We hope to see many of you in person for this event. Presentation: 9:30am–12:00pm EDT | Lunch reception to follow.

Please type your questions into the chat box with name, affiliation, and country. The event video, presenter slides, and podcast will be available in the days following the event.

While global agricultural commodity prices have come down from the high levels seen in recent years, the world remains far off track in meeting the SDG2 of ending hunger and malnutrition by 2030. Last year, close to 300 million people faced food crisis while the number of people on the cusp of famine doubled. Efforts to address hunger and malnutrition are facing considerable hurdles, including protracted as well as new conflicts, cuts in official development assistance, inefficiencies in the global financing architecture, an increasingly fragmented political landscape and multipolarizing international order. How can the world mobilize more public and private resources to tackle the current food crisis, create more robust value chain and trade channels, and set countries on a path towards peace, stability and economic growth?

Timed to align with the WB-IMF Spring Meetings, this event will convene policymakers, representatives of international organizations, private sector and food system experts for a stocktaking of where we find ourselves and to chart solutions towards more aligned domestic and international, public and private financing flows aimed at ending hunger and malnutrition. Picking up on the Spring Meetings’ core theme of jobs as a path to prosperity, the important role of jobs in food value chains and improved livelihoods for furthering food security and nutrition will also be explored.

This policy seminar will:

• Take stock of recent data, trends and outlooks for food and nutrition security, with a focus on the most vulnerable countries.
• Discuss challenges and opportunities in resourcing, regional and global cooperation, and innovation to bend the curve of hunger and malnutrition.
• Examine research findings and share policy recommendations to prevent and prepare for food crises, while broadening the focus to strengthening value chains and markets in developing countries.

Opening Session

In this opening session, speakers provide their perspectives on how best to remain focused on the fight against hunger and malnutrition amidst growing competition for limited resources and an international financial order in need of reform.

Moderator: Ruth Hill, Director, Markets, Trade, and Institutions, IFPRI

• SDG2 and the International Financial Order: Outlook for Supporting LMICs 
  • Shobha Shetty, Global Director, Agriculture and Food, World Bank
• Funding Flows to support SDG2 implementation: recent developments and future prospects (special focus on public budgets, banking systems, private sector and capital markets)
  • Johan Swinnen, Director General, IFPRI
• SDG2: The Road to 2030
  • Maximo Torero, Chief Economist, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

High-level Panel on Challenges and Opportunities

Policymakers participating in the Spring Meetings will speak about challenges and opportunities for efforts to fight hunger and malnutrition at the global, regional and national level. 

Moderator: Purnima Menon, Senior Director, Food and Nutrition Policy; Acting Senior Director, Transformation Strategy, IFPRI

• G20 Perspectives on and Priorities for Reducing Hunger and Malnutrition
  • John Steenhuisen, Minister of the Department of Agriculture, South Africa
• Building Greater Resilience to Supply Shocks impacting the Rice Sector 
  • Arnel de Mesa, Assistant Secretary for Special Concerns and for Official Development Assistance (ODA) and the DA Spokesperson, Department of Agriculture
• Rural Investment to Combat Hunger and Malnutrition
  • Alvaro Lario, President, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
• What’s Next for Nutrition: Outcomes of the Nutrition for Growth Summit in France and Next Steps
  • Gilles Morellato, Head of Official Development Assistance team at the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs
• The Importance of targeted, effective and sufficiently funded humanitarian assistance in our rapidly changing world
  • Rania Dagash-Kamara, Assistant Executive Director Partnerships and Innovation, World Food Programme (WFP)

Deep Dive: The Role of Value Chains in Boosting Food and Nutritional Security

Panelists will present knowledge and evidence on how well functioning value chains contribute to economic development, and how to harness market expertise, efficiencies and innovations to help them expand.

Moderator: Loraine Ronchi, Global Lead for Science, Knowledge and Innovation in Agriculture and Food, World Bank

• The Role of corridors in strengthening value chains in Africa 
  • Alice Ruhweza, President, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)
• Building Commodity Markets in Africa
  • Ayodeji Balogun, Group CEO, the Africa Exchange (AFEX)
• Bayer’s investment in African seed sectors
  • Matthias Berninger, EVP, Head of Public Affairs, Sustainability and Safety, Bayer Global
• Importance of Agrifood Trade in connecting value chains
  • Joseph Glauber, Research Fellow Emeritus, IFPRI

Closing Remarks

• Martien van Nieuwkoop, Director, Agricultural Development, Gates Foundation