IFPRI's 2020 Vision Adopts a New Focus on Countries and Regions

Some four years after its launching, the 2020 Vision initiative is entering a new phase. While the first phase of the initiative focused on identifying the global challenges and elements of a global action program to realize the 2020 Vision, in phase II, the emphasis is on helping individual developing countries design and implement their own 2020 Vision strategies and action plans.

“Phase II is a direct response to the enthusiastic reception a number of countries have given phase I and to the interest they have expressed in narrowing the global goals of the 2020 Vision to the country level,” said IFPRI director general Per Pinstrup-Andersen.

To lead the new effort, IFPRI hired Rajul Pandya-Lorch as coordinator of the 2020 Vision initiative in October 1997. Pandya-Lorch, formerly a special assistant to Pinstrup-Andersen, has already been heavily involved in the initiative, having written several 2020 Vision publications and given many 2020 Vision presentations worldwide.

The 2020 Vision for Food, Agriculture, and the Environment initiative seeks to identify the critical issues that must be confronted if the world’s growing population is to be fed and the livelihoods of the poor and hungry are to be improved. As part of the initiative, IFPRI and its partners conduct research on a broad range of topics; organize seminars and workshops that bring people together to identify gaps in knowledge and to develop recommendations; and issue publications and even videos designed for a wide range of audiences.

In phase II, the initiative will continue to generate timely, state-of-the-knowledge information on key issues, communicate the 2020 Vision to diverse audiences around the world, and provide a forum for dialogue, debate, information sharing, and consensus building among important players. At the same time, it will work to develop 2020 goals and strategies with individual developing countries that wish to do so, primarily through regional networks, initially in East and West Africa, and subsequently in other developing regions.

“The global research conducted in phase I is an important foundation for phase II. We are tremendously excited about these plans, because phase II gives us the chance to help countries develop their own research agendas and actions for sustainably meeting the food needs of their people by 2020,” said Pandya-Lorch.

If you would like to know more about plans for the next phase of the 2020 Vision initiative, contact Rajul Pandya-Lorch at 202-862-5600, fax 202-467-4439, or e-mail r.pandya-lorch@cgiar.org.

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