Rome – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) have agreed a strategic partnership aimed at strengthening cooperation in the areas of food systems and innovative financing.

A Partnerships Framework was signed between Mr. David Kaatrud, WFP Programme Director, Humanitarian & Development Division, and Mrs. Preeti Sinha, UNCDF Executive Secretary, in Rome on the 1st of July.

“This partnership is formed at a critical time. The world is facing a global hunger crisis of unprecedented proportions in 2022. Either we rise to the challenge of meeting immediate needs at scale while at the same time supporting programs that build long-term resilience at scale, or we will face even bigger problems down the line," said Mr. David Kaatrud.

“The partnership will support WFP’s mandate of saving lives and changing lives through leveraging new innovative financing mechanisms,” he added.

“Building food systems on inclusivity and resilience requires the right mix of financing instruments along the entire agricultural value chain. Such finance instruments must work in ways that connect central and local governments, the private sector, Civil Society Organizations, and other local actors, build inclusion and resilience and contribute to the localization of Sustainable Development Goals.”, said Mrs. Preeti Sinha.

“In close partnership with WFP, UNCDF’s ambition is to strengthen the resilience of the most vulnerable, particularly in last-mile contexts, and bring together different arrays of actors to co-create sustainable financing solutions to increase local food production and diversification,” she added.

Both agencies are interested in driving forward the scale of programmes related to recent coalitions that came out of the UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS), including school meals, Humanitarian-Development-Peace (HDP) Nexus, climate-resilient food systems, social protection, zero hunger pledge, healthy diets, making food systems work for women and girls, people with disabilities and the Resilient Local Food Supply Chains.

----

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. It is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability, and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters, and the impact of climate change.

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) makes public and private finance work for the poor in the world's 46 least developed countries (“LDCs”). UNCDF offers "last mile” finance models that unlock public and private resources, especially at the domestic level, to reduce poverty and support local economic development.