targeting policy reaching the rural poor

POLICY

International Fund for Agricultural Development

Via Paolo di Dono, 44 - 00142 Rome, ItalyTel: +39 06 54591 - Fax: +39 06 5043463E-mail: [email protected]

ifad-un.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/ifad

instagram.com/ifadnews

www.twitter.com/ifadnews

www.youtube.com/user/ifadTV

TargetingReaching the rural poor


Policy

Executive summary iv

INTRODUCTION 1

The complexity of poverty 2The evolving development context 2IFAD in the evolving development context 3

IFAD’S TARGET GROUP AND TARGETING APPROACH 5

General premises 6IFAD’s target group 6Targeting IFAD’s support: an inclusive approach 8

GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR IDENTIFYING AND REACHING THE TARGET GROUP 11

METHODS AND MEASURES FOR REACHING TARGET GROUPS 15

The diagnostic framework 16Development and implementation of a targeting strategy 16

TARGETING IN IFAD’S OPERATIONAL INSTRUMENTS 21

Operational instruments 22Supervision, implementation support and monitoring 24Cost implications 25

ANNEX

IFAD’s experience and lessons learned on targeting 27

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ii

There has been a great transformation indevelopment aid in the past two decades.Country leadership and ownership, collectivepursuit of the Millennium Development Goals(MDGs), the emergence of national povertystrategies and the coordination andharmonization agenda all have the potential tobe powerful factors in accelerating ruralpoverty reduction. The challenge is to ensurethat they reflect the concrete and particularconstraints and opportunities of poor peoplethemselves. IFAD must better position itselfwithin this development context by making a clear statement about its focus andcomparative advantage in targeting. Thepresent policy on targeting is a step in this direction.

The purpose of the policy is to: (a) provide aclear definition of IFAD’s target group andestablish a shared conceptual understandingof targeting; (b) outline the general principlesthat will guide IFAD in identifying and reachingthe target group, and the methods and meansthat it will use to this end; and (c) provide anoverview of how targeting will be addressed in the context of IFAD’s operationalinstruments. The policy also provides theframework for the subsequent development of operational guidelines.

IFAD’s mandate defines its “target group” asrural people living in poverty and foodinsecurity in developing countries. Within thisbroad group, IFAD strives to proactively reachthe extremely poor people, as defined by MDG1, who have the potential to take advantage ofimproved access to assets and opportunitiesfor agricultural production and rural income-generating activities. The people IFAD workswith cannot be defined a priori in geographicalor occupational terms, or even in terms ofspecific income thresholds.

In any given context, IFAD – together with itspartners – will identify target groups through agender-sensitive poverty and livelihoodanalysis using available data, fillinginformation gaps as needed and alwaysincorporating the views of poor women andmen, expressed directly or through theirorganizations. As guiding principles, in alloperational situations IFAD will: focus on ruralpeople who live in poverty and food insecurityand are able to take advantage of theopportunities to be offered; expand outreach toproactively include those who have fewerassets and opportunities (in particular,marginalized groups such as minorities andindigenous peoples); have a special focus onwomen within all identified target groups, for

Executive summary

iv

reasons of equity, effectiveness and impact;recognize that relative wealth or poverty canchange rapidly; identify and work with like-minded partners at all levels; pilot and sharelearning on effective approaches to targetinghard-to-reach groups; and build innovative andcomplementary partnerships with actors thatcan reach target groups that IFAD cannotreach with the instruments at its disposal.

In cases when better-off people need to be included – because of economic andmarket interdependencies, or to avoid conflict, or to engage them as leaders andinnovators – the rationale will be provided, and the risk of excessive benefit capture willbe carefully monitored.

For each development activity that IFADengages in, a diagnostic framework will beestablished to guide the design andimplementation of the most appropriatetargeting strategy and to ensure the relevanceof the activity to the identified target groups.Such a framework will include, among others,the following steps: analysis of rural povertyand the livelihoods of rural poor people,identification of obstacles to and opportunitiesfor poverty reduction; investigation of thepolicy and institutional environment –particularly as it impacts on these factors and on the intended target groups; mapping of the activities and contributions of otherdevelopment partners; and identification ofappropriate enabling institutional mechanismsand targeting measures that would overcomethese obstacles.

For all operations that form part of its countryprogramme, IFAD will build on the diagnosticframework to design and implement atargeting strategy that is realistic, monitorableand developed in consultation with partners.The strategy will be context-specific andflexible, while maintaining the goal ofbenefiting the identified target groups. Thetargeting strategy will include either all orsome of the following measures and methods,depending on the situation: geographic

targeting, enabling measures, empowermentand capacity-building measures, self-targetingmeasures and direct targeting.

IFAD will ensure effective targeting in theoperational instruments of its countryprogrammes and will monitor targetingperformance. These instruments include:performance-based allocation system,regional strategies, country strategicopportunities programmes (COSOPs)institution-building and partnership, sector-wide programmes, area-based projects, policy dialogue and policy development,innovation and knowledge management, and pro-poor research.

As a policy principle, IFAD, together withgovernment and other partners, will ensurethat outputs, outcomes and emerging impactare regularly monitored to ensure that theyreach the identified target groups and are ofcontinuous relevance to them, and that benefitleakage is contained. Targeting effectivenesswill also be assessed by all evaluationexercises, including mid-term reviews andmid-term evaluations. Supervision andimplementation findings will be reportedregularly, including through the Results andImpact Management System (RIMS) andannual programme performance reports. Thispolicy principle will inform IFAD’s COSOPs, thenew country programme approach and theterms of reference of the country programmemanagement teams.

