One of the most important drivers for food system transformation is finance. In Episode Two of "On the Table," IFPRI's Charlotte Hebebrand ( https://www.ifpri.org/profile/charlotte-hebebrand ) and Eugenio Diaz-Bonilla ( https://www.ifpri.org/profile/eugenio-diaz-bonilla ) discuss ideas for funding change and share insights into the work of the UN Food Systems Summit Finance Lever.

Links:

IFPRI resources on UNFSS: https://www.ifpri.org/ifpri-unfss-2021

GLOBAL FOOD POLICY REPORT

GLOBAL LAUNCH EVENT - 2021 Global Food Policy Report: Transforming Food Systems After COVID-19

APR 13, 2021 - 09:30 AM TO 11:00 AM EDT

COVID-19 has upended local, national, and global food systems, and put the Sustainable Development Goals further out of reach. But lessons and momentum from the world’s response to the pandemic can contribute to food system change. In the 2021 Global Food Policy Report, IFPRI researchers and experts explore the impacts of the pandemic and government policy responses to date, particularly for the poor and disadvantaged, and consider what it all means for transforming our food systems to be healthy, resilient, efficient, sustainable, and inclusive.

The chapters in this flagship report explore key requisites for such a transformation in light of the current shock — balancing health and economic policies, promoting healthy diets and nutrition, strengthening social protection policies and inclusion, integrating natural resource protection into food sector policies, and enhancing the contribution of the private sector — and how best to achieve them. Regional sections examine the diverse experiences of the pandemic worldwide, and the impact of varied response measures.

At the launch event, speakers shared evidence on the impact of COVID-19, and discuss the way forward for food systems transformation.

Report Overview:

Johan Swinnen, Director General, IFPRI

John McDermott, Director, CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH), IFPRI

Panelists:

Agnes Kalibata, UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy to the 2021 Food Systems Summit

Marco Ferroni, Chair, CGIAR System Board

Rapid Fire Presentations:

Samuel Benin, Deputy Division Director, Africa Regional Office, IFPRI

Neha Kumar, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI

Valeria Pineiro, Senior Research Coordinator, IFPRI

Danielle Resnick, Senior Research Fellow, and Theme Leader, Governance, IFPRI

Shahidur Rashid, Director for South Asia, IFPRI

Rob Vos, Director of Markets, Trade, and Institutions Division, IFPRI

Moderator:

Charlotte Hebebrand, Director of Communications and Public Affairs, IFPRI

LINKS:

Global Food Policy Report: https://gfpr.ifpri.info/

CGIAR COVID-19 Hub: https://a4nh.cgiar.org/covidhub/

More on the seminar: https://www.ifpri.org/event/global-launch-event-2021-global-food-policy-report-transforming-food-systems-after-covid-19

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POLICY SEMINAR

Examining the State of Community-led Development Programming

Co-Organized by IFPRI and Movement for Community-led Development

APR 7, 2021 - 09:30 AM TO 11:00 AM EDT

Community-led development (CLD) is a complex human change process. Join us as we dive into the Movement for Community-led Development’s State of CLD Programming report to understand what organizations are doing when they say they are implementing community-led development programs. Which characteristics are most prevalent in this work and which areas need more emphasis? How are these programs being funded? How does the practice change with program duration and context?

This groundbreaking report ( https://mcld.org/download-the-unpacking-cld-report/), which was developed by a collaborative research with a team of 35 Program and Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning Specialists from 23 organizations, answers these and other questions critical to improving the implementation and sustainability of community-led programming based on a study of 173 programs across 65 countries.

Opening Remarks:

Ruth Meinzen-Dick, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI

Speakers:

Holta Trandafili, Research, Learning and Analytics Manager, World Vision USA

Gunjan Veda, Senior Advisor, Global Collaborative Research (MCLD)

Martha Cruz Zuniga, Chair of Economics, Catholic University

Discussants:

Scott Guggenheim, Adjunct Professor, Global Human Development (GHD), Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University

Neha Kumar, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI

Moderator:

Charlotte Hebebrand, Director of Communications and Public Affairs, IFPRI

LINKS:

Movement For Community-Led Development: https://mcld.org/download-the-unpacking-cld-report/

Unpacking Community-Led Development: A Study Of 173 Programs Across 65 Countries (Draft Report): https://mcld.org/download-the-unpacking-cld-report/

More on the seminar: https://www.ifpri.org/event/tackling-child-undernutrition-scale-insights-national-and-subnational-success-cases

