Presentation by Atiqur Rahman Lead Strategist and Policy Coordinator IFAD

1. Experience with rural poverty alleviation: What has worked, what has not? Presentation by Atiqur Rahman Lead Strategist and Policy Coordinator IFAD #214886-v1

2. Today 1.2 billion live in extreme poverty Latin America & Caribbean Near East & North Africa 8 % 3 % • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion Sub-Saharan Africa Asia 22 % 67 % 900 million of the extreme poor live and work in rural areas!

3. IFAD’s Rural Poverty Report 2001 • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion Poverty is not just economic deprivation and the poor are highly diversified

4. Rainfed farmers • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion Smallholder farmers Artisanal Fishermen Pastoralists

5. Wage labourers/ landless • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion Indigenous people/ scheduled casts/ tribes Female-headed households

6. Women are often principal earners They are disadvantaged in many ways: • lack of nutrition • high mortality • lack of income opportunities • discrimination in pay and in access to land, legal systems and credit • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion

7. The rural poor... • live in remote areas • have few opportunities off the land • suffer from hunger and disease • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion Access to food, either through production or exchange, is critical for the rural poor Increasingly the poor are becoming dependent on non-farm incomes

8. GROWTH is important for poverty reduction But growth has to be broad based and accommodate non-farm production and market based exchange Efforts to reach the UN commitment to reduce the proportion of the poor by half by 2015 must focus on AGRICULTURAL and RURAL development • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion

9. What has not worked? • Washington Consensus • Decline in investment in agricultural and rural development • Project approach has produced mixed results • Rural poverty has been too often secondary to urban poverty • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion

10. ASSETS... • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion For the majority of the world’s poor, particularly for women, land and water assets are most pressing

11. What has not worked? Access to land • Top-down, confiscatory land reforms • Land reform without appropriate infrastructure and services • Gender mainstreaming • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion

12. What has worked? Access to land • Confiscatory land reforms • Support of post-reform farmers • Decentralised, consensual or citizen-driven reform processes More widespread access to farmland assets remain central to poverty reduction. • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion

13. What has not worked? Access to water • Major dams • Water subsidies • Water charges • Diversion of commercial water • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion

14. What has worked? Access to water • Small-scale irrigation • Training of women’s groups • Formation of water user associations • User financing of recurrent costs • Hygiene education • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion

15. What has not worked? Access to human assets • Urban bias • Unfavourable socio-economic conditions • User fees • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion

16. What has worked? Access to human assets • Human-asset-improving in rural areas • Nutrition improvement • No targeting • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion

17. ASSETS... • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion serve two functions: They generate a flow of income and they provide a means of buffering consumption in the face of income and other shocks

18. ASSETS Without secure property rights, farmers lack the incentive to invest in land and water management Pro-poor assets policy: • Legal rights to land • Control over water assets • Improving human assets • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion

19. TECHNOLOGY... • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion needs to work for the rural poor

20. What has not worked? • Large farm focus • High potential area focus • Labour replacing technologies • Neglecting crops of the poor • Labour displacement technology • Privatisation of agricultural research • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion

21. What has worked? • Green Revolution - public research • Integrated pest management • Improved Land Management Technology • Collaboration between farmers and researchers • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion

22. BIO-TECHNOLOGY Bio-agricultural research can help the poor through developing crop varieties which are water stress tolerant, high yielding and pest resistant • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion

23. BUT... Caution needs to be exercised • Redirect technologies from the needs of the ‘rich’ to the ‘poor’ • Environmental effects need to be assessed carefully and taken seriously • And adapt to the environmental conditions of the developing countries • The poor and the CSOs have to participate in deciding, clarifying ‘which technology’ and ‘how’ • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion

24. MARKETS... • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion If It’s Fair, It’s Good

25. What has not worked? • Liberalisation and commercialisation in societies with high inequality • Liberalisation without preparing the people for open markets • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion

26. What has worked? • Farmer groups or associations • Provision of market information • Rural Roads • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion

27. MARKETS Globalisation: If It’s Fair, It’s Good • Access to local markets • Enabling access to global markets • elimination of trade restrictions, • reduction of subsidies, • producer co-operations • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion

28. Markets are central institutions for sustainable rural development • For the poor to gain access to markets, they need organisations Question: How can the poor be supported to create their own organisations to access markets? Markets... • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion

29. INSTITUTIONS... • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion empowerment

30. What are institutions? • Rules of the game • Mechanisms to structure political, economic and social interaction Central question: How can the poor benefit from institutions? • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion

31. What has, what has not worked? • Difficult to answer but institutions which exclude either the rich or the poor have not worked and will not work in the future • More important is the question: How can the poor benefit from institutions? • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion

32. Redefining the boundary between state and market • Local institutions tend to be more accountable to local people Question: What are the conditions under which decentralisation can work? DECENTRALISATION... • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion

33. Common property resources management for sustainability of resources • Poverty reduction too often a secondary goal Question: Can cooperation emerge when vast inequalities and assymetries between rich and poor exist? DECENTRALISATION... • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion

34. Credit helps the poor to smooth consumption and acquire assets • Range of financial services: savings, credit and insurance • Poor must devise ways to spread risks Question: How can it be ensured that savings, credit and insurance are treated in a unified way? Financial Services... • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion

35. Coherent anti-poverty strategy requires stable partnerships • Putting the poor at the centre of the process: empowering them • Strengthening the coalitions of the poor is essential Question: How can the poor participate as partners in development processes? Coalition building... • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion

36. INSTITUTIONS... • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion How can the poor benefit from institutions?

37. Conclusion Reaching the 2015 targets will require: • increased ODA; • more allocation towards rural development and agriculture; • increased national effort • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion

38. More questions than solutions • No universal blueprints for poverty reduction • There are many pathways for ending rural poverty Conclusion • Introduction • Assets • Technology • Markets • Institutions • Conclusion