PLATFORM UPDATE

THE STATE OF FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION IN THE WORLD (SOFI) 2019

World not on track to meet global nutrition targets

Worldwide, more than 820 million people did not have enough to eat in 2018, up from 811 million in the previous year, which is the third year of increase in a row, the UN announced on 15 July 2019 in New York in its latest report on the state of food security and nutrition. The UN have spoken of an “immense challenge” to overcome world hunger by 2030.

New this year is the introduction of a second indicator for monitoring SDG2: the Prevalence of Moderate or Severe Food Insecurity based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES), or SDG Indicator 2.1.2. This indicator provides a perspective on global food insecurity relevant for all countries of the world: one that looks beyond hunger towards the goal of ensuring access to nutritious and sufficient food for all. As estimates of SDG Indicator 2.1.2 refer to the total number of people suffering from food insecurity, including at moderate levels, it comes as no surprise that they correspond to a much higher number of people than those who suffer from hunger. Altogether, about 2 billion people in the world (26.4 percent of the world’s population) experience moderate or severe food insecurity.

In global dimensions, the number of starving people in the past year reached about the same level as in 2010 and 2011, affecting about one in nine people on Earth. The highest proportion of malnourished people are in Africa with roughly 20 percent of the population (256 million people) having suffered from hunger. “Hunger is on the rise in almost every region of Africa, making it the region with the highest prevalence of undernourishment,” says the report, which has been co-sponsored by several UN agencies, including UNICEF, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). In Eastern Africa in particular, close to a third of the population (30.8 percent) is undernourished. In addition to climate and conflict, economic slowdowns and downturns are driving the rise. Since 2011, almost half the countries experiencing a sharp spike in hunger triggered by economic slowdowns or stagnation were in Africa.

The largest number of undernourished people (almost 513 million) live in Asia, mostly in southern Asian countries. Together, Africa and Asia bear the greatest share of all forms of malnutrition, accounting for more than nine out of ten of all stunted children and over nine out of ten of all wasted children worldwide. In southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, one child in three is stunted. In addition to the challenges of stunting and wasting, Asia and Africa are also home to nearly three-quarters of all overweight children worldwide, which is largely driven by the consumption of unhealthy diets. The report also shed light on the gender gap by stating that the chances of being food insecure are higher for women than men in every continent, with the largest gap in Latin America.

Hunger is increasing in many countries where economic growth is lagging, particularly in middle-income countries and those that rely heavily on international primary commodity trade. The report also found that income inequality is rising in many of the countries where hunger is on the rise, making it even more difficult for the poor, vulnerable, or marginalised to cope with economic slowdowns and downturns. In contrast to the account of stagnant development in many parts of the world, the report also pointed out positive developments from around the world. It highlighted the fact that South Asia has made great strides in combating hunger.

The UN Nutrition Report also pointed out the problem of increasing rates of obesity. Malnutrition in the form of obesity and overweight is a growing problem in “almost all countries,” it said. The trend became particularly prevalent among adults and school-age children, including adolescents. Highlighting the severity of the problem, the report stated that being overweight is associated with four million deaths worldwide.

According to the report, growing food insecurity is subject to a set of factors: Crises and conflicts, the effects of climate change and economic downturns. Food security and nutrition concerns must be integrated into poverty reduction efforts, while ensuring that reducing gender inequalities.

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IFAD’S 2019 RURAL DEVELOPMENT REPORT

Creating opportunities for rural youth

Platform members International Fund for Agriculture (IFAD) German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) have recently joined forces to shed the light on the topic of rural youth. IFAD’s 2019 Development Report, which was prepared with funding from BMZ, looks at opportunities and strategies to make rural areas liveable for the current and future generations. The report titled “Creating opportunities for rural youth” provides an analysis that can inform policies, programmes and investments to promote a rural transformation inclusive of youth. Issues discussed range from exploring opportunities for rural youth to constraints they are facing.

The reports finds that rural youth are explicitly affected by different constraints in the transition from dependence to independence, in particular the availability of skills, constraints to lands and to finance. While 1 in 3 adults own land, only 1 in 10 young people do. Youth have few assets and are more likely to be unbanked and yet to win their place in transforming rural economies, youth need access to finance. Digital financial solutions can meet part of this gap. The authors speak of triple burden: Being rural, young and female presents a completely new dimension of challenges. Young rural women are only half as likely as young men to be sole landowners. Also, rural women in less transformed economies typically have the lowest level of education.