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PIM Webinar

April 8, 2021

Beyond agriculture: Measuring agri-food system GDP and employment

Transformation of the agri-food system is a cornerstone of many governments’ national development plans and is key to the One GGIAR goals of contributing to more inclusive agricultural growth, healthier diets, and more sustainable production systems. Agri-food systems remain crucial for the livelihoods and wellbeing of most of the world’s poor, and successful agricultural transformation is still strongly associated with long-term economic development. But adopting an agri-food system perspective is not trivial – it requires us to also look beyond agriculture when prioritizing innovations and policies and tracking outcomes. The agri-food system encompasses not only the primary agricultural sector, but also all upstream and downstream agriculture-related activities. Measuring transformation of the agri-food system therefore requires economywide data and innovative metrics.

This webinar presented a new approach developed by IFPRI for measuring agri-food system GDP and employment. The data collection and analysis were funded by the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM) as part of its flagship program on the Economywide Factors Affecting Agricultural Growth and Rural Transformation ( https://pim.cgiar.org/research/f2/), and by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which uses these metrics to monitor performance of its Global Food Security Strategy.

Presenter: James Thurlow ( https://www.ifpri.org/profile/james-thurlow ), Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), leader of PIM’s research cluster “Agricultural Transformation and Rural Incomes”

Moderator: Frank Place ( https://www.ifpri.org/profile/frank-place ), PIM Director

Webinar page with more information, slide deck, and podcast: https://bit.ly/mafsGDP

If you wish to receive alerts about future PIM webinars, please subscribe here: https://pim.cgiar.org/subscribe/

More PIM Webinars: https://pim.cgiar.org/resource/webinars/

POLICY SEMINAR

Tackling child undernutrition at scale: Insights from national and subnational success cases

Co-Organized by IFPRI and Exemplars in Global Health

APR 1, 2021 - 09:30 AM TO 11:00 AM EDT

Childhood undernutrition remains a major global challenge, with profound consequences for the health, well-being, and long-term development of millions of people. Strategies to tackle malnutrition have often focused on small-scale programs and specific interventions. To improve nutrition outcomes at scale, nutrition policymakers and leaders need evidence on what works. Drawing on the experience of policymakers, nutrition leaders, and program managers, two global research programs are now providing practical insights on large-scale solutions to child undernutrition in different countries.

In this event, we bring together IFPRI’s Stories of Change and Exemplars in Global Health, which have both been studying successes in reducing childhood stunting. Lessons from these deep research programs, featured in the newly released Lancet 2021 Series on Maternal and Child Undernutrition, offer hope that big change is possible and provide specific direction for countries striving to accelerate progress on nutrition.

Opening Remarks:

Johan Swinnen, Director General, IFPRI

Speakers:

Niranjan Bose, Managing Director, Health & Life Sciences, Gates Ventures

Zulfiqar Bhutta, Co-director of the Center for Global Child Health and Founding Director of the Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health at the Aga Khan University

Stuart Gillespie, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI

Rasmi Avula, Research Fellow, IFPRI

Drishti Sharma, Manager, Access and Health Policy Research, International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI)

Moderator:

Purnima Menon, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI

Links:

Maternal And Child Undernutrition Progress (Lancet Series): https://www.thelancet.com/series/maternal-child-undernutrition-progress

Exemplars In Global Health: https://www.exemplars.health/topics/stunting/cross-country-synthesis

Stories Of Change In Nutrition: https://www.exemplars.health/topics/stunting/cross-country-synthesis

More on the seminar: https://www.ifpri.org/event/tackling-child-undernutrition-scale-insights-national-and-subnational-success-cases

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POLICY SEMINAR

Towards Resilient Livelihoods, Food Security, and Nutrition for All: Confronting the Gendered Impacts of COVID-19

Co-Organized by IFPRI, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Bank

MAR 23, 2021 - 09:30 AM TO 11:00 AM EDT

The COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns continue to have devastating effects around the globe, including in rural areas of developing countries, where people have been affected by livelihood and supply disruptions, income shocks, and food and nutrition insecurity. While the overall impacts are becoming clear, less attention has been paid to the differential impacts on men and women and their ability to cope with the multiple shocks associated with the pandemic. For example, women tend to experience more lingering income shocks and have greater difficulty accessing food than men. Understanding these gender differences can offer important insights to decision-makers designing and implementing policies and programs aimed at providing much needed relief to the most vulnerable communities.

