.3 billion in IFAD financing. IFAD’s work in Indonesia to date has impacted more than 3 million households. Read more about our work in Indonesia. 

Media are invited to attend the high-level session on 18 October from 09:00 – 12:00.

For accreditation and more information contact:

Susan Beccio, Regional Communication Officer Asia and Pacific, IFAD, [email protected], Mobile: +39 3349533030

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MA No.: IFAD/10/2018

IFAD has invested in rural people for 40 years, empowering them to reduce poverty, increase food security, improve nutrition and strengthen resilience. Since 1978, we have provided US$20.4 billion in grants and low-interest loans to projects that have reached about 480 million people. IFAD is an international financial institution and a specialized United Nations agency based in Rome – the UN’s food and agriculture hub. For more about IFAD, visit www.ifad.org