This policy paper is the result of an extensiveand reiterative process of reflection andelaboration, with wide participation within IFAD.The process began with a policy forum ontargeting in May 2005, followed by the work of across-departmental policy reference group,joint authorship by the Technical Advisory andPolicy Divisions, and a management review atthe Operational Strategy and Policy GuidanceCommittee. In June 2006, the paper wasdiscussed at the informal seminar of theExecutive Board to give Board Directors a spaceto bring their perspectives into this document.

v

INTRODUCTION

1

1

IFAD’s role is to reduce rural poverty andincrease food production and food security indeveloping countries. IFAD is committed toproviding appropriate and focussed support forenhancing the productive potential of the poorso that they can help themselves to overcomepoverty. What distinguishes this role from thatof other organizations is the Fund’s exclusivefocus on rural poor people and their largelyagriculture-based livelihoods. IFAD’s specialtargeting efforts are based on the recognitionthat rural poverty reduction and food securitywill not happen simply as a result ofmacroeconomic or sectoral growth, althoughgrowth is necessary.

The complexity of poverty

Poverty is not just a condition of low income. It is a condition of vulnerability, exclusion andpowerlessness. It is the erosion of people’scapability to be free from fear and hunger andto have their voices heard. Poverty reduction is about enabling poor women and men totransform their lives and livelihoods, andsupporting governments and civil society increating and maintaining the conditions thatallow them to do so.1

Globalization is bringing new and urgentchallenges to poor people. Opportunities are being created for some, but others facenew vulnerabilities and risks of exclusion. For instance, trade liberalization may benefitsome farmers, while disadvantaging manyothers. Efforts to achieve poverty reductiontargets, including those set by the MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs), should notobscure persisting and even deepeningpoverty and inequality among and withincountries, regardless of the rate of overalleconomic growth at the national andinternational levels.

Against this reality, it is imperative toappreciate the complexities, diversities anddynamics of poverty, and the wide range offactors that affect the capability of individualsto pursue their own objectives or to participatein collective action. These factors may relate toasset inequalities and to unequal relations thatpreclude options and freedom of choice. Aproper understanding of the distribution ofassets and capabilities among poor womenand men, the processes of change that affectthem, the mechanisms of exclusion anddiscrimination that penalize them, and therelationship of all these processes to poverty is central to the design and implementation of effective poverty reduction strategies.

The evolving development context

The past decade has witnessed atransformation in development assistance. Anunprecedented consensus has been reachedon development objectives, and a commitmentmade to pursuing these objectives moreeffectively. Various factors have driven thistransformation, but foremost among these isthe commitment of the world’s governments towork towards achieving the MDGs. In addition,the harmonization, alignment and resultsagenda called for by the 2005 ParisDeclaration on Aid Effectiveness is reformingthe way that the international developmentcommunity works, converging its efforts oncountry capacity and ownership asprerequisites for sustained poverty reductionand development.

To achieve the MDG goal of halving theproportion of people living in hunger andextreme poverty by 2015, more resources andnew aid instruments are required. But theseare not enough. Significantly improved

2

1 Strategic Framework forIFAD 2002-2006, page 4.

targeting of resources, policies and actions isessential. This is especially the case for thethree quarters of the world’s extremely poorand food-insecure people who live in ruralareas, most of whom make their living fromagriculture, principally as small-scale farmersand entrepreneurs, and as landless workers.

Unfortunately, official development assistanceto agricultural development remains low.2

Similarly, national poverty reduction strategies,which now provide a common framework forall development partners, do not adequatelyaddress the role of agriculture and ruraldevelopment. They neglect even moreseriously the role of smallholder agricultureand the economies of rural poor people. Theseareas do not, as yet, feature strongly in eithergovernment or donor efforts to improvedevelopment effectiveness and assistanceharmonization mechanisms.

IFAD in the evolvingdevelopment context

Country leadership and ownership, collectivepursuit of the MDGs, the emergence ofnational poverty reduction strategies and thecoordination and harmonization agenda allhave the potential to be powerful factors inaccelerating rural poverty reduction. Thechallenge is to ensure that they reflect theconcrete and particular constraints andopportunities faced by poor people themselves.It is also to vigorously promote targeted ruralpoverty reduction strategies in the context ofnational policy, budgeting and programmingprocesses to improve the livelihoods of ruralpoor people and, in turn, enhance theircontribution to overall poverty reduction. IFAD must contribute to responses that arecommensurate to this challenge.

IFAD operates within the framework and insupport of national policies and throughnational structures of government, civil societyand the private sector. The issue is not onlyhow IFAD can influence what national policytargets – but also how it can contribute tobuilding national capacities andmultistakeholder partnerships that underpineffective targeting within national developmentprocesses, first and foremost the povertyreduction strategy papers.

Increasingly IFAD will seek to enhance theeffectiveness and direct impact of its activitiesby refining the targeting of its resources andcountry programmes. Furthermore, it will usethe knowledge derived from its operationsmore rigorously and systematically to helpgovernments target national policies,investments and instruments – not just todeliver benefits, but also to create a moreenabling environment, one in which poorpeople can generate their own responses topoverty through institutional and economicempowerment. The present policy on targetingis a step in this direction and will be followedby operational guidelines.

