For four decades, the longstanding collaboration between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has been crucial to helping developing countries attain agriculture-led economic growth. The innovative programs and strong evidence base produced through this partnership have contributed to transforming policies and investments for improved food security, nutrition, incomes, and resilience around the world.

EC financial support has helped to ensure that IFPRI’s research remains responsive, innovative, and effective in tackling the obstacles that stand in the way of achieving food security and poverty alleviation. Over the years, the EC’s support to IFPRI provided the necessary foundation for cuttingedge research in areas such as climate change; biofuels; and the nexus of agriculture, nutrition, and health. This support has helped IFPRI partner with strategic European partners in civil society, higher education, and public sector areas, with a focus on making food security research accessible through the development of global public goods, capacity-building networks, and technological platforms. In June 2015, IFPRI, the EC, and the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) joined together to bring experts and stakeholders to discuss the latest thinking on sustainably improving livelihoods and welfare at a Brussels workshop, “Improving Food Systems for Better Lives.” The workshop highlighted the need for greater convergence among diverse actors, sectors, and stakeholders for the development and implementation of innovative solutions that will improve food systems and enhance food and nutrition security around the world.

In 2015, IFPRI commemorated its 40th anniversary. For the past four decades, the Institute has worked tirelessly to provide research-based policy solutions to bring an end to hunger and malnutrition. The impact of IFPRI’s research travels far beyond its walls. This past year witnessed substantial gains in food and nutrition security on the global stage, and IFPRI was proud to contribute to these shared global achievements.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) were both created in response to the food crises of the 1970s. We have worked together for more than 20 years to catalyze agricultural and rural development and improve food security in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. IFAD and IFPRI have strengthened the productivity and resilience of smallholder farmers and other rural people, with a particular focus on helping expand their access to innovative local farming methods, climate change mitigation and adaptation technologies and financing, and more profitable markets. To further promote rural development and transformation, IFAD and IFPRI have built cutting-edge information systems and tools that deliver sound data and analyses to governments, donors, farmer organizations, and other stakeholders. As a result, the two organizations have fostered evidence-based policy making and investments that promote agricultural growth and rural development.

For more than two decades, IFPRI’s research and policy analysis have been a resource for Bangladesh in making impressive strides in ensuring food security and reducing poverty. Working closely with the Bangladesh Ministry of Food and Disaster Management and its Food Planning and Monitoring Unit, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, BRAC, CARE International, and civil society organizations, IFPRI has supported Bangladesh in its goals of improving nutrition, women’s empowerment, social protection, and coping with natural disasters. IFPRI looks forward to deepening its collaboration with these and other partners through its Policy Research and Strategy Support Program and complementary initiatives, and to enhancing long-term capacity in policy analysis and evidence-based research. Such strong collaborative efforts have translated and will continue to translate research into policy action that will help accelerate Bangladesh’s progress in ending hunger and undernutrition.

More than two decades of strong partnership between the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) began with a shared goal of creating more effective and efficient food aid distribution systems. Our work helped improve the delivery of essential food aid to the most vulnerable in times of crisis, inform decisions to administer food or cash transfers using sound evidence, and strengthen evidence-based policy making by developing information systems and networks for food security. Over time, the collaboration moved toward designing social protection programs that use food and cash transfers to improve nutrition for the poor. More recently, our partnership has contributed to helping vulnerable people become more resilient to shocks and crises and to moving countries toward pathways of long-term growth, prosperity, and Zero Hunger. This brochure presents highlights of the IFPRI-WFP partnership.

The IFPRI South Asia Office (SAO) in New Delhi engages in evidence-based policy research and capacity-building activities related to food and nutrition security in the region. This research focuses on agricultural diversification, climate change, markets and trade, nutrition and health, science and technology, and governance.

For four decades, the rich partnership between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has generated cutting-edge technical knowledge and enhanced expertise in support of food security and improved nutrition for all, and for making agriculture and food systems more inclusive, productive, resilient, and sustainable. Driven by these shared goals, FAO and IFPRI have contributed to a strong evidence base to strengthen the capacity of policy makers in making sound policy decisions. Our work helped create important information resources and networks for food security, strengthen the focus on gender in agriculture, spur strategic public investment in agriculture, promote productive and sustainable rural development, and advocate for enhancing the positive impact of agriculture and food systems on nutrition. This brochure presents highlights and successes of the partnership between FAO and IFPRI.

Important signs of progress in food security and nutrition and a commitment to sustainable development marked 2016. Yet challenges arising from dramatically changing political, economic, and demographic landscapes are sure to test the international momentum behind the new sustainable development agenda. As rapid urbanization continues around the world, poverty, food insecurity, and malnutrition are increasingly becoming urban problems. This rapid shift is changing diets and reshaping food chains—from small farms to modern supermarkets. Going forward, policies and investments to end hunger and malnutrition must take account of the needs of poor urban populations and develop strong links between rural food producers and urban markets to support both rural and urban populations.

Poverty, food insecurity, and poor nutrition and health are among the most pernicious problems eroding people’s quality of life and limiting their economic productivity. These are the problems that IFPRI’s Poverty, Health, and Nutrition Division (PHND) aims to understand and overcome.

