During the 2025 Spring Meetings of the World Bank and IMF, representatives from the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty actively participated in various high-level meetings and side events.
On Monday, April 21st, the launch of the World Bank Academy’s Impact Program, “Creating Jobs for the Poor” co-hosted by the Office of the Executive Director of Brazil, Marcos Vinicius Chilliatto, in collaboration with the People Vice Presidency at the World Bank, Mamta Murti, highlighted the importance of the knowledge pillar of the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty and the importance of facilitating peer-to-peer learning.
The event brought together senior government officials from several countries, including Zambia, Dominican Republic, Nigeria and Sri Lanka, Executive Directors, and World Bank leadership. Mamta Murthi who is also the World Bank representative in the Board of Champions, opened the event, emphasizing the critical role of the program in fostering economic inclusion and job creation for the most vulnerable. Arup Banerji, Director of Knowledge and Learning, and Iffath Sharif, Global Director of Social Protection, presented the program’s goals and discussed the countries involved in the first phase of the programmes, many of them intersecting with the Global Alliance’s members that are in the process of joining the Global Alliance fast-track implementation.
The following day, on Tuesday, April 22nd, Axel van Trotsenburg, Senior Managing Director for Development Policy and Partnerships at the World Bank, met with the Ministry of Finance’s Secretary of International Affairs, Ambassador Tatiana Rosito, to discuss the World Bank’s hosting of the Global Alliance support mechanism official responsible for liaising with international financial institutions (IFIs). Another topic was the potential for World Bank secondments to assist in strengthening these partnerships. This meeting underscored the importance of close collaboration between the World Bank and the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty in advancing poverty eradication, food security and just transitions.
On Wednesday, April 23rd, Fabio Veras Soares from the Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA), and from interim coordination of the Global Alliance support team, participated in two important events. In the morning, he delivered opening remarks at the Civil Society Policy Forum session titled “School Meals Programs: A Proven, Efficient, and Resilient Safety Net.” His speech emphasized the Alliance’s commitment to practical, country-led action on hunger and poverty, the transformative role of school meal programs, and the strategic collaboration with the School Meals Coalition, including the upcoming launch of the School Meals Accelerator. The session also featured contributions from prominent leaders and experts, including Asma Lateef (SDG2 Advocacy Hub), Heidi Kessler (Global Child Nutrition Foundation), Liesbet Steer and Amy Bellinger (Sustainable Financing Initiative / The Learning Generation Initiative), Dadan Hindayana (National Nutrition Agency, Indonesia), George Ouma (African Development Bank Group), Charles North (Global Partnership for Education), Esther Navarro (World Vision International), Dr. Uweis Abdullahi Ali (Office of the Prime Minister, Somalia), Luis Benveniste (The World Bank), and Mehrdad Ehsani (The Rockefeller Foundation).
In the afternoon, of the same day, Fabio also participated in the Meeting of the Task Force on Linking Adaptive Social Protection and Climate Financing. Participants included representatives from key international organizations and funds such as the International Labour Organization (ILO), the World Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Bank Group, the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD), the Adaptation Fund, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), alongside bilateral agencies like Germany’s BMZ and development partners from the NDC Partnership. This session explored ways to integrate social protection into national climate strategies, with the aim of advancing the agenda for COP30 in Brazil. The discussions highlighted the importance of joining forces with the Global Alliance to support adaptive social protection programs, leveraging political momentum and financing opportunities to scale up effective climate-resilient social protection systems.
Finally, on Thursday, April 24th, Maximo Torero, FAO chief economist and FAO representative in the Board of Champions of the Global Alliance contributed to the side event titled “Resilient and Food Secure: Scaling Social Protection with Country Platforms and Debt Sustainability Efforts” co-organized by IIED, Government of Somalia, Government of Ireland and others. Torero’s remarks focused on the global food security crisis and the crucial role of social protection systems in building resilience and reducing hunger, particularly in fragile and climate-vulnerable countries. He emphasized the alignment of the Global Alliance on Hunger and Poverty with FAO’s broader role in supporting country-led food security efforts and anticipatory systems.
These events underscored the Global Alliance’s influence and commitment to supporting initiatives that integrate social protection systems and food system transformation into broader economic inclusion, food security, climate resilience, and just transition.