More specifically, the purpose of the policy isto: (a) provide a clear definition of IFAD’s targetgroup and establish a shared conceptualunderstanding of targeting; (b) outline thegeneral principles that will guide IFAD inidentifying and reaching its target group, andthe methods and means that it will use to thisend; and (c) provide an overview of howtargeting will be addressed in the context of theFund’s operational instruments. The policy alsoprovides the framework for the subsequentdevelopment of operational guidelines.

1

3

2 The imperative ofredressing this situation wasspecifically acknowledged inthe final communiqué of the2005 World Summit, whichstated: “We reaffirm thatfood security and rural andagricultural developmentmust be adequately andurgently addressed…. We deem it necessary toincrease productiveinvestment in rural andagricultural development to achieve food security.”

2

5

IFAD’S TARGET GROUP AND TARGETING APPROACH

The world of rural poor people

Rural poor people are not a single, homogenous group in any part of the world. Usually they are independentproducers and wage workers whose livelihoods principally depend on agriculture and agriculture-relatedactivities. “They are [smallholder] farmers, herders, small entrepreneurs, fishers and landless agriculturallabourers. They are members of indigenous groups, minorities and scheduled castes. They are those with theleast land and water, and with the least control over the assets they do have. They typically have little access toformal financial institutions for capital of any sort. They often have very little access to modern technology andvery little preparation for the development and management of modern forms of association. More often thannot, they are women, and, as such, have special difficulties in accessing key development resources, servicesand opportunities.

Frequently the rural poor are socially excluded, isolated and marginalized groups on whom those responsiblefor the development of modern institutions and services have all too often turned their backs. Their lives arecharacterized by vulnerability and insecurity, which make it difficult for them to take risks that could lead themout of poverty.” (Rural Poverty Reduction: IFAD’s Role and Focus, June 2005, page 2.)

General premises

In the context of the overall developmentenvironment, IFAD’s commitment to targetingis based on the following general premises:n More national and international resources,

used effectively, and policy support must bededicated to rural and agriculturaldevelopment, with a focus on smallholderagriculture and the livelihoods of rural poor people.

n Local and national governments and theirdevelopment partners must focus more onhow to enable rural poor people – especiallydisadvantaged or excluded groups – toimprove their livelihoods and prospects for development.

n The empowerment of poor people isparamount for sustainable poverty reductionand development. Empowerment is first andforemost economic, aimed at increasedproduction and income. It is also social andpolitical – aimed at increased organizationalcapacity, knowledge and influence.

n National ownership is critical for positiveimpact and sustainability of developmentactivities. The degree to whichgovernments, donors, poor peoplethemselves and their organizations share acommitment to reducing rural povertystrongly determines the extent to whichthese priorities are put into practice.

n Aid effectiveness and donor harmonizationand alignment imply a progressive shiftfrom stand-alone projects to larger nationalprogrammes with multiple partners.

IFAD’s target group

IFAD’s mandate defines its “target group” asrural people living in poverty and experiencingfood insecurity in developing countries. Withinthis broad group, IFAD proactively strives toreach extremely poor people (as defined byMDG 1) who have the potential to takeadvantage of improved access to assets andopportunities for agricultural production andrural income-generating activities.

6

IFAD’s target groups should be defined in eachcountry according to a stakeholder processadhering to the framework and guidelinesidentified below and reinforcing IFAD’scomparative advantage. Because of the varyingconditions of the poor, the people IFAD wouldwork with cannot be defined a priori ingeographical or occupational terms, or even interms of specific income thresholds. The MDGthreshold for extreme poverty of USD 1 a day,for example, may be a relevant indicator inmuch of Africa and parts of Asia, but it is lessrelevant in most of Latin America, the MiddleEast, North Africa and Central and EasternEurope. In addition, in the poorest countries,the national poverty line is typically even belowthe MDG indicator. In some countries, IFAD willwork with the poorest and most vulnerablerural people; in others, the poorest may bebeyond the reach of the instruments that IFADhas at its disposal and more appropriatelytargeted for emergency or humanitariansupport by other agencies with a comparativeadvantage in this area. In some countries,pockets of poverty – often geographically orethnically determined – may still exist withinrural economies in which poverty has beenlargely overcome; in others, poverty will be thecondition of the majority of people in the ruralareas. In some countries, poor people liveprincipally in marginal, low-potential areas; in others, they are mostly in medium- to high-potential areas.

In addition, in developing countries, largesegments of the rural population are highlyvulnerable to risks and external shocks,ranging from the illness of a householdmember or death of a wage-earner to naturaldisasters. In this regard, IFAD will work tosupport not only people who are chronicallypoor, but also those at risk of becoming poorbecause of vulnerability to such risks andexternal shocks.

Targeting IFAD’s support:an inclusive approach

Capacity-building and empowerment are thecornerstones of IFAD’s approach to targeting.The focus is on enabling the active andinformed inclusion of people who are oftenexcluded, or who exclude themselves, fromdevelopment processes. In line with theStrategic Framework for IFAD 2002-2006, theFund works with its partners to createconditions that enable rural poor people – andwomen and men equitably – to claim theirrights; access resources, technology andneeded services; and expand their influenceover public policy and institutions to shift “therules of the game” in their favour.

IFAD’s mode of operation strives to bedemand-driven, consultative and participatory.Identifying the issues confronting rural poorpeople and the solutions specific to themrequires an in-depth understanding of anumber of areas and their interactions: poorpeople and their livelihoods; their specificproblems in terms of lack of access to keyresources and relations that would enablethem to increase their production, income andfood security; the processes that generatetheir poverty (including social exclusionmechanisms or external shocks); and thepolicy framework that consolidates theirsituation. Understanding the above anddeveloping effective and relevant responsesrequires the inclusive and informedparticipation of rural poor people and theirorganizations, not as objects of diagnosis andanalysis but as active contributors. In otherwords, targeting requires listening to poorpeople and collaborating to generate solutionsto their problems.

