Blog An Alliance for accelerated change

Today Juan Lucas Restrepo, Director General, launches the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT’s strategy to provide food systems solutions at the nexus of agriculture, environment and nutrition.

Humanity and the planet that is our home are facing very strong pressures with interconnected crises in biodiversity, climate, environment and nutrition. This is why Bioversity International and CIAT joined forces to create an Alliance. Today, we are very excited to launch our new strategy that will work in a unique way at the nexus of agriculture, environment and nutrition and bring impact at scale.

We have brought together the best of our capacities that we have built for decades and will lead the way on food environment and consumer behavior, multifunctional landscapes, climate action, biodiversity for food and agriculture, digital inclusion, and crops for nutrition and health. These are all the pressure points where the Alliance can play a catalytic role and our interventions can trigger multiplier effects for positive change.

We are now a truly global organization. With enhanced capacity, we will work together across several continents. We have our Headquarters in Rome, Italy, working closely with our regional hubs in Colombia, Kenya and Vietnam to coordinate our work in the Americas, Africa and Asia. This expanded scope means we can join policy dialogues at the global level, ensuring that they connect with what happens on the ground.

We will build on our work with partners – our sister CGIAR centres, multilateral organizations, research institutes and universities, national agricultural research innovation systems, practitioners, development agencies and the farmers themselves. In this way, we will ensure that what we produce is fit for purpose and works in regional and localized contexts, for example, bringing benefits to the agricultural landscapes and the livelihoods of millions of families. This will be a mutually supportive process where we grow, thrive and deliver impact at scale together.

Please read our strategy, share it with others and join us on our journey as we mobilize the Alliance for Accelerated Change in 2020 and beyond.