Washington D.C. - The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) today joined the World Bank Group's Water Forward, a new global initiative that aims to deliver water security for up to 1 billion people by 2030.

"At the first rural mile of food systems--where IFAD invests--water is not just an input. It is a source of jobs, growth, and resilience in rural economies on the frontlines of climate change," President Alvaro Lario said at the launch of the initiative at the World Bank Group-IMF Spring Meetings. "As an investor, IFAD focuses on turning water action into economic opportunity. Our investments in irrigation and rural water infrastructure create jobs, stabilize production, and help communities manage droughts, floods, and climate shocks.

Water Forward brings together governments, multilateral development banks, the private sector, and philanthropies to align policy reform, financing, and delivery to help countries build investable and scalable water systems capable of supporting long-term growth and prosperity.

As a global investment platform for inclusive and resilient rural development, IFAD mobilizes approximately US$350 million each year for sustainable water solutions, catalysing public and private investment in undercapitalized rural economies. Water security underpins jobs, productivity, and economic growth across sectors. When water systems are unreliable, economies struggle to grow, investment is constrained, and opportunities are limited.

IFAD's water investments focus on integrated solutions at the first mile, including irrigation, watershed management, water harvesting, and climate-resilient infrastructure that strengthen resilience, support employment, and improve productivity across rural economies.

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©IFAD/Tolani Alli

In India, for example, we have seen how investments in drinking water and small-scale irrigation can boost productivity and create economic opportunity. By expanding access to drinking water and irrigation, more than 96,000 households in vulnerable tribal groups are more productive, have greater food security, and have developed new income-generating activities. The communities can also better cope with climate shocks.

In drought-prone areas of Ethiopia, an irrigation project that developed farmer owned and managed small-scale irrigation systems saw notable increases in crop yields, farmer incomes, nutrition, and jobs on and off the farm.

This new partnership builds on IFAD's ongoing cooperation with the World Bank Group's AgriConnect initiative, through which IFAD has pledged to reach at least 70 million small-scale farmers by 2030. AgriConnect marked a starting point for renewed partnership - linking, markets, finance, and value chains to unlock rural enterprise and employment - to transform rural people's lives by increasing their incomes, productive capacity and market access.

As the only international finance institution dedicated to investing at the first mile of food systems, IFAD transforms every dollar it receives into roughly six dollars of high-impact investment on the ground. Impact-assessment data shows these investments typically raise rural incomes, productive capacity, and market access by more than 30 per cent.

Media contact: Alison Harding | al.harding@ifad.org |

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The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is the only international financial institution exclusively focused on transforming rural economies. IFAD invests in rural people and their communities, building food security, shared prosperity and stability. Today, IFAD and its partners have nearly US$23 billion invested in ongoing projects that are transforming rural economies.

A wide range of high-quality photographs and broadcast-quality video content of IFAD's work in rural communities are available for download from our DigiHub.