Transforming the world’s food systems through country-led action partnerships will be key to sustainably feeding over nine billion people by 2050, according to a new report from the World Economic Forum and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd (Deloitte Global), titled Building Partnerships for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security: A Guide to Country-Led Action.
The report was launched at the Forum’s meeting in Davos. Based on the experience of the Forum’s New Vision for Agriculture initiative (NVA), the report is a practical 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,” said 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 has seen success by driving investment, innovation, and collaboration toward the issues of food security, environmental sustainability, and economic opportunity.
The Forum emphasises 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 recognise 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 mobilise multi-stakeholder action on any issue.”
The NVA Partnership Model was co-developed with leaders of 19 NVA-supported partnerships in three continents, which are supported by a global network of over 500 organisations. 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 mobilised over $10 billion in investment commitments, of which $1.9 billion has been implemented.