The U.S. Government’s Global Food Security Strategy (GFSS), an outcome of the 2016 Global Food Security Act (GFSA), was developed to build on the success of the Feed the Future initiative. With a focus on smallholder farmers, particularly women, Feed the Future supports partner countries in developing their agriculture sectors to spur economic growth that increases incomes and reduces hunger, poverty and undernutrition. 

The GFSS, driven by country-led priorities, presents an integrated whole-of-government strategy with agency-specific implementation plans. Eleven U.S. agencies and departments participated in developing the GFSS, as well as civil society, the private sector and academia.

For practitioners who need an overview of the GFSS, this self-guided course is for you. It highlights guidance in the full 114-page strategy, is an excellent primer for more in-depth training and introduces participants to the three fundamentals of GFSS: inclusive and sustainable agriculture-led economic growth, strengthening resilience and nutrition. Participants also have access to additional resources and 18 technical guidance documents.

This GFSS online course contains eight modules of value to USAID staff and implementing partners, inter-agency staff, donor and civil society organizations, universities and research institutions, as well as the private sector.

The Overview explores the GFSS integrated program strategy:

1. Inclusive and sustainable agricultural-led economic growth provides many paths to poverty reduction, generating jobs and reliable incomes, directly across agricultural value chains and indirectly through multiplier effects across broader economies. Growing the agriculture sector also increases the availability of affordable, diverse and nutritious food, thereby supporting reductions in hunger and malnutrition.
2. Strengthening resilience among people and systems so we can reduce the need for future humanitarian assistance. For example, in Ethiopia we found that only four percent of households and farms where Feed the Future worked in resilience required emergency assistance during a recent drought, compared with 30 percent in other areas.
3. Nutrition improvements are related to decreased health costs, higher economic productivity and lower rates of mortality. Undernutrition — particularly during the 1,000 days from pregnancy to a child’s second birthday — leads to lower levels of educational attainment, productivity and lifetime earnings.

On completion, course participants will be able to:

• Explain how and why Feed the Future was created and how success is measured 

• Articulate GFSS priorities for the next five years
• Understand the GFSA/GFSS vision and theory of change