8

In this context, an important contribution ofIFAD lies in opening spaces for participation,dialogue and negotiation through which ruralpoor people can identify, understand andinfluence the factors relevant to their situation– and put in motion answers that are or can bewithin their powers. IFAD will systematicallyseek to create such spaces, first and foremostin the programmes it supports. It will workwith partners to structure spaces and regularmechanisms for broad consultation anddialogue with organizations of rural poorpeople; and build the capacity of thoseorganizations to engage with, and influence,the democratic processes that determinepolicies and set priorities for poverty reductionand development.

Partnership is another cornerstone of theFund’s targeting approach. IFAD will workclosely with partners to develop a sharedunderstanding of the causal factors of povertyand exclusion that need to be addressed, andbuild country capacity to implement targeteddevelopment action. Partners includegovernments and specific governmentagencies, other donors, cooperatinginstitutions, NGOs, farmers’ and rural people’sorganizations, community-based organizationsand, especially for sustainability purposes, theprivate sector. IFAD will strengthen and expandits collaboration with institutions andorganizations that have demonstrated theircommitment to community-drivendevelopment and livelihood-based and gender-sensitive poverty reduction. It will seek outlike-minded partners to create opportunitiesfor organizations of rural poor people to voicetheir needs and influence programmes andpolicies. In developing its targeting strategiesin any given situation, IFAD will reinforce itscollaboration with other Rome-based agencies– specifically the Food and Agriculture

Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) – and draw on the various tools they havedeveloped to measure vulnerability, povertyand food insecurity.

Governments may sometimes have reasonableconcerns about the efficiency and efficacy, atleast in the short and medium term, ofinvesting in the more disadvantaged areas andpeople, through often lengthy participatory anddemand-driven approaches. Where suchconcerns exist, IFAD will adopt a gradualapproach, piloting innovative targetingstrategies and targeted action. It will use thelessons learned from these pilotingendeavours to illustrate the benefits ofinvesting directly in poor people. And it willdemonstrate how targeted approaches actuallyhave a long-term and sustainable impact onpoverty and contribute to economic growth andsocial and political stability. In addition, IFADwill seek areas of complementarity with actors(such as those supporting social protectionprogrammes) that can reach categories ofpoor people that IFAD cannot reach with theinstruments it has.

Because IFAD does not engage inhumanitarian, relief or welfare programmes,“targeting” – for the Fund – goes beyond theconventional application by outsiders of“eligibility criteria” governing who should orshould not benefit. For IFAD, “targeting” refersto a set of purposefully designed, demand-driven and mutually agreed upon actions andmeasures that ensure, or at least significantlyincrease the likelihood, that specific groups ofpeople will take advantage of a developmentinitiative. At the same time, these actions andmeasures aim at preventing disproportionatebenefit capture by other groups.

9

2

11

3

GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR IDENTIFYING AND REACHING THE TARGET GROUP

12

In any given context, IFAD will, together with itspartners, identify the target groups through agender-sensitive poverty and livelihood analysisusing available data, filling information gaps asneeded, and always incorporating the views ofpoor women and men and their organizations.As guiding principles, IFAD will, in alloperational situations:n focus on rural people who are living in

poverty and experiencing food insecurity,and who are able to take advantage of theopportunities to be offered (sometimesreferred to as “the productive poor” or“active poor”);

n expand outreach to proactively include thosewho have fewer assets and opportunities, inparticular extremely poor people as referredto in MDG 1;

n include marginalized groups, such asminorities and indigenous peoples, andaddress their specific needs;

n address gender differences and have aspecial focus on women within all identifiedtarget groups – for reasons of equity,effectiveness and impact – with particularattention to women heads of household,who are often especially disadvantaged;

n recognize that relative wealth or poverty canchange rapidly due to external shocks andthat this vulnerability needs to be addressed;

n clearly identify at the programme or projectdesign stage who the intended targetgroups are and why, and consistently applythese categories, during implementation, in monitoring and evaluation (internal andexternal) of targeting performance. Therewill be cases when better-off people mayneed to be included – because of economicand market interdependencies, to avoidconflict, or to engage them as leaders andinnovators. In such cases, the rationale and justification should be provided, and risks of excessive benefit capturecarefully monitored;

n identify and work with like-minded partners at local, country, regional andinternational levels to develop a sharedunderstanding of both the dynamics of ruralpoverty in different contexts and successfultargeted approaches;

n pilot and share learning on successfulapproaches to targeting hard-to-reachgroups; and

n build innovative and complementarypartnerships with actors that can reachtarget groups that IFAD cannot reach withthe instruments at its disposal.(Collaboration with the Belgian SurvivalFund and with WFP are cases in point.)

