Chandni Joshi, South Asia Regional Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), is in the running for the presidency of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a Rome-based UN agency. Joshi has also served as the Joint Secretary and Chief of Women's Development Division for the Ministry of Panchayat and Local Development of the Government of Nepal, and the Assistant Director of Plan International. The regional director of UNIFEM, a post Joshi has held since 1990, is responsible for nine countries in South Asia-Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

IFAD's Governing Council meets in Rome 22 February. This is the first time in the history of IFAD that a woman is contesting the office of IFAD President. Joshi is pitted against three men who have been officially nominated by their respective governments to replace Fawzi H. Al-Sultan from Kuwait, who has headed the organisation since 1993. IFAD was established as an international financial institution "to finance agricultural development projects primarily for food production in the developing countries," as a result of the 1974 World Food Conference, organised in response to the food crises of the early 1970s that primarily affected the Sahelian countries of Africa. (IPS)