FAO director-general, Qu Dongyu, has welcomed a US$15mn donation to FAO from the Ningxia Yanbao Charity Foundation
The donation will be used to establish a joint FAO-Yanbao fund to support talent in agriculture and facilitate research to achieve food security and nutrition.
Addressing the Second Philanthropy Summit for Sustainable Development in Beijing, Qu said that the private sector had an important role to play in building partnerships and working to create a world without hunger in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
“The private sector has shown interest to support sustainable development, and to work with FAO to help the most vulnerable communities, including youth and women, as well as vulnerable smallholders through inclusive pro-poor interventions,” he said.
The director-general invited the private sector to work with FAO on supporting innovations and improved technologies, including rural digitalisation where smartphones can be used as a new farming tool for weather and drought prediction, pest monitoring, food prices, access technical guidance and as a gateway to e-commerce.
The sustainability summit brought together business leaders and representatives from the Ford Foundation, the Paulson Institute, Grameen Foundation, Fondazione FICO, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tsinghua University and other institutions from around the world.
“Partnerships are vital and leadership essential,” he said.
FAO recently launched the Hand-in-Hand Initiative which aims to enable ‘matchmaking’ - bringing together donors and recipients to support development efforts in the landlocked countries, small island developing states, least developed countries and countries affected by food crises.