15

4

METHODS AND MEASURES FOR REACHING TARGET GROUPS

16

The diagnostic framework

In defining its own targeting in each country,IFAD considers four questions: Who are therural people on whom IFAD should focus itslimited resources? What are the specificdynamics of their poverty and theirdevelopment initiatives? What are the mostrelevant and enabling measures for theseinitiatives to succeed in line with theiroriginators’ aspirations and possibilities? Whatcan IFAD do to enable poor people to influenceand shape their livelihood environment?Answers to these questions are always specificto the country and programme contexts andshould always be reached in consultation withpartners, first and foremost the governmentand the organizations of the rural poor. Adiagnostic framework will be established toguide the design and implementation of themost appropriate targeting strategy, and toensure that development activities are relevantto the identified target groups. Such aframework will include, among others, thefollowing steps: n analysis of rural poverty and the livelihoods

of rural poor people. Such analysis willidentify obstacles to and opportunities forpoverty reduction – processes of exclusion,vulnerability or disempowerment(economic, socio-cultural, legal, political);

n investigation of the policy and institutionalenvironment – particularly as it impacts on these factors and on the intended target groups;

n mapping of the activities and contributionsof other development partners –government, civil society and donors;

n identification of appropriate enablinginstitutional mechanisms and targetingmeasures that would overcome theseobstacles – specifying the linkage to thepotential target groups; and

n promotion of an emphasis on rural poorpeople’s agricultural and linked non-agricultural activities (small farms and rural employment) within nationaldevelopment strategies.

Development andimplementation of a targeting strategy

For all operations that form part of its countryprogramme, IFAD will build on the diagnosticframework to design and implement atargeting strategy developed in consultationwith partners that is realistic and can bemonitored. The strategy will be context-specific and flexible, while maintaining thegoal of assisting the identified target groups in improving their livelihoods. It will be clearly articulated, identifying roles andresponsibilities for targeting, and will build on and add value to existing systems andprocedures, including those for monitoring.Instruments for monitoring targetingperformance will form an integral part of anytargeting strategy. Poverty is dynamic: peoplecan move in and out of it, and those who areparticularly disadvantaged are often lessvisible and may be missed in initial analyses.Therefore, poverty assessments will berepeated during the life of a project orprogramme so that necessary targetingadjustments can be made. The strategy willregularly include or support public informationand communication to reach those who haveless access to information.

17

The targeting strategy will involve either all or some of the following measures andmethods. Depending on the situation, somewill be more relevant than others.3 The annexto this paper provides a summary of relevantIFAD experience.

Geographic targeting. In programmes that arenot national in coverage, focusing ongeographic areas with high concentrations ofpoor people or with high poverty rates is aneffective targeting instrument. In these cases,IFAD uses national poverty lines and data onfood insecurity and malnutrition – includingdata generated by FAO and WFP – combinedwith other human development data, to identifydisadvantaged areas. Since these data aregenerally not available below a relatively highlevel of aggregation (for example, below thedistrict level), IFAD develops, together withlocal stakeholders, additional criteria toidentify and engage communities within theseareas. Better-off communities may beincluded if their economic and marketlinkages with poorer communities are requiredto achieve an impact on poverty reduction. TheFund will also make use of available poverty,food insecurity and vulnerability mapping datagenerated by FAO and WFP. Duringimplementation, decisions have to be made onwhere to focus activities within a project area.Objective criteria are needed to guide thesedecisions and to prevent them from becomingan arbitrary or politically driven process.

Enabling measures. These include measuresto create and sustain a policy and operationalenvironment favourable to poverty targeting,such as inclusive policy dialogue, awareness-raising and capacity-building. Targetingstrategies in IFAD-supported operations arecountry-implemented and owned and as suchthey have to be fully supported by theborrowing countries. The overarching conditionfor reaching and benefiting the poor is the

existence on the part of stakeholders of acommon vision of and commitment to theidentified poverty reduction goals andapproaches. Stakeholders include, first andforemost, governments and specificgovernment agencies and then other donors,cooperating institutions, NGOs, farmers’ andrural people’s organizations, community-basedorganizations and the private sector. Workingfor this common vision and commitmentamong partners is a fundamental feature ofIFAD’s engagement in the harmonization and alignment process, the goal being tochange the way policies and institutionssupport poor people.

Empowerment and capacity-buildingmeasures. Focused capacity- and confidence-building measures will be applied to empowerand encourage the more active participationand inclusion in planning and decision-making of people who traditionally have lessvoice and power. They serve to check theability of the “elite” to exert control overresources. At a national level, fosteringinteractions between poor people anddecision-makers or service providers isnecessary to support pro-poor institutionaltransformation. IFAD will work with like-minded partners to create opportunities fororganizations of rural poor people to voicetheir needs and influence programmes and

4

3 The targeting methodsdescribed draw on lessonsderived from IFAD’s long-standing experience withfield projects, and also onits more recent experiencewith sector-wideprogrammes and povertyreduction strategy papers.They also draw on theFund’s well-establishedexperience in gendermainstreaming and therecent study undertaken as part of the IFAD Initiativefor MainstreamingInnovation entitled:“Innovative Approaches toTargeting in Demand-drivenProjects”. Finally they areinformed by the debate ontargeting methods in thedevelopment literature, andby the relevant experience ofother international financialinstitutions and majorbilateral donors.

19

policies. Appropriate information andcommunication activities are key to levellingthe playing field and facilitating theparticipation of poor people. Attention mustalso be paid to procedures for accessingservices and resources, the modalities ofdecision-making, and the beneficiarycontribution requirements that may excludesome categories of poor people.

Self-targeting measures. Success dependsprimarily on whether development activitieshave been designed with the poor themselves,around their needs and livelihood constraints,and are perceived by them as relevant andaffordable. Self-targeting is achieved byproviding services that respond specifically tothe priorities, assets and labour capacity of theidentified target group, while being of lessinterest to the better-off.

