Financing Resilient Food Systems: Advancing the Global Flagship Initiative for Food Security

The Fourth United Nations Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), to be held in Seville, Spain, provides a critical platform to reshape how the global community addresses the growing challenges of food insecurity and systemic underinvestment in sustainable agriculture. Against this backdrop, the Crop Trust and its partners will convene a high-level side event to showcase and advance the Global Flagship Initiative for Food Security—a bold, five-year effort to mobilize investments and partnerships for resilient, inclusive, and climate-smart food systems.

Launched at COP16 in Riyadh in December 2024, the Global Flagship Initiative brings together a diverse coalition of actors—multilateral institutions, regional development banks, civil society, and the private sector—to deliver coordinated and agile responses to food insecurity. Anchored by three pillars—broad collaboration, private sector mobilisation, and rapid, high-impact deployment—the Initiative seeks to break down silos and catalyse transformative change in regions most vulnerable to hunger and environmental degradation, such as the Sahel and the Horn of Africa.

This side event at FfD4 will serve as an opportunity to present the Initiative’s strategic vision and early progress while making the case for scaling its impact through innovative financing. Participants will explore how public-private partnerships, blended finance, and novel instruments such as concessional capital, impact bonds, and debt-for-nature swaps can unlock significant resources to fund integrated food systems. The conversation will also consider how this initiative aligns with and contributes to broader global efforts, including the SDGs, the UN Food Systems Roadmap, and the upcoming Global Digital Compact.

At its core, the session will aim to shift the narrative from emergency response to long-term resilience, emphasising food security as a foundational element of human development and economic stability. The discussion will highlight how targeted investments in seed systems, biodiversity, climate adaptation, and digital innovation can generate outsized health, livelihoods, and environmental sustainability returns.

Expected outcomes include concrete policy recommendations for FfD4 negotiators, new partnership announcements, and a roadmap for scaling the Flagship Initiative through 2030. The session will also help mobilise international support ahead of follow-up engagements at the UN General Assembly, COP processes, and multilateral donor platforms.

This event is an invitation to reimagine food systems financing—not as a charitable endeavour, but as a strategic imperative for global resilience and prosperity.