The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) today announces the establishment of a new financing facility to assist refugees, displaced people and their host communities to address the increased pressure put on rural areas by the influx of millions of people.
The facility will be launched today as a Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Commitment to Action at the CGI 2016 Annual Meeting, which coincides with the United Nations Summit for Refugees and Migrants. Through CGI’s unique model, IFAD will connect and collaborate with global partners ready to take action.
The Facility for Refugees, Migrants, Forced Displacement and Rural Stability (FARMS) has been created in response to the rural dimension of the current crisis resulting from the large movements of refugees and displaced people to rural areas of developing countries.
“While immediate, often life-saving, humanitarian support is urgently needed in developing countries receiving refugees, the long-term solution is to promote actions that balance the needs of displaced people with those of the host communities, which is why we think FARMS is so important,” said IFAD Vice-President Michel Mordasini ahead of today’s launch.
The initial goal for FARMS is to mobilise US$100 million. IFAD has already received requests for support from Jordan, Lebanon, Sudan and Tunisia for up to $15 million. IFAD is matching these requests with potential donors.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the current global crisis of forced displacement has affected an unprecedented 65 million people worldwide. More than one-third of the displaced – or 22.2 million – are from the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region. Initially, FARMS will focus on the 9.7 million displaced people living in rural areas in this region where communitiesare struggling to meet their basic needs. In Jordan alone, over 1.4 million Syrian refugees are being hosted, with 90 per cent of them residing in rural areas. In Lebanon, displaced people make up almost 20 per cent of the rural population.
“The rural dimension of the current crisis needs to be recognized. Many displaced people come from rural areas and settle in rural areas of their host countries, putting pressure on already vulnerable communities,” said Mordasini.
FARMS will support people living in rural areas of host countries by helping them to improve sustainable agricultural productivity, which is the basis of their livelihoods. Refugee families will also receive support to develop marketable skills and increase their incomes. Economic opportunities will also be created in countries of origin so that the people who have left have income-generating opportunities to return to, and those who remain have a chance to rebuild their livelihoods.
The new facility aims to create at least 1 million days of temporary work and at least 20,000 jobs; more than 500 community infrastructure projects include roads, irrigations systems and markets; improved management of natural resources; a range of agricultural-related trainings and better access to financial services.
The creation of the new facility responds to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon’s call for “new and innovative forms of financing” to meet the economic and social costs of hosting large numbers of refugees made at the World Humanitarian Summit in May and reiterated in his recommendations for today’s Summit for Refugees and Migrants.
“We created FARMS because we saw the collateral impact that forced displacement was having on rural host communities and the areas that migrants were leaving behind. It broke my heart to think that decades of development progress in the region could be undone,” said Khalida Bouzar, IFAD Director for the Near East, North Africa and Europe Division. “Through FARMS, IFAD will help bridge the humanitarian-development gap and ensure that no one is left behind.”
With almost half of IFAD’s ongoing operations in countries with fragile and conflict–affected situations, Bouzar added that IFAD has decades of experience working with displaced persons, host communities and returnees. While the initial focus for FARMS will be in the NENA region, other parts of the world will also be included as needs arise.
Contact:
In New York
Joanne Levitan
Mobile:+1 (917) 215-1470
Email: j.levitan@ifad.org
In Rome
Susan Beccio
Communications Division
Tel: +39 06 5459 2479
Mobile: +39 3349533030
Email: s.beccio@ifad.org
Press release No.: IFAD/56/2016
IFAD invests in rural people, empowering them to reduce poverty, increase food security, improve nutrition and strengthen resilience. Since 1978, we have provided about US$17.6 billion in grants and low-interest loans to projects that have reached some 459 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 information visit www.ifad.org
About the Clinton Global Initiative
Established in 2005 by President Bill Clinton, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), an initiative of the Clinton Foundation, convenes global leaders to create and implement solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. CGI Annual Meetings have brought together 190 sitting and former heads of state, more than 20 Nobel Prize laureates, and hundreds of leading CEOs, heads of foundations and NGOs, major philanthropists, and members of the media. To date, members of the CGI community have made more than 3,500 Commitments to Action, which have improved the lives of over 430 million people in more than 180 countries.
For more information, visit clintonglobalinitiative.org and follow us on Twitter @ClintonGlobal and Facebook at facebook.com/clintonglobalinitiative.
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