Key messaging and speaker quotes are captured in this short report of the Annual General Assembly (AGA) convened on 26 and 27 October 2023. The AGA was a chance to celebrate the Platform’s 20th anniversary and reflect on how the donor landscape in agriculture, rural development and food systems has evolved.

Reviewing two decades of development trends demonstrated the enormous shift in development objectives since the Platform was established in the wake of the 2002 European Forum on Rural Development Cooperation.

The Millennium Development Goals set out in the year 2000 were replaced in 2015 by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which set a much wider, interconnected agenda. The 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit and 2023 Stocktaking Moment, together with the 2023 mid-term review of SDG progress, have illuminated the scale of the challenges the development community confronts and the inadequate progress.

Growing hunger, and rising resources devoted to emergency relief, have highlighted the gross shortfall in donor resources to achieve long-term development. The overriding conclusion is that donors need to explore and adopt innovative approaches to rural development, refocusing, and seizing new opportunities, technologies and techniques to scale up the impact of their dollars.

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Quotes from the 2023 AGA

Quotes from the 2023 AGA

The tendency we all have is to prioritize organizations that are able to do the paperwork, rather than organizations who are able to get the results on the ground.

The tendency we all have is to prioritize organizations that are able to do the paperwork, rather than organizations who are able to get the results on the ground.

Donors today see the power of youth and their potential to bring things forward, but we’re only at step one.

Donors today see the power of youth and their potential to bring things forward, but we’re only at step one.

Sustainable development is great, but the ability to mobilize finance at scale into these communities is key.

Sustainable development is great, but the ability to mobilize finance at scale into these communities is key.

Shocks to the global food system are making it difficult for the most vulnerable communities to access sufficient affordable and nutritious food.

Shocks to the global food system are making it difficult for the most vulnerable communities to access sufficient affordable and nutritious food.

For as long as rural livelihoods are associated with drudgery and inadequate movement towards mechanization, we will be losing our young people into urban settings.

For as long as rural livelihoods are associated with drudgery and inadequate movement towards mechanization, we will be losing our young people into urban settings.

Never underestimate the power of leadership. When leaders speak, people listen.

Never underestimate the power of leadership. When leaders speak, people listen.

We are in the foothills of a really long, complex, challenging journey. We … need to support countries in unlocking their (national food) pathways. We don’t have 20 years for us to spend getting food systems transformation right.

We are in the foothills of a really long, complex, challenging journey. We … need to support countries in unlocking their (national food) pathways. We don’t have 20 years for us to spend getting food systems transformation right.

This meeting review looks at six key themes for donors:

  • Why and how the aid agenda has evolved
  • How shifting to a food systems approach can invigorate rural development
  • Four sets of related issues will define the new aid agenda:
    – Food security and nutrition
    – Environment, climate change and biodiversity – Aid effectiveness, coordination and alignment – Conflict, resilience, risk and fragility
  • Better land governance tools will be central to effective climate action
  • Donor funding must become more innovative and catalytic
  • Mechanical and technical jobs offer hope for burgeoning rural youth populations.

©IFAD/Flavio Ianniello

Publication date: February 2024

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Maurizio Navarra

Secretariat Coordinator at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Rome/Italy

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Secretariat Communications at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Rome/Italy