Speakers
Head of Food and Nutrition Security, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Netherlands; GDPRD Co-Chair and Champion of the ROI in Agrifood Systems Workstream
Chief Economist, FAO
Director General, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
Johan Swinnen is Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) since 2020.
From 2005 to 2019, he was professor of economics & director of the LICOS Centre for Institutions & Economic Performance at KU Leuven (Belgium) and senior research fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels. Earlier he was lead economist at the World Bank (2003-2004) and economic adviser to the European Commission (1998-2001). He has been a visiting professor at various universities and a frequent adviser to institutions such as the World Bank, OECD, FAO and EBRD.
Dr. Swinnen earned his PhD from Cornell University and holds honorary doctorates from the University of Göttingen and the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra. He is a fellow of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) and of the European Association of Agricultural Economists (EAAE). He served as president of the International Association of Agricultural Economists (2012-2015).
Dr. Swinnen has published extensively on agricultural & food policies, international development, political economy, institutional reforms, trade, & global value chains. He received a series of awards including for his books The Political Economy of Agricultural and Food Policies (2018) and COVID-19 and Global Food Security (2020) both received awards from the AAEA and EAAE. For more details, please see his CV.
Senior Policy Advisor Food Security and Nutrition, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Netherlands
Stineke Oenema is an experienced and passionate leader in nutrition. She has worked for the UN, civil society, government and academia where she led numerous multi-stakeholder processes and brought together various sectors for nutrition. As Executive Secretary of UN-Nutrition and coordinator of the UN System Standing Committee on Nutrition (UNSCN), she coordinated multiple sectors in the UN for nutrition. She supported the development of the Global Nutrition Report and was editorial board member of the UNSCN Nutrition/News and the Right to Food and Nutrition Watch. Currently, she is senior advisor for food security and nutrition at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Advisor, Food Systems and Nutrition Division, International Assistance Partnerships and Programming Branch, Global Affairs Canada
Isabel Szollosy is an agricultural economist specializing in the intersection of conflict, food security, and livelihoods in fragile contexts. As a Policy Advisor in the Food Systems and Nutrition Division at Global Affairs Canada, she provides policy analysis and strategic advice on food systems resilience and leads Canada’s engagement in the G7 Food Systems Working Group and the G7 Fertilizer Shocks and Food Systems Resilience Working Group.
Executive Director, Shamba Centre for Food & Climate
Carin Smaller has worked for over 15 years advising policymakers, donors and parliamentarians in more than 20 countries on public and private investment and trade in agriculture and food systems. She co-founded the Shamba Centre to continue her lifelong quest to end hunger and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Before setting up the Shamba Centre, Carin was the Director of Agriculture, Trade, and Investment at the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and Director of the Trade Information Project at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP).
Lead Global Technical Advisor, Agri-PDB Platform
Thierry Latreille is Lead Global Technical Advisor at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), where he coordinates the Agri-PDB Platform, a global network of 143 public development banks financing green and inclusive food systems. An economist and statistician, he worked for nearly 25 years with the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) on macroeconomic analysis, public financial management and project finance, from Dakar to Paris. He has also worked with the European Commission on blending facilities, guarantees and the External Investment Plan, the ILO, and the OECD Development Centre.
President, AGRA
Director, Global Engagement, Partnerships and Resource Mobilization, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
Ron Hartman is IFAD’s Director for Global Engagement, Partnerships and Resource Mobilization. He is responsible for leading IFAD's global engagement and multilateral relations including with the private sector; south-south and triangular cooperation, resource mobilization and funds management. Prior to his current position, Hartman served as IFAD Country Director and Representative at its South East Asia and the Pacific sub-regional office in Jakarta.
With over 25 years of professional experience, including over 18 years with the United Nations, Hartman has acquired an extensive managerial and operational experience in over 25 countries. He has specialized knowledge in promoting sustainable socio-economic development and poverty reduction, public policy and partnerships. In 2011, Hartman was awarded the IFAD Presidential Award for outstanding performance.
Senior Advisor, GDPRD
Moderator
Jim Woodhill
Senior Advisor, GDPRD
CO-ORGANIZERS
Global Donor Platform for Rural Development (GDPRD); International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD); The Government of the Netherlands; Global Affairs Canada; Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN); Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO); Agrinatura/Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences; AGRA; Agri-PDB Platform
INTRODUCTION
Amid constrained ODA, rising scrutiny of public expenditure, and competing priorities, agrifood systems offer a wide range of benefits, and the case for investing in them should reflect their full value. This side event presents emerging insights from GDPRD’s work on unpacking the multidimensional returns of agrifood systems investments and their wider strategic benefits.
Bringing together the latest available evidence on agrifood system investment impacts, the work examines economic and productivity gains, fiscal and macroeconomic effects, stability and trade, climate and resilience benefits, and social outcomes, including nutrition, gender equality and poverty reduction. It considers how these benefits interact and accrue over different time horizons to strengthen the case for sustained investments in agrifood systems.
The discussion will focus on operationalizing this evidence into decision-relevant investment narratives, the role of financing instruments and policy support in enabling additionality and leverage, and alignment with global food security governance, including CFS guidance in investment and budgeting processes.Â
| Prospective Agenda | |
|---|---|
| Moderator: Jim Woodhill, Senior Advisor, GDPRD | |
| 13:30 – 13:35 | Opening remarks: GDRPD’s work on ROI and Technical Advisory Group
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| 13:35 –13:45 | Keynote and Scene Setting: What ROI means in agrifood systems and why a multidimensional lens is needed.
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| 13:45 – 14:00 | Building the Investment Case for Agrifood Systems: Findings and insights on a policy-relevant ROI framework for agrifood systems through GDPRD’s work on a ROI framing paper guided by its Technical Advisory Group.
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| 14:00 – 14:30 | Panel Discussion: Sharing experiences to highlight priority investment areas and financing approaches that deliver transformational, cross-sectoral returns for partner countries, donors and investment partners.
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| 14:30 – 14:40 | Interactive Q&A with the audience |
| 14:40 – 14:45 | Closing Remarks: Main takeaways, next steps and engagement opportunities.
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THE DISCUSSIONS WILL:
