Roundup: Rome seminar focuses on increasing awareness, sharing solutions on poverty reduction

Over 90 representatives from Rome-based United Nations (UN) agencies, civil society, academia, and the diplomatic corps joined a poverty reduction seminar in the Italian capital Friday.

The seminar on "Global Partnerships for Poverty Reduction" was hosted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chinese government, along with the Rome-based UN food agencies, namely the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

Participants discussed how to increase awareness and knowledge on the role of agencies like Italian Development Cooperation, the International Poverty Reduction Center in China (IPRCC), FAO and IFAD in poverty reduction at country, regional and international level.

Pietro Sebastiani, Director General for Development Cooperation at Italian Foreign Ministry, said the world has come a long way in reducing poverty, "but if we want to achieve complete poverty eradication, the needs of those who are more marginalized need to be addressed in a concerted effort."

"That means that each of us plays a major role in making that goal achievable. Making every citizen whether in the public or private sector responsible for eradicating poverty," he said.

Tan Weiping, IPRCC deputy director-general, said China is tackling poverty in a systematic and well-structured way. He said China has already achieved zero hunger "but we are interested in learning how to address malnutrition."

"We as IPRCC are happy to be working with FAO and IFAD in developing and implementing together initiatives that contribute to the achievement of poverty reduction goal," he said.

According to Tan, China just signed a 5-million-U.S.-dollar agreement with IFAD for South-to-South cooperation.

"We are also looking forward to establishing new channels of cooperation with the Italian Agency of Cooperation and Development and with the Italian Government," Tan added.

China Internet Information Center (CIIC) Vice President, Li Fugen, emphasized the important role of ICTs in reducing poverty, in particular in remote areas by offering innovative solutions for trading goods and giving access to information to everyone.

TO IMPROVE EFFICIENCY IN DELIVERY SYSTEM

Based on his 40-year evaluation in China's work in poverty reduction, IFAD Director of Global Engagement, Knowledge and Strategy Division, Ashwani Mutthoo, said that it's about China's efficiency in delivery system, from the national level to the local level.

"Things do happen (in China) when projects are designed and implemented on time. So the institutional agriculture is very conducive to promote transformation in rural poverty reduction," he said.

"In China, the concern is the issue of environmental sustainability" which needs to be addressed in all aspects of development, in particular when designing agricultural policies and projects, Mutthoo said.

INNOVATIVE PLATFORMS AIM AT GIVING ACCESS TO KNOWLEDGE TO EVERYONE

Three platforms were showcased at the seminar, namely IFAD's Rural Development Solutions Marketplace which is expected to be launched later this year, the Global Food Security and Nutrition Forum of the FAO and the Global Poverty Reduction & Inclusive Growth (GPIG) portal.

Launched by CIIC in May 2016, the GPIG Portal brings together information from different sources in a standardized way. The portal hosts, organizes, manages and delivers online and offline events to promote international cooperation and capacity building activities to contribute to the successful achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In less than one year of operations, the portal counts now with a strong network of contributors and promotes knowledge sharing online and offline. Most importantly, the portal is being used at a global level. Endit