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Government of Canada News Release PRIME MINISTER HARPER ANNOUNCES INNOVATIVE PAY-ON-RESULTS
LOS CABOS, MEXICO – Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced Canadian support for AgResults – an innovative initiative which aims to improve food security in developing countries in close cooperation with the private sector. The announcement was made at the G-20 Summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, where Leaders recognized that food security for vulnerable populations is important to achieving sustainable and equitable growth and development. “Canada is dedicated to helping ensure that people around the world have access to sufficient, safe and nutritious foods,” said the Prime Minister. “The Canada-led initiative announced today will help to improve global food security by establishing a pay-on-results process that will encourage the private sector to find innovative solutions to address hunger in developing countries.” AgResults involves donors allocating relatively small amounts of public sector money to leverage private sector research and development on food security challenges that would otherwise go unaddressed due to market uncertainties. Public funds are only paid out to partners that demonstrate measurable results in targeted areas such as improving harvest management and nutritional fortification of staple foods. Commonly known as an advanced market commitment, this type of approach emphasizes accountability and innovation. This pay-on-results approach is not new to Canada. Canada was instrumental in an earlier $1.5 billion advance market commitment that generated a vaccine against pneumococcal disease in developing countries, with the first vaccines delivered in late 2010. Canada made a significant contribution to this initiative. AgResults builds on Canada’s leadership in financing innovative development initiatives within the G-20. Canada has previously supported the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Finance Challenge, launched at the Toronto G-20 Summit in June 2010, and the private sector window of the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program, launched in April 2010. Canada, with other G-20 Leaders, committed to exploring the potential of such mechanisms at the Toronto G-20 Summit, and is pleased to be following through on this commitment. Funds from donor countries will be managed by the World Bank.
-30- Background Information AGRESULTS: Innovation in Research and Delivery Recognizing that access to sufficient, safe and nutritious foods is key to economic development and global stability, the Government of Canada has made food security one of the priority themes of its international assistance program. In keeping with this strategy, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced on June 18, 2012, Canadian support in the amount of $40 million over five years for AgResults – an innovative Canada-led initiative which aims to improve food security in developing countries in close cooperation with the private sector. The announcement was made at the G-20 Summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, as part of a broader donor commitment of up to US$100 million in support of this initiative. The governments of Australia, Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States, as well as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, are supporting this effort. AgResults involves donors allocating relatively small amounts of public sector money to leverage private sector research and development on food security challenges that would otherwise go unaddressed due to market uncertainties. Public funds are only paid out to partners that demonstrate measurable results in targeted areas such as improving harvest management and nutritional fortification of staple foods. Commonly known as an advanced market commitment, this type of approach emphasizes accountability and innovation. In the coming years, the initiative will launch a series of pilot projects that address some of the biggest problems in global food security and agricultural development. The AgResults’ portfolio of pilot projects will represent a diverse mix of agriculture and food security issues, testing different types of pay-on-results approaches in different regions around the world. The initial set, expected to start later this year, will focus on maize production in Sub-Saharan Africa, including:
Additional projects will be explored in the coming years, including livestock vaccines and fertilizer innovation, as well as new ideas related to increasing crop yields, decreasing post-harvest losses, increasing livestock productivity and improving nutrition. The model has already shown success in pulling private sector knowledge and resources towards the development of an affordable vaccine against pneumococcal disease – a disease that kills millions of children each year in developing countries. With the first vaccines delivered in late 2010, this initiative is expected to save an estimated 7 million lives by 2030. Canada made a significant contribution of $200 million in Budget 2007 to this initiative. AgResults builds on Canada’s leadership in financing innovative development initiatives internationally. Canada has previously supported the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Finance Challenge, launched at the Toronto G-20 Summit in June 2010, and the private sector component of the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program, launched in April 2010. Canada, with other G-20 Leaders, committed to exploring the potential of innovative initiatives at the Toronto G-20 Summit, and is pleased to be following through on this commitment. Canada’s contribution of $40 million for AgResults is being provided through existing Government of Canada resources for international assistance. Funds from donor countries will be managed by the World Bank.
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