Organized by IFAD in collaboration with the French Presidency of the G7, IDFR 2026 in Senegal served as a strategic platform to highlight the role of remittances in financial inclusion and rural development, showcase innovative solutions, align national priorities with global agendas, and rally stakeholders around a shared vision.
Senegal holds a strategic position among West Africa’s top remittance-receiving countries, with inflows representing roughly 10% of GDP over the past decade and reaching $3 billion in 2024. These funds support nearly a third of rural households, playing a vital role in economic stability, poverty reduction, and access to essential services like education and healthcare. Yet significant challenges remain: remittances are still largely directed toward consumption, transfer costs can be high, financial inclusion and literacy remain limited — particularly in rural areas and among women — and climate-related vulnerabilities continue to intensify.
To address these challenges, IFAD’s Financing Facility for Remittances (FFR) operates in Senegal through two complementary programmes: Diaspora RemitInvest (DRI) Italy–Senegal–Mali, funded by the Italian Cooperation through the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), which focuses on food security, financial inclusion, job creation, and rural economic development; and ResilientRemit (RR), funded by the European Union, which targets climate adaptation and strengthens resilience against climate-related risks.
The event reaffirmed remittances not simply as financial flows, but as a powerful engine for resilience, entrepreneurship, and sustainable employment in support of the Sustainable Development Goals.