At this seminar, researchers from IFPRI, the World Bank, and the Center for Global Development will share insights from phone surveys in 7 countries on the gendered impacts of COVID-19, discuss operational entry points to mitigate negative gendered impacts, and highlight the extent to which policies and programs addressing COVID-19 incorporate a gender lens. Panelists will also discuss the challenges of learning about the impacts in real time, given difficulties in reaching rural women.

Panelists:

Elizabeth Bryan, Senior Scientist, Environment and Production Technology Division, IFPRI

Patricia Van de Velde, Gender Focal Point for the Food and Agriculture Practice, The World Bank

Megan O’Donnell, Assistant Director, Gender & Senior Policy Analyst, Center for Global Development

Moderator:

Greg Collins, Deputy Assistant Administrator and USAID Resilience Coordinator, Bureau for Resilience and Food Security, USAID

Links:

IFPRI Resources And Analyses Of COVID-19 Impact: https://www.ifpri.org/covid-19

United States Agency For International Development (USAID): https://www.usaid.gov/

CGIAR COVID-19 Hub: https://a4nh.cgiar.org/covidhub/

More on the seminar: https://www.ifpri.org/event/towards-resilient-livelihoods-food-security-and-nutrition-all-confronting-gendered-impacts

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POLICY SEMINAR

Socio-Technical Innovation Bundles for Agri-Food Systems Transformation: Implications for research and the One CGIAR agenda

MAR 19, 2021 - 09:30 AM TO 11:00 AM EDT

“Innovations do not diffuse independently of enabling market, regulatory, and sociocultural environments. Scaling promising technological advances requires sociotechnical innovation bundles of context-dependent, customized combinations of mutually reinforcing innovations.”

> Expert Panel report on “Socio-Technical Innovation Bundles for Agri-Food Systems Transformation” convened by the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability and Nature Sustainability

IFPRI is pleased to host a conversation with Professor Christopher Barrett and other experts on what is required to bring about healthy, equitable, resilient, and sustainable (HERS) food systems and the pressing need to bundle social and technological innovations to most effectively accomplish this.

Introductory Remarks:

Johan Swinnen, Director General, IFPRI

Speaker:

Christopher B. Barrett, Stephen B. and Janice G. Ashley Professor of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University

Panelists:

Channing Arndt, Director, Environment, and Production Technology Division, IFPRI

Enock Chikava, Deputy Director, Agricultural Development, Global Growth & Opportunity, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Karen Macours, Chaired professor, the Paris School of Economics (PSE); Senior Researcher, French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE); and Chair of CGIAR's Standing Panel on Impact Assessment (SPIA)

Claudia Sadoff, Executive Management Team Convener and Managing Director, Research Delivery and Impact, CGIAR

Moderator:

Charlotte Hebebrand, Director of Communications and Public Affairs, IFPRI

Links:

Socio-Technical Innovation Bundles For Agri-Food Systems Transformation (Full report): https://www.nature.com/documents/Bundles_agrifood_transformation.pdf

Socio-Technical Innovation Bundles For Agri-Food Systems Transformation (Summary): https://www.nature.com/documents/Bundles_agrifood_transformation_Summary.pdf

More on the seminar: https://www.ifpri.org/event/socio-technical-innovation-bundles-agri-food-systems-transformation-implications-research-and

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SPECIAL EVENT

The 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit: How to Incentivize Food Loss and Waste Reduction?

Co-Organized by the International Food Policy Research Institute, Embassy of Denmark in Washington D.C., World Resources Institute, and Champions 12.3

MAR 12, 2021 - 09:30 AM TO 11:00 AM EST

The ongoing COVID-19 health crisis continues to expose vulnerabilities in food systems, highlighting the insecurity of rural livelihoods, the tragedy of food loss and waste, and the stark inequities in access to healthy food. The upcoming, first-ever UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS), presents a unique opportunity to bring together stakeholders from across the food value chain to address these challenges and unlock barriers to sustainable food systems transformation.

Absurd quantities of food are lost and wasted every year in a world where 700 million people go hungry each day and where planetary boundaries are being exceeded by unsustainable food production. Drastic reduction of food loss and waste is therefore imperative and will be an essential part of the UNFSS agenda.

This policy seminar will serve as a platform to discuss actionably, “game-changing” solutions to reduce food loss and waste on a global scale (SDG 12.3) and provide inputs to the UNFSS agenda. Built around the Champions 12.3 Initiative and the Technical Platform for the Measurement and Reduction of Food Loss and Waste, the seminar will be held, fittingly, on March 12 (12.3).

