About

Achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 requires ASEAN countries to work collaboratively to address complex and interrelated challenges such as climate change, urbanization, biodiversity loss, water scarcity, poverty, food safety and nutrition, and social inequity. Making the agri-food system more sustainable economically, environmentally and societally is an essential part of addressing these challenges. For example, more women than men are employed in the ASEAN agrifood sector and they can play a big role in making food production more sustainable, provided they are empowered and given fair access to resources. In addition, given the important role that ASEAN countries have in global food security and trade, strengthening food and innovation systems research in the region is imperative. A strong partnership between CGIAR and ASEAN, leveraging both science capacity and political will, can help build an agri-food system in the ASEAN region that is both resilient to climate change and fit-for-purpose in terms of delivering key economic, social and environmental goals. 

Therefore, CGIAR has been working with the ASEAN Secretariat, ASEAN Member States (AMS) and a range of funding and other partners to develop a multi-year research and innovation program which will seek to develop bold integrated solutions around three strategic issues: resilience of the food system to climate change, sustainable and equitable transformation of the food system applying the principles of the circular economy, and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic at the regional level. 

The new R4D regional program aims to be a bottom-up, cross and trans-disciplinary CGIAR-ASEAN program. This program is being co-created and, therefore, is fully co-owned by ASEAN partners.

The vision in the next 10 years is to scale up and out bold integrated innovations that will make ASEAN agri-food systems more resilient to climate change while delivering better livelihoods for food producers and other stakeholders along the value chain, as well as more affordable, nutritious and healthy food for consumers and a better natural environment for all.

Building on ASEAN’s vision in the agriculture and food sector, associated policies and guidelines, the ASEAN-CGIAR Regional Program will deliver the following impacts across agri-food systems with its partners in the ASEAN region:

• Improved environmental sustainability through reduced harmful agrochemical use, reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and carbon footprint, and enhanced use of biodiversity of plant, animal and aquatic species 

• Improved agri-food trade and value chains 

• Improved access to capital through better facilitation of private sector investments and other financing schemes 

• Increased productivity and production through better and more affordable access to water resources 

• Better nutrition through greater availability of more nutritious, safe, and healthy diets 

• Improved institutional coordination of policies, programs, and projects in the agriculture, food, and forestry sector in the region 

• Better access by women, youth, and marginalised groups to resources in the agrifood value chain

A specially designed ASEAN-CGIAR Regional Program provides an excellent opportunity to build from the bottom-up in full consultation with AMS and ASEAN institutions, that responds directly to its articulated priorities. Some key engagement steps have already taken place and these include:

• The Program has a 10-year horizon and will be implemented in a phased approach. 

• Building on an Inception Year in 2023, the initial 5-year Program is expected to move into full gear in 2024. 

• The Program is targeting a USD 60 million budget over 5 years across 8 Intervention Packages (IPs), with expected contributions from the ASEAN Member States through bilateral or in-kind resources.