Tackling extreme poverty and financing for food systems in Africa

Policy Seminar | IFPRI Policy Seminar Tackling extreme poverty and financing for food systems in Africa Organized by IFPRI and partners on the margins of the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings October 17, 2025 Join speakers from IFPRI, IFAD, UNU-WIDER and the World Bank for a high-level seminar exploring two major African priorities – poverty reduction and food systems transformation in sub-Saharan Africa. Speakers will highlight the need to make progress on reducing poverty in fragile and conflict-affected areas across the continent, and the need to examine how most effectively to finance food systems amidst declining external funding flows. An inaugural World Bank- UNU-WIDER report on poverty and fragility, being previewed at this seminar, indicates that Sub-Saharan Africa has become the epicenter of the poverty–fragility nexus, with some 70% of people in fragile and conflict affected areas now living in the region and half of the world’s extreme poor projected to reside in fragile SSA states by 2030. The Africa Report on External Development Financial Flows to Food Systems, recently released by IFAD, AKADEMIYA2063, and IFPRI—analyzes the volume and composition of development finance directed toward African food systems, and implications of decreasing external flows, also for national financing strategies. This timely discussion will spotlight urgent financing needs and policy pathways to reduce poverty in the most vulnerable regions of Africa and strengthen food systems across the continent. It will also underscore the critical role of robust evidence and data-driven analysis in guiding effective financing strategies and policies —particularly as governments and development partners confront the dual pressures rising fragility and declining external flows. By grounding decisions in rigorous research, stakeholders can better align resources with impact and chart more resilient, equitable paths forward. Opening Remarks Luis Felipe López-Calva, Global Director, Poverty Global Department, World Bank Group Patricia Justino, Director Designate, United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) Report Presentations Breaking the Fragility-Poverty Trap (World Bank Group, UNU WIDER) Maria Eugenia Genoni, Senior Economist, Poverty and Equity Global Practice, World Bank Africa Report – External Development Financial Flows to Food Systems (IFAD, AK2063 and IFPRI): Key Findings John Ulimwengu, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI High-level Panel Kamal Gutale, Permanent Secretary for the Office of the Prime Minister of the Federal Government of Somalia Enilde Sarmento, Macroeconomist-Adviser, International Monetary Fund (IMF); member of Mozambique’s delegation to the annual meetings; former National Director, Directorate of Economic Policies and Development, Ministry of Economy and Finance Diane Menville, Associate Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Financial Operations Department, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Ana María Ibáñez, Vice President for Sectors and Knowledge, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Johan Swinnen, Director General, IFPRI Moderator Charlotte Hebebrand, Director of Communications & Public Affairs, IFPRI More about this Event: https://www.ifpri.org/event/tackling-extreme-poverty-and-financing-for-food-systems-in-africa/ Subscribe IFPRI Insights newsletter and event announcements at www.ifpri.org/content/newsletter-subscription