Results for IFAD

Traditional outrigger canoes are being reborn in Tonga with a new programme, led by Master Carver, Sione Tu‘ione Pulotu, teaching innovative ways to create canoes in a day, to help revive traditional fishing methods. Fifty-eight people from Ha‘apai completed a week-long training course in building the outrigger canoes and oars at MORDI Tonga headquarters, in Tongatapu, from 24-28 May.

A new community hall was handed over on Friday, October 9 in Angaha, ‘Eua. It was a joint collaboration funded by the people of Japan and also by the Tonga Government, the 'Eua community, IFAD and MORDI Tonga.

A ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of a new community multi-purpose hall for the village of Haveluliku in eastern Tongatapu was officiated by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Internal Affairs, Hon. ‘Akilisi Pohiva on 31 May.

In two important engagements in Rome, Tonga's King Tupou VI addressed delegates at the opening of the 38th Session of the Governing Council of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), on Monday February 16, and later in the day had an audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will provide a US$3 million grant to Tonga to improve sustainable livelihoods in 29 communities in the “outer islands” (outside the main islands of Tongatapu, Vava'u and Ha’apai) and 31 communities in the “main islands” of Tongatapu, Vava'u, Ha'api the Niua’s and ‘Eua. Approximately 16,900 poor households will be targeted, with special attention to poor rural women who are particularly vulnerable to poverty.

Pressing challenges, such as a changing climate and volatile food prices, require that policy makers have more open and constructive exchanges about their experiences to achieve progress toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), senior officials of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) said ahead of a South-South cooperation meeting in China from 21 to 27 July.