The Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty: Bridging Knowledge, Finance and Partnerships to achieve SDGs

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It is always a pleasure to meet Minister Diaz. I think we go a long way back between IFAD and Brazil. When he was governor of Piauí we have had a lot of programs together, and now it's great to continue seeing the inspiration and the passion he brings to the table.

Actually, we continue working in the Northeast. Last year, we just launched a program with BNDES, the first program, the biggest public development bank in the world did with a UN agency. More than a $200 million investment in the Northeast region, very arid on climate adaptation that is impacting 1 million people.

This is the type of financing that actually change lives, specifically in the dairy value chain. So we continue our collaboration very much close with Brazil, with the Brazilian government.

And it's great also to have other partners in the room. Bangladesh is our biggest program in our portfolio. Germany is a big supporter and a big donor, so it's great to be among friends. The Committee on World Food Security and its ambassador is a great partner, strategic partner for us, and obviously Mr. Lee from DESA. So, it's great to be among friends.

I just wanted to reflect on what has happened over the last 70 years. One of the things that we can see is that the prevalence of hunger has gone from two-thirds of the world population to one in 10. That's very good news. Obviously, it's not enough, and it's very clear we need to continue in that route, but that's the current trend.

So what have we learned? one of the things we have learned is that eradicating hunger and poverty is a realistic goal. It's something that we can do, and that structural poverty is still poverty, and that chronic hunger is still hunger.

So it's something that we can all continue working on, and we will achieve. We also learned that these achievements do not happen automatically. Minister Diaz was very clear on some of the policies that make it happen. They are the results of political will and the determination of coordinated actions and very specific investments.

So, achieve effective poverty reduction and hunger eradication requires placing these goals at the top of the national policy agenda, like Brazil has done, for example, with Fome Zero, setting clear objectives, bringing together comprehensive strategies, aligning policies, and synchronizing the programs.

Then, obviously, we also need the national and the international financing. Also, one lesson is that we cannot give progress for granted. It's very clear after what happened with COVID that building resilience to shocks is very important. So, on the way forward, some of the elements that these investments need to have is based on these learnings.

The first one is that we must prioritize sustainable, inclusive, and effective investments. That means, in short, investing in what is working. We already know from 2008 there was a World Bank World Development Report that said that agriculture is at least twice as effective in reducing poverty compared to growth in other sectors. And we can see it in many of the countries where a big portion of the population is working in agriculture.

So strategic investments in agriculture, especially in small-scale producers, and providing them with the tools, the access to finance, the access to technology, the access to land, the access to water, is essential in reducing poverty.

The second one, which I'm a little concerned nowadays, is the technological and the digital divide. It's very important that we also provide technologies that are context-driven and that are supporting small-scale farmers in a way that they can understand it and that they can use it, not only about the high-end technology, but also on making sure that we provide context-appropriate technologies and knowledge. So that's the second element.

And the third one is also, as I mentioned, building resilience against shock. This involves preparing and mitigating the impacts of climate change, which are at the center today. We were talking about the strategy wide on water and sanitation, and clearly most 90 percent of the issues of climate adaptation relate to water, so that's very much at the center.

Minister Diaz also mentioned strengthening social safety nets, which I think are very important to withstand shocks and crisis.

So let me finalize by saying that the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty clearly reflects the needed political will, and we will continue supporting and counting on IFAD to offer our full support.

Our mandate is very clear from the IFAD side to tackle poverty and food insecurity, investing in rural people, and investing in bringing decent jobs, nutritious food, and human dignity to all of those millions of people that are poor and hungry in the developed areas. So count on us. Thank you very much.