Direct targeting. When services are to bechannelled to specific individuals orhouseholds, eligibility criteria have to be used.IFAD’s experience and that of others showsthat, in these cases, community-basedtargeting approaches are the best option,where eligibility criteria are identified andapplied by the community. Survey-basedmeans testing (for example, on income orconsumption, or ownership of assets) can becostly and often presents numerousmethodological problems. Local povertydefinitions and criteria may be moreappropriate and can more accurately capturenon-income dimensions of poverty andvulnerability. In general, the socialacceptability of the method needs to beassessed case by case. Care must be taken toavoid risks of conflict and division within thecommunity as well as creating stigma.

4

21

5

TARGETING IN IFAD’S OPERATIONAL INSTRUMENTS

22

IFAD will ensure effective targeting in theoperational instruments of its countryprogrammes and will monitor targetingperformance. It will also consider the costsassociated with developing and implementingeffective targeting.

Operational instruments

Performance-based allocation system(PBAS). The current PBAS already includes anumber of indicators focusing on the ability ofrural poor people to access assets, marketsand services. Subject to availability of reliableand comparable data, future reiterations of thesystem may enhance the poverty dimension ofits formulae for needs assessments and forinstitutional, sectoral and project performanceassessments. This is turn may lead toenhanced capacity for more effective targeting

Regional strategies. IFAD’s regional strategieswill continue to outline the uniquecharacteristics and the main drivers of overallrural poverty in a region, specifying who therural poor people are, where they live, thespecific obstacles they face in overcomingpoverty, and the extent to which these factorsdiffer across a particular region. They willarticulate the lessons learned by IFAD in

supporting rural poor people and the mainopportunities to reduce rural poverty. They will also identify the principal areas of activityand partnerships, including an identification of the main target group or groups andregional targeting strategies. The regionalstrategies will provide an overall orientationwithin which country-specific targetingapproaches will be developed.

Country strategic opportunities programmes(COSOPs). Based on a process of dialogue andnegotiation with governments, other donorsand civil society, particularly rural people’sorganizations, IFAD’s COSOPs will: analyse thenational and rural poverty situation; examinegovernment poverty reduction policies andinstitutional capacity; suggest where IFADactivities should operate; identify specificgroups of rural poor people to focus on, andkey pro-poor partnerships; and describe thetargeting methods that will be applied. A keysection of each COSOP will deal precisely withtarget group identification, priority issues andpotential development responses.

Institution-building and partnership. Targetingimplies selecting institutional partners that arecommitted to rural poor people and capable oflistening to them and helping them overcomethe obstacles they face. Targeting also impliescreating capacity to provide services (such asfinancial service institutions) that meet targetgroups’ needs. First among these institutionsare the membership-based organizations ofthe poor. IFAD will also identify, and seek tobring about change in, any institutionalprocesses or practices that effectively excludethe rural poor (such as collateralrequirements, excessive legal documentation,discrimination against women andcomplicated procedures).

Sector-wide programmes. In line with itspolicy, IFAD will seek to ensure that sector-wide programmes work for rural poor people,by raising awareness of, and promoting reform

23

to address, the issues of rural poor people. Itwill forge partnerships with producers’organizations to strengthen their capacity toanalyse and articulate their key requirementsfor sector change, influence decisions andparticipate in monitoring results. It will alsoseek to strengthen their capacity to exercisecontrol over service providers.

Area-based projects. In area-based projects,geographic targeting will be used in the firstinstance to select communities or clusters ofcommunities. Social or community-basedtargeting will often follow to permit the designof a comprehensive targeting strategy and theestablishment of a mechanism to monitortargeting performance.

Policy dialogue and policy development.IFAD will seek to make a more systematic and coordinated use of the experience andlessons learned from its projects andprogrammes to promote inclusion of ruralpoverty and smallholder agriculturaldevelopment into the internationaldevelopment agenda and in nationaldevelopment priorities, and to foster policyprocesses that address the needs of ruralpoor people. Furthermore, it will use evidencefrom its operations to ensure that pro-poorpolicies are translated into necessary changes at the institutional and programmedevelopment levels, and to createopportunities for poor people and theirorganizations to make their voices heard andto influence policy. More importantly, IFAD will support the direct involvement of poorpeople and their organizations in theformulation and implementation of nationalpolicies and strategies that have an impact ontheir livelihoods. The systematic participationof smallholder farmers’ and rural people’sorganizations in designing, managing,monitoring, supervising and evaluating IFAD-supported operations will be considereda stepping stone for their broader involvementin national policy decision-making processes.

Innovation and knowledge management.Raising development effectiveness in ruralpoverty reduction requires innovation tailoredto each particular country and local realities.IFAD will scout for new solutions to old andnew challenges faced by poor people in ruralareas and promote tested solutions, especiallythe innovations of poor people themselves. All projects and programmes will seek toinnovate, and all will have built-in learningmechanisms allowing lessons learned to feedinto national policy and programme processes,with the qualification that successes to bereplicated and scaled up must be linked tonational priorities and capacities.

Pro-poor research. In the context of grant-financed research and in line with its grantfinancing policy, IFAD will continue to target bysupporting demand-responsive, pro-poor andgender-sensitive research, which is carried outjointly with rural poor smallholders and ideallybuilds on their traditional knowledge andcapacity for innovation. Research will focus on:selection of crops, commodities or farmingsystems that are relevant to the livelihoods ofrural poor people; promotion of areas ofsynergy between scientific and localknowledge, with an emphasis on theinnovations of rural poor people and thedevelopment of socially acceptabletechnologies or cropping systems; andpromotion of knowledge exchange betweeninstitutions and farmers, and among farmers.

