7 December 2015: The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has released a report outlining approaches to support the participation of smallholder farmers in the development and implementation of climate change adaptation policies. Based on case studies illustrating IFAD’s approach to policy engagement, the report concludes that interventions such as producing and communicating evidence, strengthening decision-making institutions, fostering dialogue among stakeholders, and supporting engagement at all levels of decision making, are essential to ensure the realization smallholder farmers’ adaptation priorities.

The report, titled ‘The Policy Advantage: Enabling Smallholders’ Adaptation Priorities to be Realized,’ lays out the principles of IFAD’s approach, which focuses on policy engagement at the country-level to support the development of policies and systems for adaptation to climate change as well as for long-term, sustainable development. IFAD emphasizes a holistic methodology that addresses poverty, food security, climate change and environment.

The subsequent section presents five case studies of projects supported by IFAD’s Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme as examples for engagement in country-level processes, namely: mainstreaming climate change into national agricultural services policy in Cambodia; developing policy dialogue between actors that are part of smallholder value chains in El Salvador; supporting participation of smallholders in the design of climate services in the Gambia; including smallholder adaptation priorities in climate-resilience policies in El Salvador; and including drought monitoring and early response systems in national adaptation planning in Sudan.

Based on these and other case studies, the report suggests a “typology of interventions” that support the incorporation of smallholder priorities into national and local policy frameworks, including: generating and communicating evidence, such as vulnerability studies, early warning systems, down-scaled climate projections, and stakeholder consultations to capture the level of detail necessary to inform policy making at different levels; strengthening capacities of institutions involved in decision making, including local authorities and farmers’ organizations; brokering dialogue to ensure that farmers, women, indigenous groups and other stakeholders participate in decision making; and supporting all levels of policy making to ensure that local and site-specific issues are appropriately addressed. [IFAD Press Release] [Publication: The Policy Advantage: Enabling Smallholders’ Adaptation Priorities to be Realized]