ABSTRACT
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) completed its eleventh year of operations in 1988. IFAD has a specific mandate: to increase food production, reduce undernutrition and alleviate rural poverty in developing countries. IFAD has proceeded on the assumption that poverty alleviation is an economic proposition, not just a welfare responsibility. The analyses of the often interlinked poverty processes have provided a useful basis for the gradual evolution of a strategic framework of support to IFAD's target groups. IFAD has found that the rural poor, when given the chance, are eager to participate in projects designed to benefit them. Projects supplying credit to the poor also provide a unique opportunity to mobilize the disenfranchized and strengthen their self-reliance. IFAD has sought to develop low-cost, farmer-based research/extension systems with a problem-solving orientation, based on the farmers' own perception of their needs. The difficulties posed by the participatory approach also are amply illustrated in IFAD project experiences.
