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I am delighted to share our October media and digital impact report. IFAD visibility enjoyed a huge boost this month with President Alvaro Lario taking the helm on 1 October, and commencing his first 100 days in office. As the new President, media were interested in his vision and plans for the organisation, especially as the world struggles with a global food, fuel and fertilizer crisis. He hit the ground running with a number of high-profile media interactions – including a feature piece in The Guardian, an interview with Reuters, El Pais and Bloomberg. All attracting additional media pick-up and interest.

Other influential moments were around World Food Day, the President’s mission to Cote d’Ivoire to attend the Finance in Common summit and went to the field, the launch of the SAPZ initiative in Nigeria, and when we shared the results of the Impact Assessment report via a press release.

We concluded the month shifting our focus to messaging around climate adaptation for small-scale farmers in run-up to COP27. Happy to share this interesting feature story published in Bloomberg on How Oyster Growers Use Mangroves to Fend Off West Africa’s Rising Seas.

Best wishes,
Hélène Papper
Director, Global Communications and Advocacy

Spotlight Stories

The Guardian
Alvaro Lario's interview with The Guardian
Invest in small farmers or world will face regular food crises, says UN agency chief
06 October 2022

Agence Ivorienne de Presse
Alvaro Lario's field visit
Côte d’Ivoire-AIP/ Le président du FIDA visite des infrastructures agricoles à Korhogo et à Ferkessédougou
22 October 2022

Seen on our channels

LinkedIn Instagram Facebook
World Food Day post: Rural Women Day Happy Rural Woman Day
Food is a Human Right animation video post

Notable retweets

@UN @UNbiodiversity @UNEP @andersen_inger
@vanessa_vash (Vanessa Nakate)

Kicking off IFAD President’s first 100 days

The first 100 days of Alvaro Lario’s presidency began with a press release Alvaro Lario, global finance executive, takes helm at UN's International Fund for Agricultural Development on 30 September which attracted substantial global media attention with more than 250 outlets publishing articles.
Media pitching to top-tier outlets was also met with success leading to interviews with The Guardian, Reuters, El Pais and Bloomberg. The Guardian interview was published on 6 October. It profiled the President and his vision in resilience building, the importance of long-term investments, and IFAD’s work to address current global challenges including the food crisis. The El Pais interview was published 14 October. In it he spoke about the climate emergency, and more broadly about small-scale farmers, and IFAD’s work in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Also on October 14, a quote from Alvaro Lario, included in the Rome-based Agencies' press release distributed for World Food Day was widely picked-up. “This year, more than ever, World Food Day should be a call to ramp up action to help small-scale farmers in rural areas, who supply food to their communities and countries – through crisis after crisis – despite inequality, vulnerability, and poverty.”
A few days later, President Lario joined the Finance in Common Summit in Abidjan, met the Vice-President of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire, visited rural areas and engaged with local communities. Between the press release announcing the mission and media engagement in country, 67 articles were written about the mission.
The President’s interview with Bloomberg, came out in an article on the last day of October Egypt Get $2 Billion IFAD Climate Funds to Boost Food Security. It received a lot of media attention, with more than 100 articles written on the topic.

2 Op-eds published
Sri Lanka, Sunday Times, by Sherina Tabassum together with FAO and WFP country representatives.
Ensuring we leave no one behind

India, The Hindu, by Ulaç Demirag together with FAO and WFP country representatives.
Food day as a reminder to ‘leave no one behind

5 Press Releases distributed in several languages

UN's IFAD exceeds targets on helping rural populations move out of hunger and poverty
Arabic, English, Spanish, French
21 Pick-ups, including Greenwatch Dhaka, Daily Sun, The Bangladesh Post,

IFAD President Alvaro Lario heads to Finance in Common Summit in Côte d’Ivoire
English, French
67 articles has been published about the field visit.
Agence Ivorienne de Presse, RFI, MSN, La Tribune Agricole

New app ‘PostalPay’ will slash the cost of sending money from Europe to Uganda
Arabic, English, Spanish , French
12 Pick-ups, including Finins Watch, Agencia NOVA

Uzbekistan and IFAD renew strategic partnership to address global challenges including food supply
Arabic, English, Spanish, French
9 Pick-ups, including OANA News, UN Uzbekistan, UZ Daily

IFAD and EU provide support to Malian diaspora to boost investments in agricultural sector
Arabic, English, Spanish, French
12 Pick-ups, including Relief Web, Disaster Research & Information Hub