The Program
Spring Meeting 2025
As part of the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in Sevilla, the Paris Peace Forum’s Spring Meeting will feature a series of high-level side events focused on advancing sustainable development through new coalitions.
A Child Priority Framework: Putting Children First to Build Consensus around a Renewed Cooperation Agenda
Monday June 30th, 2025
2:30pm-4:00pm, FIBES Sevilla Exhibition and Conference Centre, Side Event 2 (Official side event, open only to registered FfD4 participants)
Session co-organized with the Spanish Ministry of Health and the Gates Foundation.
The Paris Peace Forum, the Gates Foundation and the Spanish Government are championing a new unifying narrative, the Child Priority Framework — placing child health, education, and nutrition at the heart of international development strategies. As concessional financing declines and choices need to be made, investing in children offers a powerful, unifying lever to foster human capital development and resilience in vulnerable populations. This side event will bring together various leaders to rally support for child-centered policies at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development and beyond. By advancing a shared narrative around the next generation, the initiative seeks to elevate childhood as a cross-cutting priority that can anchor international cooperation and drive collective progress.
With the participation of:
Kate Hampton
CEO, Children's Investment Fund Foundation
Marcos Neto
UN Assistant Secretary-General, Assistant Administrator and Director of UNDP's Bureau for Policy and Programme Support
Carla Haddad Mardini
Director, Private Fundraising and Partnerships Division, UNICEF
Mark Suzman
CEO, Gates Foundation
Raj Kumar
President and Editor-in-Chief, Devex
Kalpana Kochhar
Director, Development Policy and Finance, Gates Foundation
Catalyzing Finance for Agrifood Systems in Africa: Mobilizing Capital and Innovation to Transform African Agrifood Systems
Tuesday July 1st, 2025
2:30pm-4:00pm, FIBES Sevilla Exhibition and Conference Centre (Official side event, open only to registered FfD4 participants)
Session co-organized with the Boston Consulting Group.
Africa can become a major agricultural power, and with the right investments, policies and enablers, agriculture in Africa could become a key lever to achieving up to 30-50% of the world’s development goals. ATLAS (Agricultural Transitions Lab for African Solutions) is an initiative of the Paris Peace Forum, chaired by Dr. Ibrahim Mayaki, and Pascal Lamy, coalizing 40 major institutions from the Global North and South (e.g., IFC, IFAD, AGRA, OCP, Danone, CGIAR) acts as a high-level platform, promoting policy dialogue and cooperation across public, private and development communities to unlock Africa’s agricultural potential by advocating for increased financing and political attention. This session proposes to spotlight African agriculture as a priority within the global financing for development agenda, and to explore the systemic shifts needed to catalyze finance in the sector, by mobilizing capital and innovation to transform African agrifood systems.
With the participation of:
Federica Diamanti
Associate Vice President for the External Relations Department, International Fund of Agricultural Development (IFAD)
H.E. Nardos Bekele-Thomas
Chief Executive Officer, African Union Development Agency-NEPAD
Lawrence Haddad
Executive Director, GAIN
Younes Addou
VP Agribusiness & Sustainability solutions, OCP Group
Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli
CEO, ONE
Justin Vaisse
Founder and Director General, Paris Peace Forum
Abdihakim Ainte
Director, Food Security and Climate Change, Prime Minister Office, Federal Republic of Somalia
Carlos Conde
Head of the Middle East and Africa Division, OECD
Patrick Dupoux
Moderator
Managing Director and Senior Partner, Boston Consulting Group
Driving the Nutrition Economy: Unlocking Private Investment for Healthier Futures
Tuesday July 1st, 2025
5:00-6:30pm, Devex House, Villa Luisa, Sevilla
Session co-organized with Access to Nutrition initiative (ATNi) and Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN).
Nutrition is one of the most underfunded areas of development, while the investment case for nutrition is compelling. For every USD1 invested in addressing undernutrition, a return of USD23 is expected. This event will spotlight how the Paris Declaration on Business & Nutrition 2030, launched at the 2025 N4G Summit, drives capital and policy for healthy, nutritious, diets. Public and private leaders will discuss solutions that align food systems with better health and development outcomes.
With the participation of:
Brieuc Pont
Special Envoy and Secretary General, Nutrition for Growth Summit, Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, France
Afshan Khan
Assistant Secretary-General and Coordinator, Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement, United Nations
Greg Garrett
Executive Director, ATNi
Bathylle Missika
Head – Inclusive Development & Partnerships Division, the OECD Development Centre
Charles Wetherill
Program Advisor, the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF)
Kate Warren
Moderator
Executive Vice President and Executive Editor, Devex
Lawrence Haddad
Executive Director, GAIN
Devex and Paris Peace Forum Joint Reception
Tuesday July 1st, 2025
From 7:00pm, Devex House, Villa Luisa, Sevilla
By invitation only.
The reception will bring together the communities of the Paris Peace Forum and Devex attending the FfD4 conference in Sevilla. This gathering will provide an opportunity for a wide range of global experts and stakeholders from governments, international organizations, finance, civil society and private sector to network and mingle in a beautiful setting. The evening will also include a short introduction of the next edition of the Paris Peace Forum to be held on 29-30 October 2025 in Paris.
