An interview with Troels Mahieu-Sorensen, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), during the 2024 Annual General Assembly on “Financing Food Systems Transformation and Rural Revitalization: Opportunities and Challenges”.
UNDP Focal Point:
Andrew Bovarnick
Global Head - Food and Agricultural Commodity Systems (FACS) Team
Troels Mahieu-Sorensen is the Humanitarian Development Peace Nexus Advisor at UNDP.
Serena Gentile/GDPRD: Could sum up your reactions to the Annual General Assembly using three words?
Troels Mahieu-Sorensen: The first word that comes to mind is "inspiring". Second word is "coordination", and the third is not one word, but "moving forward". Those are three things that come to mind.
Serena: Why is food systems financing important?
Troels: I work on the African continent and in Africa, we have a huge problem with food production. We don't produce enough, and the prices are too high and with too few trading opportunities. We need to produce more. We need to produce more locally and work in a more integrated way. One major challenge is the funding and financing of investments across both the public and private sectors. In Africa, we have the skill sets, the productive land and the technologies. But we need more investment to truly scale up food production and support the entire value chain. We've seen throughout this two-day event that there's not a lot of funding and financing going into the private sector – especially to local businesses. That's one of the biggest gaps we have. We have to find a way to bring more both funding and financing to local businesses on the African continent.
Serena: As the newest member of the Donor Platform, could you say a few words about the role of the Donor Platform in the new financing agenda?
Troels: Food and agricultural commodity systems are fundamental to sustainable development across the globe, but they are in crisis and need to be radically transformed. This is even more relevant in fragile and crisis settings where climate change, conflict and economic shocks are the key drivers for food crises. I think the challenges we have are so enormous that no one can do it by themselves. We need these kinds of platforms to facilitate exchange among various stakeholders —from donors to governments to civil society groups, to entrepreneurs, to implementers. What are the real challenges? What are the bottlenecks? We need to agree on that in order to determine how we move forward—and then move forward together. We need to move forward in a coordinated fashion and that can only be done through these platforms. We need this platform to come together and agree on what needs to be done and by whom, where, and how. That's how we can change things—by working better together. These platforms allow us to move forward as a collective.
We need this platform to come together and agree on what needs to be done and by whom, where, and how. That's how we can change things—by working better together. These platforms allow us to move forward as a collective.
The Donor Platform is a great opportunity to present and discuss findings from recent global and Africa-specific analyses, and this year’s focus on financing for food system transformation is absolutely key. UNDP brings an unique value proposition by operating in a multi-sectoral and integrated manner to build resilient food systems. UNDP’s strategy is fundamentally linked to multiple development goals at the core of UNDP’s strategy and signature solutions, including poverty reduction, economic growth, access to water, energy, gender equality, environmental sustainability, climate resilience, and social inclusion. They intersect with issues such as health, climate, environment, livelihoods, digitalization, SDG finance, and governance that make up UNDP’s global programme portfolios, as reflected in its country portfolios.
In short, food systems are at the heart of sustainable development, which is the core mandate of UNDP. Additionally, sustainable food systems rely on multi-sectoral policies which UNDP can guide through its role of integrator of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). The opportunity to discuss with key change agents and donors on how we bring our efforts in the a broader collective approach is of significant importance for success programming.
Learn more about the 2024 Annual General Assembly (AGA).
Photos: ©Flavio Ianniello/IFAD | Serena Gentile was an IFAD volunteer at the 2024 AGA.