Welcome:

Troels Vensild, Minister Counsellor of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, Embassy of Denmark, USA

Opening Remarks:

Johan Swinnen, Director General, IFPRI

Keynote Speakers:

Agnes Kalibata, UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy to the 2021 Food Systems Summit

Rasmus Prehn, Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, Denmark

Rapid Fire Presentations:

Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu, CEO, Coldhubs Nigeria

Richard Swannell, Director, WRAP Global

Maximo Torero, Chief Economist, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

Jessica Vieira, Director of Sustainability, Apeel Sciences

Closing Remarks:

Craig Hanson, Vice President For Food, Forest, Water & The Ocean, World Resources Institute

Moderator:

Rob Vos, Director, Markets, Trade and Institutions, IFPRI

Related Publications:

Reducing Food Loss And Waste: Five Challenges For Policy And Research: https://www.ifpri.org/publication/reducing-food-loss-and-waste-five-challenges-policy-and-research

Reducing Food Loss Is Key To End Hunger And Undernutrition By 2025: https://www.ifpri.org/blog/reducing-food-loss-key-end-hunger-and-undernutrition-2025

Three Steps For Tackling Food Loss And Waste:https://www.ifpri.org/blog/three-steps-tackling-food-loss-and-waste

Measuring And Reducing Food Loss In Developing Countries: https://www.ifpri.org/blog/measuring-and-reducing-food-loss-developing-countries

Links:

The 2021 Food Systems Summit: https://www.un.org/en/food-systems-summit

Embassy Of Denmark, USA: https://usa.um.dk/

World Resources Institute: https://www.wri.org/

Champions 12.3: https://champions123.org/

More on the seminar: https://www.ifpri.org/event/2021-united-nations-food-systems-summit-how-incentivize-food-loss-and-waste-reduction

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The first feature in IFPRI's new video series, "On the Table," provides an insightful interview with our Director for Africa, Jemimah Njuki. Njuki has long been a leader in gender equality and women's empowerment in Africa's agriculture sectors, and this year was named a UN Food Systems Summit Champion and leader of the summit's women's empowerment lever of change. She shares how a gender lens has been integrated into the upcoming 2021 UN Food Systems Summit from the beginning, and the importance of ensuring that gender equality and women's voices are central to systems transformation.

Links:

IFPRI resources on Food Systems: https://www.ifpri.org/topic/food-systems

Jemimah Njuki: https://www.ifpri.org/profile/jemimah-njuki

Charlotte Hebebrand: https://www.ifpri.org/profile/charlotte-hebebrand

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POLICY SEMINAR

Food systems lessons from COVID-19: From understanding fragilities to building resilience

Co-Organized by IFPRI and the CGIAR COVID-19 Hub

MAR 2, 2021 - 09:30 AM TO 11:00 AM EST

COVID-19’s impacts on our global food system have affected the food security and nutritional wellbeing of millions of people worldwide, with market closures, supply disruptions, and income and employment losses. Understanding the extent and nature of these impacts will be critical to building resilience to future shocks.

At this seminar, researchers from the CGIAR COVID-19 Hub present results from the first global assessment of the impacts of COVID-19 on food systems and their actors. The analysis highlights points of vulnerability and resilience, identifies who suffered and who benefitted, and examines how lockdowns and other policies shaped outcomes. Considering these findings, a panel discussion will offer insights and suggestions on what steps must be taken to avoid these negative impacts in future emergencies.

Speaker:

Christophe Béné, Principal Scientist, Sustainable Food Systems, the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT

Panelists:

Namukolo Covic, Senior Research Coordinator, CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health and IFPRI

Sophia Murphy, Executive Director, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

Thomas Reardon, Professor, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, Michigan State University

Closing remarks:

John McDermott, Director, CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH) and co-lead, CGIAR COVID-19 Hub

Moderator:

Ekaterina Krivonos, Deputy Director, Programs, CGIAR System Organization and co-Chair, CGIAR COVID-19 Hub

Links:

CGIAR COVID-19 Hub: https://a4nh.cgiar.org/covidhub/

CGIAR Research Program On Agriculture For Nutrition And Health (A4NH): https://a4nh.cgiar.org/

Impacts of COVID-19 on people’s food security: Foundations for a more resilient food system: https://a4nh.cgiar.org/2021/02/25/new-report-from-cgiar-covid-19-hub-offers-food-systems-lessons-from-the-pandemic-insights-for-building-resilience/

More on the seminar: https://www.ifpri.org/event/food-systems-lessons-covid-19-understanding-fragilities-building-resilience

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