Programme priorities for Near East and North Africa

Mona Bishay Director of Near East and North Africa Division, PMD

22-23 April 2008

8th Replenishment

Two sub-regions: NENA and CEN

NENA RegionPopulation: 360 million14 IFAD eligible borrowing member countries

CEN RegionPopulation: 30 million7 IFAD eligible borrowing member countries

16 middle-income countries (MICs)5 low-income countries

Current IFAD operations in the two sub-regions43 ongoing IFAD programmes Total on-going IFAD investment: USD 630 millionNumber of beneficiaries: 12 million

80% of IFAD lending is in NENA

Overview of the NENA region

High economic growth (5%)

Social indicators improved but did not catch up

Overall poverty declined but not rural poverty - Decline in poverty rate from to 31% to 25% (10 years)- 60% of the poor live in rural areas- 54 million poor rural people- Mostly in rainfed and mountain areas- Smallholders, herders, landless, women and youth

High agriculture potential in some countries and skilled labour force

Overview of the NENA region

MAJOR CHALLENGES -The driest region in the world (80% of arable land

in low rainfalls areas)

- Desertification and land degradation

- Low rainfed productivity (wheat yields 50% of world average)

- High population growth (2.3%)

- Region is a net importer of food crops and inputs

- High rates of rural youth unemployment

Vulnerability to climate change

Vulnerability to recent price increases

Achievements of MDGs in NENA

Group I: countries with good progress, in line with MDG targets: Egypt, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey

Group II: some progress, but below MDG targets: Algeria, Jordan and Lebanon

Group III: very little progress: Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Iraq and West Bank and Gaza (LDCs)

The poorest countries are those with the least achievements

All countries have been affected by increasing food prices in 07-08

Thematic priorities in the NENA region

Managing land and water resources more effectively - community-based natural resource management- adaptation to climate change: conservation measures

and targeted services

Increasing small farmers’ ability to respond to higher agricultural prices

- better access to agricultural technology (with CGIAR/NARS) - increased investments in rural infrastructure- linking small growers to commodity supply chains

Expanding rural financial services for the poor (women)

Moving beyond the farm: addressing rural youth unemployment particularly among women (off-farm SMEs)

Thematic priorities in the CEN region

Overview

- Declining poverty rates in the last decade

- Wide rural-urban divide

- Some countries have become EU members and others will join soon

Focus of IFAD interventions

- Supporting delivery of rural financial services and small and medium enterprises

- Linking farmers to markets

- Supporting private sector development

Expected results of a higher work programme 2010-2012

USD 250 million 2007-2009 to 400 million in 2010-2012

- Stronger focus on increased agricultural productivity and adaptation measures

- Stronger support to Group III countries in NENA

- Strengthen partnerships with Arab IFIs and private sector

- Focus on knowledge management and scaling up innovations

- Improved sustainability of the programmes through direct supervision/better implementation support

- Achieving larger outreach to the poor: 7 million (15% of the rural poor) estimated beneficiaries

- Deeper impact on household food/nutritional security