24 September 2024

ATLAS Lab Session: Understanding and Bridging the Financing Gap in African Agriculture

On the sidelines of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, our ATLAS initiative will convene a high-level session, co-hosted by UM6P, OCP Group and Boston Consulting Group, and in partnership with the Government of the Federal Republic of Somalia, to convene leaders in the public, private, and philanthropic spaces, share the ambition of ATLAS and foster action and collaboration aimed at increasing investment flows in the continent.

 

Date: 26th September 2024, 16:00 New-York Time (22:00, CET)
Format: Presentation followed by panel discussion

Click to join Zoom Meeting

Context

Africa can become a major agricultural power. African agriculture, the backbone of the continent’s economy, has the potential to address thirteen of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) linked to food security, economic growth, and sustainability, to name but a few. However, the sector faces significant challenges including a substantial annual financing deficit of $200 billion needed to achieve the SDGs. This shortfall is exacerbated by the absence of a unified global vision for African agriculture and policy misalignments.

ATLAS (Agricultural Transitions Lab for African Solutions), an initiative launched by the Paris Peace Forum in June 2024, seeks to address this issue through a still expanding coalition of over twenty-five major institutions from the Global North and South. As a high-level platform, ATLAS promotes policy dialogue and South-North cooperation to unlock Africa’s agricultural potential by advocating for increased political attention and financing in African agriculture.

In the coming months and years, ATLAS will continue its advocacy efforts to garner political attention, will, and action. Additionally, it will publish an annual barometer of flows of investment in African agri-food systems, a lacking yet powerful political tool for advocating increased investments and ensuring transparency and accountability of commitments.

With the participation of:

H.E. Amb. Ahmed Moallim Fiqi

Foreign Minister of the Government of the Federal Republic of Somalia

Pascal Lamy

Vice-President of the Paris Peace Forum

Patrick Dupoux

Senior Partner at Boston Consulting Group

Nisreen Elsaim

Climate activist and former chair of the UN Secretary-General's Youth Advisory Group on climate change

Leonardus Vergutz

Chief Innovation Officer, OCP Group

Adam Gerstenmier

Chief of Party, PIATA and Strategic Initiatives, AGRA

Wagner Albuquerque de Almeida

Director of Manufacturing, Agribusiness, and Services, IFC

Ndidi Nwuneli Okonkwo

CEO, The ONE Campaign

Salina Grenet-Catalano

Director of Global Affairs at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Rachid Serraj

Director of Strategy & Africa Initiative at UM6P and Member of the High-Level Panel of Experts at the Committee on Food Security, United Nations

The event is limited to 50 multi-stakeholder actors on-site, and we expect high demand for attendance. Please register your intention to participate by atlas@parispeaceforum.org

You can also follow the event online on Zoom:

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