Regional Capacity Building Workshop and Conference: Financing the Agrifoods Systems Transformation
(Tunisia), 20/01/2025 - 23/01/2025
The Near East and North Africa (NENA) region faces critical challenges in achieving food security and sustainable development. Hunger has reached its highest levels, with over 75 million people projected to be affected by 2030. The region also suffers from a triple burden of malnutrition: undernutrition, rising rates of overweight and obesity, and widespread micronutrient deficiencies such as anemia. In 2022, a third of the population lacked access to affordable healthy diets.
Despite its pivotal role in addressing food insecurity, agriculture remains significantly underfinanced in the NENA region. Existing public investments often fail to align with the goals of healthy diets and sustainable practices. To bridge this gap, it is crucial to attract inclusive and efficient investments from both public and private sectors. Sustainable financing can drive transformative impacts, addressing climate change, biodiversity loss, and equitable access to healthy diets while fostering green jobs, particularly for women and youth.
The FAO regional capacity building workshop and conference will convene key stakeholders to address the pressing challenge of financing agrifood systems transformation in the NENA region. Organized within the FAO Regional Leadership Development Academy, the event will focus on bridging financing gaps to foster sustainable agriculture, climate resilience, and food security.
The event will feature interactive workshops exploring financing challenges, innovative financial instruments, and investment planning tailored for agrifood systems transformation in the NENA region. Discussions will delve into the COP28 declaration on sustainable agriculture, resilient food systems, and climate action, highlighting its regional relevance. Contributions from global and regional partners, including FAO, the World Bank, IFAD, private sector leaders, and academic experts, will provide a platform for knowledge-sharing and collaboration. The conference will also recap findings from the Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition (SOFI) and culminate in the development of a regional action plan to finance agrifood systems transformation effectively.
Agenda:
Date | Time | Topic |
Day 1 20 January 2025 | 9:00-10:00 | Opening Session: Welcome and Introduction |
10:00-10:30 | Overview of Workshop Objectives and Agenda | |
10:30-10:45 | Break | |
10:45-13:00 | Challenges of Food Security and Nutrition in the Arab Region - Need for an Agrifood Systems Transformation. The Role of Financing in Agrifood Systems transformation in the region Presenting current financing sources and their size in agrifood systems in the region (Government Support, Bank Credit, Official Development Assistance, FDI) Presenting estimation for the additional financial need that a successful agrifood systems transformation requires in the region (financial gap) The COP28 Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action and the Technical Cooperation Collaborative. The partners behind the Technical Cooperation Collaborative pledged more than USD$200 million in new and newly aligned support. | |
13:00-14:00 | Lunch Break | |
14:00-15:30 | Enhancing the effectiveness of government support mechanisms for agrifood systems in the region (repurposing) Presenting the theory of repurposing (FAO flagship publications and regional FAO SOFI) Presentation of global modelling results on repurposing
| |
15:30-15:45 | Break | |
15:45-17:30 | Presenting the sources of capital that can help close the financing gap: debt, equity and Islamic finance | |
Day 2 21 January 2025 | 9:00-10:30 | Presenting innovative financial instruments that are available for the region: Mitigating risk with concessional capital. Results based financing |
10:30-10:45 | Break | |
10:45-13:00 | ’Blended finance applied to the agrifood sector: the case of AgrIntel.’’ Or in French : ‘’Le financement mixte appliqué au secteur agroalimentaire: le cas d’AgrIntel.’’ | |
13:00-14:00 | Lunch Break | |
14:00-15:30 | Introduction to investment planning: Results of the FAO/EBRD Outlook studies for SEMED countries and the resulting investment focus Principles for national investment planning ex Yemen or Palestine Investing in green infrastructure FAO/EBRD
| |
15:30-15:45 | Break | |
15:45-17:30 | Introduction to Investment design:
Principles and practice (tools) of investment design (including EFA, Ex-ACT, Gleam-i…)
Introduction to the Rural Investment toolkit | |
Day 3 22 January 2025 | 9:00-10:30 | Introducing the FAO Hand-in-Hand Initiative |
10:30-10:45 | Break | |
10:45-13:00 | Developing investable projects in agrifood systems by taking the FAO Hand-in-Hand approach | |
13:00-14:00 | Lunch Break | |
14:00-15:00 | Developing investable projects in agrifood systems by taking the FAO Hand-in-Hand approach II: Case studies: Iraq | |
15:00-1:30 | Developing investable projects in agrifood systems by taking the FAO Hand-in-Hand approach III: Participants themselves will try to develop investment projects in smaller groups | |
15:45-16:30 | Developing investable projects in agrifood systems by taking the FAO Hand-in-Hand approach IV: Participants will present their investment proposals – Discussion | |
16:30-17:30 | Closing and key takeaways | |
Day 4 23 January 2025 | 9:00-10:00 | Opening Session: Welcome and Introduction |
10:00-10:30 | The UNFSS+4 STM: Financing Food Systems Transformation | |
10:30-10:45 | Break | |
10:45-13:00 | Recapping the topics discussed in the financial workshop and the regional SOFI II: The role of repurposing agricultural subsidies and adopting innovative financial solutions in closing the financial gap in the region
Presentation of the study “Mapping Investment Regulatory Gaps”
The COP28 Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action and the Technical Cooperation Collaborative | |
13:00-14:00 | Regional and national level application of the financing solutions presented in the regional SOFI (repurposing agricultural subsidies, innovative financial solutions): Discussion and validation | |
14:00-15:00 | Lunch Break | |
15:00-16:30 | Private sector perspectives, regional best practices | |
16:30-17:45 | Break | |
17:45-18:30 | Presentation of a regional action plan for financing agrifood systems transformation: discussion, finalization and adoption |