The current unprecedented rate and nature of change also create new contexts, challenges and opportunities, e.g. regarding demographic changes, states the report. Cities, including rural towns, currently house half of the population of low and middle-income countries. Rural populations have more than doubled since the 1950s. The resulting growth of rural towns has reduced the literal and economic distance between rural and urban centres. Rural youth are likely to be disproportionately affected by climate change because countries with high youth populations are typically poor with few opportunities beyond agriculture and have little capacity to adapt. Regarding digital change, the report names both challenges and opportunities. On the one hand, digital technologies are undermining labour-intensive manufacturing avenues in industries which were often easy escape routes for youths. On the other hand, digital innovations are creating opportunities for youth to be better connected to different strategies.

Opportunities for rural youth are framed by overlapping settings at national, local and familial levels, continues the report and recommends that policies and investments should be directed towards providing a wide range of rural opportunities while promoting youth inclusion. According to the report, rural youth development is powered by improvements in three mutually reinforcing factors:

1. Increasing the ability of young people to become productive individuals
2. Improving their connectivity to people, market services, ideas and information
3. Increase their capacity and ability to shape their own destiny.

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AFRICA YOUTH AGRIPRENEUR FORUM (AYAF) 2019

Investing in young agripreneurs to open a new chapter in Africa’s development

Over 200 participants gathered in Cape Town, South Africa for the 3rd Africa Youth Agripreneur Forum (AYAF) on 24–28 June 2019. The forum themed “Climate Smart Agriculture: Business and Employment Opportunities for Africa’s Youth” was hosted by Platform member African Development Bank (AfDB) in partnership with Western Cape Government. The forum is part of AfDB’s initiative in supporting the young agripreneurs through the “Empowering Novel Agri-Business-Led Employment” (ENABLE) youth program. Like in the previous years, the AYAF created a testing ground for agricultural innovations to take shape and more importantly, encourage youth to be the driving force of agricultural transformation in Africa. Over the past three years, a total investment of $350 million has been committed by AfDB to run the program in 12 countries across the continent.

The event saw a three-day business boot camp from the 24th to 26th of June, where a select group of 25 entrepreneurs was prepared for the so called AgriPitch Competition under two categories: “the early start-ups” and “the mature start-ups”. Drawing from the mentorship and lessons learned from the intense boot camp, the agripreneurs pitched their ideas to a panel of judges and impact investors, who selected six winners to receive a total grant of US$ 74,000 at the award gala dinner.

The event was concluded by a two-day conference on 27–28 June that served as a platform for young agripreneurs and key stakeholders alongside experts, business leaders, investors and other policy makers to discuss issues that affect youth employment.

In his remarks, Edward Mabaya from the AfDB affirmed the Bank’s conviction that the future of the continent’s youth lies in more rapid and inclusive economic growth: “With the right entrepreneurship ecosystem, skills, technologies and improved access to finance and by using a value chain approach, young Africans can approach agriculture as a business and become the proud owners of viable and profitable agribusiness enterprises”.

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THE 5TH TONY ELUMELU FOUNDATION ENTREPRENEURSHIP FORUM

Empowering African Entrepreneurs

The 5th edition of Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) Entrepreneurship Forum was held on 26-27 July in Abuja, Nigeria. The two-day event, themed ‘Empowering African Entrepreneurs,’ brought together more than 5,000 participants and 60 speakers from 3 continents. The event is an integral part of the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship program cycle. In the run up to the event, selected entrepreneurs received a chance to have robust business training and to develop bankable business plans coached by mentors.

Entrepreneurs came from across various sectors, ranging from Agriculture to ICT, fashion and education, in a two-day event organized by the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF). The initiative, founded in 2010, has been at the forefront of advocating for entrepreneurship as the catalyst for the economic transformation of Africa. The 10-year programme made a US$100 million commitment to identify, train, mentor and fund 10,000 African entrepreneurs by 2024 and has so far empowered 7,520 entrepreneurs in its first half cycle.

The 2019 Forum itself facilitated interactive masterclasses, plenary sessions and debates geared towards generating ideas and defining concrete steps Africa must take to empower its youth and accelerate the continent’s development. The event also featured a panel discussion with the Presidents of Rwanda, Senegal, Democratic Republic of Congo, and presidential representatives from Uganda and Nigeria. The panel also included AfDB’s President Akinwumi Adesina. “We must begin to put our capital at risk for the young people of Africa. The current market system doesn’t provide financing to the African youth, projected to be over 840 million by 2050“,Adesina said and added: “We should begin to set up youth entrepreneurship and investments banks – banks where if you walk in, they see assets and not liability.”