5

24

Findings of supervision and implementationexercises will be reported regularly, and as amatter of course, through the Results andImpact Management System and the annualprogramme performance reports. This policyprinciple will inform IFAD’s COSOPs, the newcountry programme approach and the terms ofreference of the country programmemanagement teams. It will also beincorporated in the revision of IFAD’s policy onsupervision. To the extent possible, the policyon targeting will be retrofitted into ongoingprojects and programmes. Qualityenhancement and assurance processes willguide and assess alignment of operations withthis targeting policy.

When problems are identified – particularlythose of excessive benefit leakage or captureby the non-poor and/or failure to serve theintended target group – IFAD, together with thegovernment concerned and other partners, willtake timely corrective action. Alternatively, itwill renegotiate the conditions of engagementwith its partners. If this is not achieved in areasonable period of time, IFAD must suspendor close the operation in question, aneventuality that needs to be communicated tothe borrowing government at the design stageof each project or programme.

In addition, assisted by the new countryprogramme approach, and the engagement ofin-country teams, IFAD will build its capacity todiscuss with government the targeting ofnational policies and development actions.This could also be undertaken as part of thePBAS consultations.

Supervision,implementation supportand monitoring

Any targeting strategy requires regular andcontinuous monitoring. Even when, at thedesign stage, targeting is in line with theeconomic, socio-cultural and political realitiesof rural poor people, and the obstacles andopportunities they face, vigilance is criticalthroughout implementation to ensure there iscapacity for, and commitment to, targeting,and that all efforts are made to preventcapture of resources, services and benefits bypeople outside the target groups and to theirdetriment. Vigilance is also critical to adjusttargeting to evolving and dynamic changes inthe rural poverty and development context ofany given country programme and in light ofinnovations emerging from IFAD operations orfrom other public and private actors.

Supervision and implementation support willexplicitly assess the appropriateness of IFAD’stargeting strategy and its effective executionon the ground, making necessary adjustmentsto increase outreach and gender equity,contain benefit leakage and prevent elitecapture. As a policy principle, IFAD, togetherwith the government concerned and otherpartners, will ensure that outputs, outcomesand emerging impact are regularly monitoredto make certain that they reach the identifiedtarget groups and are of continuous relevanceto them. Targeting effectiveness will also beassessed by all evaluation exercises, includingmid-term reviews and mid-term evaluations.

25

Cost implications

A well-designed and -implemented targetingstrategy, based on the expressed needs of theintended target group, can reduce transactioncosts and increase effectiveness, impact andsustainability. IFAD’s approach to targetingrequires investing strongly in information andcommunication, building the confidence andcapacities of rural poor people and theirorganizations, and creating spaces for them toarticulate demand. These activities are neithernew nor specific to targeting, but are anintegral part of IFAD’s overall approach topoverty reduction.

However, the implementation of the targetingpolicy will have some incremental costimplications, principally in the form ofinvestment in: (a) more rigorous diagnosis andanalysis of the poverty situation and theinstitutional and policy framework of any givencountry; and (b) monitoring of targetingperformance. It will also require allocation ofresources to capacity-building of IFAD staffand IFAD partners for the development of ashared understanding on targeting and thedevelopment of communication tools for thedissemination of the policy and the lessonslearned from its implementation. Finally, moreresources might be needed for theestablishment of new partnerships to increaseoutreach. In designing all its targetedactivities, IFAD will consider the associatedcosts and their trade-offs.

5

27

IFAD’S EXPERIENCE AND LESSONS LEARNED ON TARGETING 4

annex

4 This annex summarizes key findings on targeting from IFAD evaluation reports, the 2004 IFAD Initiative forMainstreaming Innovation (IMI) pilot-phase study on targeting under demand-driven approaches, and a review of development literature and other donors’ experience with targeting undertaken as part of the ongoingIMI main phase activity “Mainstreaming IFAD’s new targeting framework in the project cycle”.

5 These measures are described in Mainstreaming a Gender Perspective in IFAD’s Operations – Plan of Action2003-2006.

Together with its partners, IFAD has learned a great deal from its projects and programmes onhow to identify and reach its target groups. Significant lessons have also been drawn from theFund’s long-standing experience in gender mainstreaming, which combines multiple targetingmeasures ranging from affirmative action to capacity-building and empowerment.5 In addition, arecent field-based study undertaken as part of the IFAD Initiative for Mainstreaming Innovationhas yielded important insights on effective ways to ensure benefits to poor people and minimizebenefit capture by the non-poor in demand-driven projects and programmes.

IFAD’s learning on targeting also draws on the debate on targeting methods in the developmentliterature, and on the experience of other international financial institutions (IFIs) and majorbilaterals with which IFAD shares a multidimensional definition of poverty. This definitionencompasses both income and non-income features; recognition of the need for poverty andlivelihoods analysis as a foundation for effective targeting; and emphasis on community-ledapproaches. Specific to IFAD, among other IFIs, is the importance it places on capacity-buildingand empowerment of those who tend to be excluded or who exclude themselves; and the specialattention it pays to gender differences and women’s empowerment. Key lessons learned, whichhave informed this policy paper on targeting, are summarized below.

