The Global Donor Platform for Rural Development (GDPRD) is pleased to welcome The Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) as its newest member. Representing GAFSP will be Philip Van der Celen, Deputy Program Manager.
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GAFSP is a multilateral partnership and financing platform dedicated to addressing global food insecurity through a comprehensive set of financing windows that support investments and capacity building for agricultural development, food systems transformation, and the empowerment of smallholder farmers and rural communities in low-income countries. Launched by the G20 in response to the 2007-2008 food crisis, GAFSP has deployed to date over US$2.5 billion of grant resources towards recipient-led interventions in low-income countries.
As the world’s only multilateral partnership for food and nutrition security financing, collaboration is embedded in the GAFSP mandate. The program believes firmly in enhancing cross-institutional cooperation, drawing on a rich history working with multilateral development banks, development finance institutions, United Nations agencies, the private sector and civil society, as well as fostering public-private partnerships.
By bringing these actors together, GAFSP and the Donor Platform are aligned in the commitment to addressing rural poverty by fostering donor coordination and accelerating global food systems transformation.
GAFSP brings to the Donor Platform a thematic focus on food systems transformation, improving rural livelihoods, enhancing food systems resilience, and promoting sustainable agricultural development. Through its piloted Business Investment Financing Track, GAFSP is accelerating its commitment to smallholder farmers and micro-, small- and medium-enterprises. The programme takes a whole-of-society approach to making financing more accessible through innovative blended finance mechanisms, ultimately helping to build more resilient agricultural systems. Alongside this, the Producer Organization-led Track directly funds producer organizations for locally-led and developed projects that support rural development and inclusivity.
The GDPRD looks forward to building the collaboration with GAFSP as a Platform Member and finding opportunities to partner in sharing expertise for scaling up blended finance for food systems transformation and rural revitalization.
Focal Point:
Philip Van der Celen
Deputy Program Manager
The Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP)
www.gafspfund.org
Bio: Philip Van der Celen is a Senior Agricultural Economist and Deputy Program Manager of the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP). He has more than 15 years of international experience in sustainable development across international financial institutions (IFIs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and academia with a focus on environmental management, sustainable livelihoods, and food and nutrition security issues.
Philip’s experience covers Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, providing technical leadership for strategies, policy reforms and investments, financial instruments, and advisory services aimed at promoting sustainable value chains and food system transformation, and he has published research on a broad range of sustainable development topics.