En la actualidad, pocos son los obstáculos a los que se enfrenta la comunidad mundial que puedan compararse en magnitud con el de la malnutrición, una condición que afecta directamente a una de cada tres personas. La malnutrición se manifiesta de distintas formas: retraso en el crecimiento y el desarrollo de los niños; personas esqueléticas o propensas a las infecciones; personas con exceso de peso o con riesgo de enfermedades crónicas debido al consumo excesivo de azúcar, sal o grasa; e incluso personas con carencias de vitaminas o minerales de importancia. La malnutrición y la alimentación constituyen claramente los mayores factores de riesgo para la carga mundial de morbilidad (CMM): cada país se enfrenta a un serio problema de salud pública debido a la malnutrición. Cada año, las consecuencias económicas implican pérdidas del 11% del PIB en África y Asia, mientras que la prevención de la malnutrición representa 16 dólares estadounidenses de rentabilidad de la inversión por cada dólar gastado. En todo el mundo, los países han acordado metas en materia de nutrición, pero, a pesar de ciertos avances observados en los últimos años, el mundo está lejos de poder alcanzarlas. Este tercer informe sobre el estado de la nutrición mundial propone formas de invertir la tendencia y acabar con todas las formas de malnutrición en 2030.

The Global Food Policy Report is IFPRI’s flagship publication. This year’s annual report examines major food policy issues, global and regional developments, and commitments made in 2015, and presents data on key food policy indicators. The report also proposes key policy options for 2016 and beyond to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. In 2015, the global community made major commitments on sustainable development and climate change. The global food system lies at the heart of these commitments—and we will only be able to meet the new goals if we work to transform our food system to be more inclusive, climate-smart, sustainable, efficient, nutrition- and health-driven, and business-friendly.

As we move into the post-2015 era of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the world faces many seemingly intractable problems. Malnutrition should not be one of them. Countries that are determined to make rapid advances in malnutrition reduction can do so, and the incentives to improve nutrition are strong. Good nutrition provides a vital foundation for human development, central to meeting our full potential. When nutrition status improves, it leads to a host of positive outcomes for individuals and families. Many more children will live to see their fifth birthdays, their growth will be less disrupted, and they will gain in height and weight. They will learn more in school because their brain function is not impaired. As a result of this positive early environment, as adults they will have better jobs and get ill less often. Older adults will age more healthily and live longer.

 The centrality of sound institutions and good governance in improving agricultural productivity and reducing rural poverty, hunger, and malnutrition has become widely recognized in recent years. Institutions are the systems of rules that constitute the environment within which policymaking, cooperation, and innovation occur. Governance was defined by the United Nations Development Programme in 1997 as “the exercise of economic, political, and administrative authority to manage a country’s affairs at all levels.” Strong institutions allow for more effective management of common pool resources and environmental services, while good governance facilitates technical dynamism, gender equity, risk mitigation, and inclusion of the poor in shared growth.

Although existing research highlights interventions likely to benefit the poor and improve agricultural performance, there is limited knowledge about how to create incentives for individual actors, civil society, and public administrations to actively pursue such policies. This knowledge gap is being addressed by the Strengthening Institutions and Governance (SIG) research area of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). At the heart of this research are efforts to identify what types of institutional, incentive, and accountability structures are most conducive to improving the incomes, food security, and nutrition of the poor in low-income countries.

Few challenges facing the global community today match the scale of malnutrition, a condition that directly affects 1 in 3 people. Malnutrition manifests itself in many different ways: as poor child growth and development; as individuals who are skin and bone or prone to infection; as those who are carrying too much weight or whose blood contains too much sugar, salt, fat, or cholesterol; or those who are deficient in important vitamins or minerals. Malnutrition and diet are by far the biggest risk factors for the global burden of disease: every country is facing a serious public health challenge from malnutrition. The economic consequences represent losses of 11 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) every year in Africa and Asia, whereas preventing malnutrion delivers $16 in returns on investment for every $1 spent. The world’s countries have agreed on targets for nutrition, but despite some progress in recent years the world is off track to reach those targets. This third stocktaking of the state of the world’s nutrition points to ways to reverse this trend and end all forms of malnutrition by 2030.

Important signs of progress in food security and nutrition and a commitment to sustainable development marked 2016. Yet challenges arising from dramatically changing political, economic, and demographic landscapes are sure to test the international momentum behind the new sustainable development agenda. As rapid urbanization continues around the world, poverty, food insecurity, and malnutrition are increasingly becoming urban problems. This rapid shift is changing diets and reshaping food chains—from small farms to modern supermarkets. Going forward, policies and investments to end hunger and malnutrition must take account of the needs of poor urban populations and develop strong links between rural food producers and urban markets to support both rural and urban populations.

For four decades, the longstanding collaboration between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has been crucial to helping developing countries attain agriculture-led economic growth. The innovative programs and strong evidence base produced through this partnership have contributed to transforming policies and investments for improved food security, nutrition, incomes, and resilience around the world.

EC financial support has helped to ensure that IFPRI’s research remains responsive, innovative, and effective in tackling the obstacles that stand in the way of achieving food security and poverty alleviation. Over the years, the EC’s support to IFPRI provided the necessary foundation for cuttingedge research in areas such as climate change; biofuels; and the nexus of agriculture, nutrition, and health. This support has helped IFPRI partner with strategic European partners in civil society, higher education, and public sector areas, with a focus on making food security research accessible through the development of global public goods, capacity-building networks, and technological platforms. In June 2015, IFPRI, the EC, and the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) joined together to bring experts and stakeholders to discuss the latest thinking on sustainably improving livelihoods and welfare at a Brussels workshop, “Improving Food Systems for Better Lives.” The workshop highlighted the need for greater convergence among diverse actors, sectors, and stakeholders for the development and implementation of innovative solutions that will improve food systems and enhance food and nutrition security around the world.