Committee on World Food Security convenes in Rome

23 to 27 October 2024. Committee on World Food Security. Making a difference in food security and nutrition.

This year's session focused on:

• the 2024 State of Food Security and Nutrition report, 
• the endorsement of those CFS products developed by the Committee during the intersessional period, the update of the CFS Multi-Year Programme of Work for 2024-2027, 
• the report by the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE-FSN) on "Strengthening urban and peri-urban food systems to achieve food security and nutrition in the context of urbanization and rural transformation",

Extracts of the side events

23/10 The International Financial Architecture – Improving collaboration and scale to bridge the funding gap for sustainable food systems and family farmers

Organizers: ECDPM; IFAD; EAFF; Brazil; World Bank; Paris Peace Forum; Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa; Africa Europe Foundation; University Mohammed VI Polytechnic; World Rural Forum; IUCN - International Union for the Conservation of Nature

The side event fostered a multi-actor discussion on enhancing the international financial architecture to support sustainable food systems (SFS) transformation. It offered ideas and recommendations on improving partnerships, coordination, and inclusivity to address the projected $350 billion annual investment gap to achieve SDG2 and transform food systems by 2030, with special attention to the unique challenges and needs of Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). The event featured a panel discussion with senior representatives from major international financial institutions, development agencies, regional family farmers’ organizations, and relevant national and regional bodies. This will be followed by an interactive dialogue with the audience.

The session explored the following key discussion areas: Mapping finance and investment flows into food systems;

1. Promoting stronger roles and collaborations of the UN Rome-based agencies (RBAs) in deploying multilateral development banks (MDBs) resources (including adaptation finance) for food security and SFS through technical assistance and investment preparation in countries;
2. Enhancing cooperation between private, public and philanthropic investors to scale up responsible investments in SFS through innovative and blended investments and financing models, effective policy frameworks, and strong South-North multistakeholder partnerships;
3. Highlight family farmers’ contributions to climate action and biodiversity protection, and identify opportunities for better and more direct access to financial resources (including international climate finance) for family farmers, smallholders, women and agri-SMEs.

• World Bank (Vasco Molini, Senior Economist, Poverty Global Practice Group)
• IFAD (Nadia Martinez, Technical Lead, Rural Development Report 2025)
• INGABO, Rwanda's Farmers Trade Union (Mrs Cesarie Kantarama, Chair)
• OCP group (Mr. Younes Addou from OCP (VP, InnovX)
• AGRA (Dr. Jeremiah Rogito, Specialist Food Systems, Land Use and Climate)