“Concerns about insufficient progress toward the Millennium Development Goals have prompted a renewed interest in agriculture as a source of growth and as an effective tool for poverty reduction and environmental stewardship. With a target of taking 80 million rural poor out of poverty between 2012 and 2015, the International Fund for Agricultural Development(IFAD)has positioned itself as a significant financier for low-income developing countries and fragile states, a provider of knowledge services to middle-income countries, and a source of inspiration for like-minded partners. IFAD has extensive experience helping countries scale up successful interventions—sometimes by design, but more often by serendipity. Now the challenge is to become more systematic and proactive about going from pilot to scale and to help countries operate rural development programs at scale in a
sustainable manner.”