Tony O. Elumelu, founder of the TEF, reiterated the urgency in creating jobs on the continent to catalyse Africa’s development. “Extremism is a product of poverty and joblessness. Poverty anywhere is a threat to everyone everywhere”, he said. The Nigerian investor and philanthropist also reiterated the role of technology as a key enabler in accelerating development, citing TEF Connect, the digital networking platform for African entrepreneurs launched in 2018 to forge business partnerships regardless of their location.

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INFOGRAPHIC OF THE MONTH

The basic framework for tracking adaptation in agriculture

Tracking progress towards the achievement of short-, medium- and long-term climate change adaptation goals in agriculture is highly complex. FAO’s basic framework for tracking adaptation in agriculture reflects the way theoretical basis of indicators, the various elements of adaptation, and the spatial and temporal scales of tracking are converted into an operational tracking framework, whereby the dynamic interplay between different variables are understood.

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PEER-TO-PEER LEARNING:

Announcing the Platform’s upcoming Autumn Webinar Series

The Platform’s 2019 Autumn Webinar Series is around the corner! Covering a wide range of topics, from rural producer agency and agricultural value chains to climate-smart-agriculture (CSA) and youth network in Africa, the four-webinar series will look into important findings of studies and highlight the work of leading research institutions and intergovernmental organizations, including some of the Platform’s members. Please click the corresponding link for registration and stay tuned for more detail on the specific topic and timing of this webinar as well as the presenters.

Webinar 1: Rural producer agency and agricultural value chains
Tuesday, 10 September 2019, at 10:00am BST // 11:00am CEST // 5:00am EDT

Dr. Lorenzo Cotula from the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) will present insights from the recently published research report “Rural producer agency and agricultural value chains: What role for socio-legal empowerment?” The report was prepared for the Empowering Producers in Commercial Agriculture (EPIC) project.

Webinar 2: Advancing climate-smart agriculture – financing and the development of adaptation indicators
Wednesday, 2 October 2019, at 15:00h CEST // 9:00am EDT

In this webinar, Dr. Bruce Campbell from the CGIAR Research Programme on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), will discuss the development and implementation of adaptation indicators in the context of climate smart agriculture (CSA) projects. A second speaker, representing a Platform member or partner organisation and working within the climate finance landscape, will discuss CSA financing.

Webinar 3: Youth networks and associations in Africa
Early November 2019

James Kyewalabye, an intern at the Secretariat of Global Donor Platform for rural development and candidate of MA Agriculture and Rural Development at the University of East Anglia, will be hosting this webinar to present findings from his study on different youth networks in Africa.

Webinar 4: Climate change mitigation in agricultural value chains
Late November 2019

The fourth webinar in our series will address the topic of climate change mitigation in agricultural value chains. More details will follow in due course.

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MEMBERS AND PARTNERS STRATEGIES, PUBLICATIONS AND EVENTS

NEW PUBLICATIONS

EXTENDING THE BENEFITS OF TRADE TO REDUCE POVERTY
Australian Aid and World Vision have jointly published a report titled “Extending the benefits of trade to reduce poverty”. The report distils the insights contents and views from an Aid for Inclusive Trade Workshop held in Canberra in February 2019, which brought together around 80 Aid for Trade practitioners and policymakers from a range of sectors to discuss ways to maximise the inclusiveness of Aid for Trade. The workshop was co-hosted by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, a Platform Board member, and World Vision Australia.

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AID FOR TRADE AT A GLANCE 2019: ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION AND EMPOWERMENT
The latest edition of the report, jointly published by Platform members OECD and World Trade Organisation, analyses how trade can contribute to economic diversification and empowerment, with a focus on eliminating extreme poverty, particularly through the effective participation of women and youth. It shows how aid for trade can contribute to that objective by addressing supply-side capacity and trade-related infrastructure constraints, including for micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises notably in rural areas.

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CERES 2030: NEW ACTIVITY UPDATE OUT
Ceres2030: Sustainable solutions to end hunger, the joint initiative by Cornell University, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the International Institute for Sustainable development (IISD) that strives to quantify the cost and benefits of ending hunger and undernutrition has recently released its latest Activity Update. The update summarises the highlights of the past six months (February – July) of this initiative which is supported by Platform members Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. By combining state-of-the-art economic modelling techniques with insights derived from analysing expert research, Ceres2030 aims to determine the costs and effective solutions for tackling the objective laid out in SDG2: how to end hunger sustainably by 2030 (see our previous reports on CERES 2030).

