Focus Areas

The Agriculture and Rural Development Group in the Latin America and the Caribbean Region, embraces a wide range of rural development topics in efforts to improve rural livelihoods across Latin America.

 

Our work falls under five principle thematic working groups which include:          

 

 

 

 Agricultural Competitiveness  - Assisting clients to achieve market based agricultural development by improving farmer integration in value chains, managing market and production risks, promoting the

 

 Agriculture Services and Technology – Helping to improve the performance of the agricultural sector in Latin America through access to innovation and knowledge that will improve production and that will help respond to dynamic challenges such as climate change, biosafety and SPS requirements.

 

 Forestry and Natural Resource Management – Supporting the sustainable management of the world’s forests and other natural resources, and providing financing for sustainable land use change, and carbon sequestration through reforestation, aforestation, and REDD strategies.

 

 Land Reform – Helping governments improve access to land and secure land tenure rights of citizens to enhance economic development, ensure social stability and facilitate territorial planning and local development.

 

 Spatial and Rural Development  – Assisting governments in Latin America and the Caribbean establish a framework for community driven development and decentralization  that takes into account territorial and spatial dimensions in a multi-sectoral, participatory way focusing on good governance practices and sustainable delivery of local services.

 

Our work in these five groups also takes into account cross cutting themes related to agriculture such as climate change and issues such as the food price crisis. These focus areas reflect the multi-faceted challenges of rural livelihoods, and the many opportunities to help our client countries implement effective rural development policies and programs.

 

Overall, our vision is to assist the region keep its strong agricultural positioning as a food producer and exporter, while operating in a fiscally, environmentally and socially sustainable way.  In the long run, our goals are to ensure that agricultural growth is inclusive, and that equal opportunities are available to all members of the rural population. Similarly, we seek to reduce the environmental footprint of agricultural growth and we explore innovative technologies and partnerships in doing this. We also hope to assist countries improve the allocation of sectoral resources.  And finally, we encourage rural development strategies that will strengthen territorial integration and adopt a cross sectoral focus.