28

Whom do IFAD-supported projects and programmes reach?In participatory wealth-ranking exercises, rural people tend to distinguish the “poor” from the“very poor”, and “less poor” (or “better-off”). The composition of these categories and the dividinglines between them evolve as people’s situations change. IFAD-supported projects andprogrammes are effective in reaching the “poor”. However, reaching and benefiting the peopledescribed as “very poor” is challenging. Among the “very poor” are people who are excluded orexclude themselves for a number of deeply entrenched social and historical reasons that aredifficult to remove in the lifespan of a project or programme and often require major socialchange. Also included are people who need both economic empowerment – which IFAD typicallysupports – and social protection measures – which are not within the Fund’s mandate – to liftthemselves out of poverty. The “very poor” also include people who either temporarily orpermanently can only be helped through social protection measures or emergency aid. In IFAD’sexperience, outreach to the people who are at the lowest rung of the poverty ladder can beimproved by establishing partnerships with agencies and organizations that have complementarymandates to that of IFAD, such as WFP for food aid and NGOs that have experience in both socialand productive domains. IFAD also works to strengthen (and always to avoid undermining)traditional solidarity mechanisms. It also targets income-generation activities to individuals withdependents in difficult circumstances (such as family members affected by HIV/AIDS).

On the other hand, exclusion of the “better-off” or “less poor” is not always advisable. Economicand market interdependencies between the better-off and the poor may require working withdifferent categories in order to bring benefits (such as employment) to the poor themselves.Furthermore, the less poor can be innovators and drivers to the benefit of poverty reductionefforts. Sometimes, exclusion of the non-poor can cause conflict within a community, which canbe counterproductive in relation to the intended targeting goals. In all cases, careful monitoring isneeded to check for excessive benefit leakage and prevent benefit capture by the better-off.Ultimately what counts is the affirmation by poor people – by women and men equally – that thedistribution of benefits and opportunities has been fair.

How do IFAD-supported projects and programmes reach and benefit the target groups?In reaching its target groups, IFAD has learned a number of important lessons:

n Understanding poverty processes and livelihood systems – and their gender dimensions – isthe foundation for effective targeting. The analysis should capture the diversity of thelivelihood systems of poor people, and the causal factors and processes through which peoplemove in and out of poverty. The analysis is more significant when it listens to poor peoplethemselves and incorporates their perceptions of poverty and vulnerability. This assessment isnecessary for a first identification of the target groups and, above all, of the activities andservices that will be most relevant to different categories of people.

n Geographic targeting, where relevant, is an effective way of reaching areas with highconcentrations of poor people. National poverty lines and data on food insecurity andmalnutrition, combined with other human development data (or other poverty mapping toolssuch as vulnerability analysis and mapping) are used to identify disadvantaged areas. Sincethese data are generally only available for broad administrative units (for example, the district),

29

specific criteria need to be developed in consultation with local stakeholders to select villagesand communities within a district. Such objective criteria are needed to prevent selection frombecoming an arbitrary or politically driven process. Geographic targeting is more effective insocieties that are more homogeneous. However, even in societies that appear to behomogeneous, it is always necessary to do social targeting within communities.

n Activities and services must be self-targeted to the poor. Success in targeting depends largelyon whether, at the outset, the project, programme, or initiative is crafted around the assets,livelihood constraints, productive potential, development opportunities and priorities andaspirations of poor people. Only in this way will activities and services supported be relevant tothe identified target groups and within their means. A project has a better poverty focus whenthe mix of benefits offered and transaction costs involved are attractive to the poor but not tothe better-off, and when they take into account people’s availability in terms of time, labour andcapital. Conversely, it is necessary to pay attention to factors that may inadvertently excludecertain groups of people, such as requests for contributions or attendance at meetings, whichmay not be feasible in terms of cost or time for the poor, especially women.

n Inclusive and empowering methods work best. To ensure that benefits reach the identifiedtarget groups, the methods that work best are those that enable people who tend to beexcluded, and have less voice and power, to participate in development initiatives, claimbenefits and services, and influence policies and resource allocation. This implies specificallytargeting information and communication to those who are generally less informed; focusingskills and management training on these groups; raising awareness and building confidence;ensuring transparency and involvement of project participants in decision-making on resourceallocation (particularly in the case of development funds); and, above all, strengthening theorganizations of the rural poor (community-based organizations and producers’ organizations)and increasing their social and gender representation.

n Direct targeting measures such as means-based eligibility criteria and poverty lines shouldbe applied with community participation. In IFAD’s experience, as in that of other donors,surveys to assess income or consumption or households’ asset base – as used by some socialprotection programmes – are generally not cost-effective for the type of operations IFADsupports. They also have several methodological shortcomings and often cause conflict. Moreappropriate are community-based targeting methods in which eligibility criteria are developedand applied with community participation, through a process which is transparent and basedon clear rules.

n An enabling condition must prevail: a shared vision and commitment to targeting amongstakeholders. At both project and programme levels, the overarching condition for reachingand benefiting the poor is the existence among stakeholders of a common vision of andcommitment to the identified poverty reduction and targeting goals. Key stakeholders includethe borrower, IFAD, other donors, implementing agencies, partner NGOs, local leaders,communities themselves and, very importantly, the private sector. Working for this commonvision and commitment among partners is a cornerstone of IFAD’s engagement in theharmonization and alignment context, whose goal is to positively change the way policies andinstitutions deliver services to and support poor people.

annex

5 These measures aredescribed in Mainstreaminga Gender Perspective inIFAD’s Operations – Plan ofAction 2003-2006.

POLICY

International Fund for Agricultural Development

Via Paolo di Dono, 44 - 00142 Rome, ItalyTel: +39 06 54591 - Fax: +39 06 5043463E-mail: [email protected]

ifad-un.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/ifad

instagram.com/ifadnews

www.twitter.com/ifadnews

www.youtube.com/user/ifadTV


targeting policy reaching the rural poor

Documents