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NEW SLE-FAO STUDY ON DECENT JOBS FOR THE YOUNG IN CAMBODIA
As part of its decent (self-) employment for youth agenda, the FAO commissioned the Centre for Rural Development (SLE) to undertake a case study in Cambodia to determine which skills and training opportunities young people need to gain access to decent employment in rural areas. The handbook “Preparing and Accessing Decent Work Amongst Rural Youth in Cambodia” shows what skills and training opportunities young people aged 15-17 need to subsequently gain easier access to decent employment in rural areas. The study conducted a Skills and Training Needs Assessment (STNA) with youth in three provinces of Kampong Chhnang, Battambang and Kampong Cham and developed recommendations on how to foster their access to decent employment. The study highlights a tremendous lack of decent employment opportunities along the agricultural value chain in rural Cambodia with very few enterprises engaging in high-level processing or employing skilled workers. Most existing jobs lack decent income-generating opportunity and decent working conditions and do not fulfil occupational safety standards.

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NEW LEAFLET FROM PLATFORM MEMBER AUSTRALIA
“Investing in agriculture: Australian Aid for productivity and food security” - Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has recently published a 2-pager summarising its strategy on agriculture, fisheries and water. It is based on Australia’s development policy (“Australian aid: promoting prosperity, reducing poverty, enhancing stability”) launched in 2014. The fact sheet introduces to Australia’s investment and agriculture priorities and gives an overview of existing programmes at global, regional and country levels. The fact sheet is available for download from the Global Donor platform’s website.

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EVENTS

Tuesday, 3 September 2019 | Accra, Ghana
2010 African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF)

The African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF), organized by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), is considered to be the world’s premier forum for African agriculture, bringing together stakeholders in the agricultural landscape to take practical actions and share lessons that will move African agriculture forward. The 2019 AGRF is under the title “Grow Digital - Leveraging digital transformation to drive sustainable food systems in Africa”. Also on the agenda is the Steering Committee meeting of the Youth Technical Working Group.

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Tuesday, 10 September 2019 | Webinar
Global Donor Platform Webinar Series 1: Rural producer agency and agricultural value chains

Dr. Lorenzo Cotula from the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) will present insights from the recently published research report “Rural producer agency and agricultural value chains: What role for socio-legal empowerment?” The report was prepared for the Empowering Producers in Commercial Agriculture (EPIC) project.

 WEBLINK

Tuesday, 17 – 30 September 2019 | New York City, USA
74th Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 74)

The General Assembly is one of the six main organs of the United Nations, the only one in which all 193 Member States have equal representation. All Member States convene to discuss and cooperate on a wide array of international issues covered by the UN Charter. Important topics for 2019 UNGA range from universal health coverage and Sustainable Development Goals’ finances to the elimination of nuclear weapons and the progress in development cooperation with Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

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Friday, 20 September 2019 | Principality of Monaco, Monaco
51st session of the IPCC

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is currently in its sixth assessment cycle. During this cycle, the Panel’s volunteer scientists will produce the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), a Methodology Report to refine the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventories, and three special reports, namely the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C (SR15), the Special Report on Climate Change and Land (SRCCL), and the Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a changing Climate (SROCC).

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Monday, 23 September 2019 | New York City, USA
UN Climate Action Summit

The 2019 Climate Action Summit, hosted by UN Secretary-General in an effort to boost ambition and accelerate actions to implement the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, will showcase a leap in collective national political ambition and significant economic progress in support of the agenda. Together, these developments will send strong market and political signals and inject momentum in the “race to the top” among countries, companies, cities and civil society that is needed to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals.

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Tuesday, 24 September 2019 | New York City, USA
High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development Goals - SDG Summit

The 2019 High-level Political Forum (HLPF), under the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) – SDG Summit, will convene Heads of States and Government to follow up and review progress in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and its 17 SDGs. The event will mark the first UN summit on the SDGs since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda in September 2015. Chaired by the President of the General Assembly, the Summit will lead to a concise negotiated political declaration. Although the event is exclusively reserved for Heads of State and Government, participation of relevant stakeholders and entities in the Summit can be allowed subject to a standing invitation to participate as observers in the General Assembly.

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Thursday, 26 September 2019 | New York City, USA
UN High Level Dialogue on Finance for Development

The UN General Assembly will hold its first High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development (FfD) as a sideline event of its 74th session. The Dialogue will aim to renew global commitment to financing at the highest political level. It will serve as a UN call for collective action to energize growth and tackle challenges in the global economy, encourage public and private investment to align with the 2030 Agenda, and promote new and innovative initiatives that target gaps in financing sustainable development. The FfD meeting is mandated in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, which calls for it to convene back-to-back with the UN General Assembly's High Level Political Forum meeting every four years. About 80 Heads of State and Members of Government are expected to participate this year in discussing ways to improve FfD.

