Transforming the world’s food systems through country-led action partnerships will be key to sustainably feeding over 9 billion people by 2050, according to a new report from the World Economic Forum and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (Deloitte Global), Building Partnerships for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security: A Guide for Country-Led Action.
The report was launched at the Forum’s 2016 Annual Meeting in Davos.
According to Deloitte, based on the experience of the Forum’s New Vision for Agriculture initiative (NVA), the report is a practical, user-friendly guide for country-level and global leaders who are working to build and strengthen multi-stakeholder partnerships for sustainable agriculture and food security. It draws on best practices and lessons learned from 19 countries in Africa, Asia and the Americas, where partnerships catalysed and supported by the NVA have benefitted 9.6 million farmers to date.
“Many of the world’s most pressing challenges, from poverty and hunger to climate change and social equality, are linked to agriculture and food security,” says Shay Eliaz, a Principal with Deloitte United States (Deloitte Consulting LLP) who leads the team that worked closely with the Forum on the NVA report. “The NVA Partnership Model, which draws on the joint experience of the NVA and Deloitte Global, outlines the NVA’s approach which has already seen success in driving investment, innovation, and collaboration toward the issues of food security, environmental sustainability, and economic opportunity.”
The Forum emphasizes that the NVA Partnership Model can be applied beyond agriculture to help address a range of complex, global challenges. Indeed, the UN Sustainable Development Goals recognize multi-stakeholder partnerships as an important vehicle for implementation of all 17 of the UN’s “global goals,” which cover health, education, sustainability, and economic growth.
“Achieving transformational change on a global level – on any issue – requires country-led action,” says Lisa Dreier, Head of Food Security and Agriculture Initiatives at the Forum. “After five years of catalysing, developing and supporting partnership activities in 19 countries, the NVA is excited to share with the world its ‘recipe for success.’ We hope it can provide practical guidance to leaders who want to mobilize multi-stakeholder action on any issue.”
The NVA Partnership Model has been co-developed with leaders of 19 NVA-supported partnerships in three continents, which are supported by a global network of over 500 organizations. At its core are five guiding principles, which state that partnerships should be locally-owned, globally supported, market-driven, holistic across full value chains, and multi-stakeholder, with open and inclusive engagement across all food system actors.
Since 2010, NVA-supported partnerships have mobilized over US$10 billion in investment commitments, of which US$1.9 billion has been implemented. Participating countries include:
Ivory Coast, Benin,Burkina Faso, Cambodia India, Indonesia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mexico, Mozambique,Ghana, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Nigeria, Philippines, Rwanda, Senegal and Vietnam
Deloitte Global says it will continue its collaboration with the Forum’s New Vision for Agriculture initiative to help countries implement the guide’s recommendations in a series of regional meetings through 2016.
