Event Information

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is reorienting its strategies, partnership models, and program practices to achieve greater development outcomes and strive toward a future where foreign assistance is no longer necessary. The approach, outlined in the Agency’s Policy Framework, emphasizes the concept of “self-reliance”—defined as the capacity and commitment of a country to plan, finance, and implement solutions to solve its own development challenges in an effective, inclusive, and accountable way.

The Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD), an advisory committee to USAID, will convene a public meeting, Agricultural Growth, Economic Transformation, and the Journey to Self-Reliance: Implications for USAID Programming, to better understand the concept of economic transformation—how underdeveloped and agrarian-based countries shift from subsistence agriculture to a commercially oriented economy with diverse agricultural, manufacturing, and service sectors—and how it contributes to a country’s resilience to shocks, such as COVID-19, and its progression toward self-reliance. Authors of a BIFAD-commissioned study will share preliminary findings and lessons learned on emerging success stories in agricultural and economic transformation and will discuss the implications of this evidence for USAID’s agricultural and food security development and social safety net priorities and programming.

This meeting is open to the public and will be livestreamed via Zoom. On the basis of testimony, including public comments shared at this meeting, BIFAD will provide formal findings, conclusions, and recommendations to USAID on best-bet operational and programmatic investments for catalyzing agricultural productivity and economic transformation. The meeting recording, along with meeting minutes, will be available in archive form following the meeting.

For questions about registration, please contact Jordan Merker at [email protected].  For all other questions, please contact BIFAD Designated Federal Officer Clara Cohen, [email protected].