Serve Basic Needs: Health, Agriculture, and Infrastructure

With 30% of the world’s impoverished people living in the Islamic Development Bank’s member countries, there is a cycle of intergenerational poverty, poor health and nutrition, and little or no rural finance.The Lives and Livelihoods Fund provides affordable financing for the least wealthy 30 countries in the Islamic Development Bank’s membership. It does this by providing a combination of grants and concessional loans. The map below shows the varying “grant element” that applies to different member countries, based on their level of wealth.Projects funded by the Lives and Livelihoods Fund targets support to the poorest people, by focusing on three areas:We are funding programs that combat infectious diseases like malaria and polio, ensure routine immunization, and strengthen primary health-care systems. Our primary goal is to reduce the deaths of mothers and children.Our goal for our investments in agricultural projects is to help smallholder farmers increase their production of livestock and staple crops.Lack of access to basic infrastructure can prevent poor communities from connecting to needed resources. That’s why we invest in off-grid rural power generation, transmission, and distribution; small-scale water supply and sanitation; and infrastructure that supports financial inclusion such as digital banking.Through these investments, the Lives and Livelihoods Fund is providing the stepping stones for prosperity and self-reliance.Investments in health stimulate economic development, with economic benefits exceeding costs by up to 20 times.[The Lancet Commission Report: Global Health 2035: A World Converging Within a Generation. 2013]