17/03/2016

Signing a memorandum of understanding with IFPRI

snv

Tuesday, 15 March 2016 was an important day for SNV and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

The CEO of SNV, Dr. Allert van den Ham, and Director General of IFPRI, Dr. Shenggen Fan, met in Washington DC to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in which the two institutions express their commitment to a fruitful five-year cooperation. The MoU will facilitate our collaboration in providing evidence-based solutions for enhanced food and nutrition security.

As part of the MoU, we agreed to broaden our collaboration and the number of joint projects by exploring, designing and implementing projects, launching activities of public interest, generating intellectual public goods and sharing (scientific) information.

In addition to the MoU, we signed a five-year partnership agreement for an evidence-based advocacy project that will be implemented from 2016 to 2020 in cooperation with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, more particularly the Directorate for International Cooperation (DGIS). The project will be implemented in six countries – Kenya, Rwanda, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Indonesia and Honduras – and will concentrate on four crucial themes: Food and Nutrition Security, Resilience, WASH and Renewable Energy.

SNV will be leading the project and IFPRI will contribute to the implementation of the Food and Nutrition Security and the Resilience components of the programme. The programme aims to empower civil society organisations to voice their interests and work together with governments and businesses towards more inclusive policies, better services and evidence-based solutions in the above mentioned fields. More information about the project will follow soon.

Photo: Dr. Shenggen Fan, Director General of IFPRI (left) & Dr. Allert van den Ham, SNV CEO (right).