Conference report on ‘Rural Finance Research: Moving results into policies and practice’, FAO, Rome
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Ford Foundation and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) jointly sponsored a conference on rural and agricultural finance (RAF) in Rome, Italy, 19-21 March 2007. The conference brought together leading experts in RAF from around the globe - researchers, practitioners, government representatives - to discuss the state of the art in RAF, to encourage collaboration, and to lay out the next steps for the further development of the industry. As indicated by the title of the conference, ‘An International Conference on Rural Finance Research: Moving Results into Policies and Practice’, the focus was on research and how to make it usable and relevant at various levels. The term ‘research’ spanned both academic/theoretical research as well as practical/action-oriented research, ensuring that a comprehensive perspective on learning and information sharing could be explored and advanced.- Development impact bonds: learning from the Asháninka cocoa and coffee case in Peru
- Trade-off between outreach and sustainability of microfinance institutions: evidence from sub-Saharan Africa
- Value chain development for rural poverty reduction: A reality check and a warning
- Impact assessment of commodity standards: towards inclusive value chains
- What is cocoa sustainability? Mapping stakeholders’ socio-economic, environmental, and commercial constellations of priorities