Beijing, 15 June 2022 - The UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Centre for International Agricultural Research (CIAR) of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) signed a letter of intent today, detailing the conditions of a strategic partnership between the two organisations in their efforts to jointly support rural revitalization in China and globally.

During the signing ceremony, Matteo Marchisio, IFAD Country Director in China stated that, through the partnership, the two organisations intend to collaborate at the project, national and global level. The aim is to take advantage of each organisation’s unique capacity and expertise to build synergies in both operational and strategic areas - and to find ways to more effectively respond to development issues in rural areas, promote rural revitalization, improving market access for the poor, and overall improve rural economies, in China and elsewhere.

Professor Nie Fengying, Executive Director of CIAR-CAAS expressed her gratitude for the partnership with IFAD, which is built on a solid foundation of existing areas of collaboration, including ongoing IFAD-financed projects in Yunnan and Hunan province, and various joint knowledge and policy engagement activities, such as the recent study on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the rural economy in China.

CIAR-CAAS values the opportunity to work together with IFAD in promoting rural revitalization and emphasised the importance of capturing knowledge and data generated through internationally funded projects, and used as a pillar for South-South and Triangular Cooperation.

At the operational level, through the partnership, CIAR-CAAS will support ongoing and future projects within IFAD’s programme in China through contributing to key activities within the areas of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of project performance. This includes technical support at the project design stage and conducting surveys throughout the project cycle; supporting the design and application of M&E tools and technical support for data analysis; and providing capacity building in relevant areas.

CIAR-CAAS may further collaborate with IFAD to carry out research studies within relevant thematic areas and to extract and document knowledge from the project portfolio in efforts to share innovative ideas and experiential lessons from project implementation, which can be applied to IFAD’s overall project effectiveness and to inform policymaking. On a strategic level, CIAR-CAAS may also be involved in identifying relevant areas of focus for future IFAD-funded projects in China during the IFAD12 replenishment cycle.

The two organisations will continue to explore new opportunities for advancing cooperation, including in the areas of knowledge management, advocacy and expanded involvement in IFAD-financed projects in China and other developing countries.

CIAR-CAAS is an academic institute established by the Chinese Government with the purpose of promoting research in the field of international agriculture cooperation within the context of increasing globalization, economic integration and shared common vision of developing rural areas around the world and improving the living standards of people living in rural areas.

Since 1981, IFAD has supported China in a total of 33 rural development projects implemented in 23 provinces and regions, with a total cost of US$3 billion. IFAD contributed over $1 billion of these costs by way of loan or grant. The interventions have directly benefitted more than 20 million poor and vulnerable people from more than 4.5 million rural households in China.