The Road to the SDGs

partners, including MDBs, civil society organisations and the private sector. X The guiding principles of the policy are as follows: – Synergy and complementarity — The preference will be to lend to integrated projects that have complementary components to address the socioeconomic needs of rural communities – A value-chain approach and private-sector participatio n — IsDB financing will support projects and programmes that use the value-chain approach (the input–output market model), encouraging the private sector to play a critical role in ensuring sustainable development by promoting research and technology dissemination and adoption – Science, technology and innovation — IsDB will promote projects and programmes with innovative research-based development models or the potential for technology transfer. South-South Cooperation and Reverse Linkage may also play a role – Regional differentiation — This reflects the diversity of challenges and priorities across the 57 MCs and the variety in their resource endowments, socioeconomic setups and development stages. Special consideration will be given to the most vulnerable regions. POTENTIAL IMPACTS X The policy pillars that define the intended achievements are as follows: – Build resilient and climate- smart agricultur e — Encouraging climate-smart agriculture that builds resilience and enhances agricultural productivity, devoting special attention to resilience in fragile high-risk and low-capacity countries – Improve access to remunerative market s — Improving market infrastructure and supporting strong farmer–buyer links that facilitate the commercialisation of subsistence agriculture, closing the gap between women and men in productive and social roles in supply chains – Promote inclusive, sustainable and integrated approaches — Taking an integrated approach to agriculture and rural development through improved access to basic services, infrastructure and economic opportunities – Promote access to Islamic financial products and services — Encouraging the development of Islamic microfinance products that cater for the needs of smallholders and small-to- medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in rural development; fostering a conducive legal and regulatory environment for the use of Shariah-compliant products – Promote private-sector participation — Supporting MCs in attracting foreign investment to generate broad-based growth and to increase the number of higher quality jobs in rural areas, encouraging foreign direct investment in agriculture – Build human and institutional capacity — Collaborating with leading partners and specialised agencies and through internal mechanisms to support capacity building, technical vocational education and training in agriculture. INVESTMENT u - The policy aims to provide strategic direction for investment by IsDB in the agricultural and rural development of its MCs. X It also aims to strengthen the resilience of MCs food systems and value chains in order to reduce the impacts of climate change events and/or enhance their ability to withstand or bounce back fast from such events X It outlines a framework for IsDB Group support to MCs to improve food security through rural and agricultural development for rural economic growth and employment generation. X At its heart is the commercialisation of smallholder agriculture through the development of agriculture value chains, with an emphasis on private-sector participation. X Through this policy, IsDB aims to improve investment in agriculture that generates sustainable growth among rural communities and to deepen Islamic rural financial intermediation. A G R I C U L T U R E A N D R U R A L D E V E L O P M E N T The policy focuses on alleviating poverty and enhancing food security, enhancing public-private partnerships and creating rural employment [ 31 ] T H E R O A D T O T H E S D G s | P R O G R E S S A N D A C H I E V E M E N T S