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Milestone decision mobilizes $590 million across the Program for new investments

December 10, Rome — The December 2025 Steering Committee Meeting of the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (���׺���) announced the formal approval of its 2030 Strategic Plan, marking a new milestone in the Program’s 15-year history of tackling hunger and rural poverty in low-income countries.

The 2030 Strategic Plan puts into action the Program’s Vision 2030,  a bold aspiration to support transformative, locally-led solutions at a moment when global food and nutrition security is at a critical inflection point. Up to 720 million people faced hunger in 2024, while conflict, constrained public resources, and multiple shocks continue to disrupt food production, access, and affordability globally. ���׺���’s renewed strategic direction reflects the urgency of these challenges and the need for an enhanced, coordinated global response.

From Vision to Action

The Strategic Plan reflects ���׺���’s unique value as a ready-to-use, proven financing platform capable of helping the international community accelerate and scale up innovations for agrifood systems transformation in low-income countries by empowering smallholder farmers, agribusiness entrepreneurs, and rural communities.

It also puts into action three central roles for the Program: as a connector, bringing country governments, grassroot farmer organizations, and private sector entities together to optimize their impact; an incentive setter for the development of more innovative and integrated solutions and improved coordination between different sources of finance; and a de-risker of larger scale investments for the transformation of agrifood systems in the poorest and most vulnerable countries.

In the coming five years, ���׺��� will work to maximize co-benefits for rural communities by aligning solutions that support food and nutrition security, resilience to climate shocks, natural resource protection, and the integration of women and youth across projects; empower more smallholders with better knowledge, financial tools, and market access; and catalyze additional public and private resources to scale up innovations and impacts.

“Under this new Strategic Plan, ���׺��� is taking bold steps to allow constrained resources to be used efficiently, and collaboratively – working to make the whole greater than the sum of its parts,” said Natasha Hayward, ���׺��� Program Manager.

By combining forces with partners among international financial institutions and leading UN Agencies in the agricultural development space, and aligning investments with country priorities, ���׺��� is poised to deliver stronger and sustained impact for smallholder farmers and rural communities who need it the most.”

As part of the new Strategic Plan, GASFP will announce a new call for country-led proposals in 2026, with a new call for producer organization-led proposals planned for 2027.

���׺��� will continue to support investments in producer organizations and blended finance innovations through the most recent call for producer organization-led proposals and the pilot projects of the new Business Investment Financing Track, while strengthening linkages with the Program’s Private Sector Window managed by the International Finance Corporation.  

In total, ���׺��� expects to mobilize $590 million across all aspects of the Program for these activities.

Welcoming New CSO Representatives to the Steering Committee

The Steering Committee Meeting also served as the first official gathering for new representatives from the civil society organization community: Pauline Verriere and Marie Christiane Thérèse Cosquer from Action Contre La Faim; Dr. Mathabo Tsepa and Benito Eliasi from the Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions; and Clayton Simamao from the Samoa Farmers Association.

These new Steering Committee members and alternates continue the Program’s long-standing engagement of civil society in all levels of decision-making, bringing civil society perspectives to ���׺���’s governance and ensuring that the voices of smallholder producers, rural communities, and marginalized groups are reflected in ���׺���’s agenda and activities.

“CSOs play an essential role in creating inclusive, accountable, and effective agrifood systems,” said Natasha Hayward, ���׺��� Program Manager. “We are delighted to welcome the new members, whose experience will be invaluable as ���׺��� advances the implementation of our new vision and strategy.”

Since its establishment by the G20 in 2010, ���׺��� has deployed more than US$2.4 billion in grants and concessional finance to support over 320 projects that have reached more than 30 million people across the world’s poorest countries. With its new 2030 Strategic Plan, ���׺��� is positioned to deepen its impact and strengthen its partnerships for more resilient, sustainable and inclusive agrifood systems in low-income countries over the coming five years.