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Tuesday, 8 October 2019 | Bali, Indonesia
5th Global Science Conference on Climate-Smart Agriculture

The 5th Global Science Conference on Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) will be held in Bali, Indonesia under the overarching theme "Transforming Food System Under a Changing Climate". The conference will bring together key actors from diverse perspectives and regions, including policy makers, government officials, development champions and practitioners, private sectors and scientists from across the world. During the three days event, the interactive discussion sessions with young peers will focus on six sub-themes ranging from empowering farmers and consumer organizations, women and youth over climate-informed services to fostering enabling policies and institutions.

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Monday, 14 October 2019 | Washington D.C., USA
Annual Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank

The Annual Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank will be held together with other relevant events, seminars, and meetings. At the heart of the Annual Meetings are the Plenary Session, the joint World Bank Group/IMF Development Committee, and the IMF International Monetary and Financial Committee, where progress on the work of the institutions is discussed. Other featured events include regional briefings, press conferences, and fora focused on the global economy, international development, and the world’s financial markets.

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Monday, 14 – 18 October 2019 | Rome, Italy
Committee on World Food Security (CFS) - 46th Session: Making a Difference in Food Security and Nutrition

CFS 46 is from 14 – 18 October 2019 at FAO, Rome, Italy and will be the first major global meeting on food security and nutrition after the High Level Political Forum SDG Summit in New York in September 2019. The SDGs will be the theme of the week with a particular focus on ways to accelerate SDG 2 – zero hunger. 2019 also marks ten years since the CFS Reform in 2009 and 45 years since the founding of the Committee in 1974. The draft Provisional Agenda and Timetable are on the CFS 46 web page. Registration for CFS 46 is now open. The deadline for registration is 20 September 2019.

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Wednesday, 16 October 2019 | Rome, Italy
World Food Day

World Food Day is a day of action dedicated to tackling global hunger. People from around the world come together on 16 October every year to declare their commitment to eradicate worldwide hunger from our lifetime. As SOFI 2019 highlights the soar of double burden of malnutrition, characterised by the coexistence of undernutrition along with overweight and obesity, World Food Day 2019 will call for action to achieve healthy diets and #ZeroHunger. Countries, decision makers, private businesses, civil society - and YOU – can take action. Find out how on the link below!

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Wednesday, 16 October 2019 | Des Moines, USA
2019 Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium

The 2019 Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium, organized by The World Food Prize Foundation, will convene an exceptional array of distinguished international leaders, farmers, agribusiness executives, scientists, non-governmental organizations, and development experts to address the increasingly intersectional issues of food security, conflict and development. Under the theme of “Pax Agricultura: Peace Through Agriculture”, the 2019 Dialogue will touch on various topics such as religion, diplomacy, climate, scientific innovation, and corporate leadership.

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Wednesday, 23 October 2019 | Oslo, Norway
Our Ocean Conference

Our Ocean conference highlights the importance of knowledge as the basis of our actions and policies to ensure protection of our oceans, responsible management of marine resources and sustainable future economic growth. This year, global leaders from governments, businesses, civil society and research institutions will convene during this event to share their experience, identify solutions and commit to action for clean, healthy and productive oceans.

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Wednesday, 20 November 2019 | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Youth Entrepreneurship and Self-Employment (YES!) Forum 2019

The Youth Entrepreneurship and Self-Employment Forum (YES! Forum), organised by the International Trade Centre (ITC) and partners, is a featured event of the Global Entrepreneurship Week. For its second edition, the YES! Forum will be held on November 20 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as a pre-event of the World Export Development Forum.

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ABOUT US

Carol Durieux, Belgium, is the new focal point from Belgium’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. An agriculture and food security expert, she replaces Nathalie Francken, who acted as the Ministry’s previous focal point for the Platform.

Alexandre Kolev, OECD, took up the as OECD’s new focal point to the Platform in June.

Romy Sato, Policy Advisor at the Platform Secretariat and coordinator of the Global Donor Working Group on Land, will leave the Platform Secretariat at the end of August 2019 after nearly six years and take up a new position with a private sector consultancy specialised in international development.

Octavio de Araujo, a Timorese national and a recent graduate of MSc. in Environmental Governance programme from the University of Freiburg is interning at the Platform Secretariat from July to December 2019. Octavio is also the interim coordinator of the Thematic Working Group on Inclusive Agribusiness and Trade on part of the Secretariat.

Members Only Tool Box
As part of the Platform’s new communication strategy, the Secretariat has developed a virtual toolbox with helpful documents, reports and graphics files around the Global Donor Platform. The first version of this toolbox was distributed at the beginning of April, an updated version will be released in the first week of September and shared with members. In case you have questions on its use, or comments, please contact the Secretariat:

 MAIL TO SECRETARIAT