📅 12 – 13 February 2025
Rome, Italy
The forty-eighth session of the Governing Council of IFAD (GC48) takes place over two days. The first day, 12 February, is the High-level Segment of the Governing Council with Leaders’ Dialogues, while the second day, 13 February, is focused on governance matters.
High-level segment. This will feature keynote addresses, a Centre Stage Event, and Leaders’ Dialogues with special high-level guests.
Governance and partnerships. There will be a forward-looking focus on IFAD throughout the second day, which will include the consideration of business items, the annual Governors’ Round Table, Governors’ Dialogues, and other events that celebrate the power of partnerships.
IFAD fulfills a unique role in rural transformation as an innovative specialized agency of the United Nations and an international financial institution that promotes and invests in rural areas to render them prosperous, equitable, and resilient contributors to national growth.
The overarching theme of the Governing Council is “Catalysing Investment at the 1st Mile”. Spanning five regions and 92 countries of investment, IFAD focuses on those who are otherwise left behind: marginalized and vulnerable people living in rural areas. What has often been called “the last mile”, IFAD considers being the first mile.
It is here – in rural areas – that small-scale farmers grow the food that nourishes both their communities and the rest of the world. It is in rural areas that the impact of climate change, natural disasters, and limited opportunities especially for the young, and the impetus for economic migration are deepest.
Nearly half of the global population live in the rural areas of developing countries, where hunger and poverty are entrenched. These regions are home to over 80 per cent of the world’s extremely poor people. They are also home to small-scale farmers who are critical to local food security and nutrition. Seventy per cent of the food consumed in low- and middle-income countries is produced by these small-scale farmers. This makes rural areas the first mile for reducing poverty and inequality, ensuring stability, and feeding the world.
The forty-eighth session of the Governing Council meets at a pivotal juncture. It marks the first year of the Thirteenth Replenishment of IFAD’s Resources (IFAD13). For two days, the Governing Council will explore, inter alia, the importance of IFAD’s work at the first mile to assemble finance, strengthen and influence pro-poor policies; to leverage partnerships in support of rural livelihoods and prosperity; and build resilience to the root causes of fragility – including the impact of conflict, climate change and natural disasters.
