The year is 2025, and it is still necessary to state that hunger and poverty are not natural phenomena: they reflect political choices and economic structures that perpetuate inequalities. Today, an estimated 808 million people live in extreme poverty, according to the World Bank, and 673 million face hunger, according to FAO. In addition, 2.8 billion people—more than 30% of the global population—do not have access to a healthy diet. These numbers make clear that the global promise of Sustainable Development Goals 1 and 2—eradicating poverty and promoting zero hunger and sustainable agriculture by 2030—is far from being achieved.
It is within this context that the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty emerges, launched in November 2024 as the main legacy of Brazil’s presidency of the G20. Instituto Ibirapitanga has followed its conception since 2023, as an observer member of the National Council for Food and Nutrition Security (Consea). At a critical moment for multilateralism, the Alliance seeks to reorganize global cooperation around evidence-based public policies. It is born out of Brazil’s commitment to share its food policies, long recognized as global references, and to bring hunger and inequality back to the center of international politics. The initiative aims to generate political momentum and mobilize financial and knowledge resources so that effective programs can be scaled up broadly.
At the heart of the initiative lies the Policy Basket, a dynamic repository of solutions. It functions essentially as a “menu of adaptable policies” that allows governments to find proven models and partners willing to provide technical, scientific, or financial support. Programs such as Bolsa Família, the National School Feeding Policy (PNAE), the Food Acquisition Program (PAA), and the Cistern Program demonstrate that it is possible to integrate income transfers, local production, and access to healthy foods through robust policies legitimized by social participation. To accelerate policy implementation, the Global Alliance launched the country-led Fast Track initiative, which mobilizes and connects coalitions of different actors around concrete actions.
The ambition of the initiative brings structural challenges. The main one is financial sustainability: global funding for social policies remains fragmented, while developing countries face indebtedness and fiscal constraints. At the First Leaders’ Meeting, held in Doha on November 3rd, the first partnerships between international financial institutions and bilateral donors were announced for Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya, Zambia, and Palestine. Another obstacle is multilateral governance itself. With 200 members—including more than 100 countries, UN agencies, development banks, and civil society organizations—its multisectoral nature is both a strength and a risk: it demands diplomacy to reconcile priorities and avoid institutional paralysis.
The Champions Council, the initiative’s governance body, seeks to address this challenge by aligning technical coordination with political action. Currently composed of 18 members, it brings together, in addition to state representatives, leaders from FAO, CFS, IFAD, the World Bank, WHO, UNDP, and ILO, as well as civil society and philanthropy. Within this multisectoral architecture, philanthropy plays a unique role: that of a catalytic force.
Instituto Ibirapitanga holds a full seat on this Council, alongside the Rockefeller Foundation, the Gates Foundation, and the Global Alliance for the Future of Food, which brings together around 30 foundations. The relevance of philanthropy within the Alliance does not lie in the volume of financial resources—much smaller than that of development banks and governments—but in its capacity to innovate, articulate, and promote experimentation. Philanthropic capital is flexible and long-term, capable of taking risks, testing models, and funding ideas that, with political will, can become public policies. In the Alliance, the catalytic role of philanthropy—often associated solely with leveraging private investment—takes on new meaning: that of energizing public policies with national reach and local grounding, capable of generating structural and lasting transformations.
In Ibirapitanga’s experience, there are concrete examples of how philanthropy can support innovations that inspire national policies. The Solidarity Kitchens, led by MTST, inspired a federal program of the same name. Luppa—the Urban Lab for Food Public Policies, created by the Instituto Comida do Amanhã—served as a model for the Alimenta Cidades Strategy. These are social technologies that demonstrate how local actions can scale into broader policies when aligned with public agendas.
The priorities of philanthropy within the Alliance—locally based school feeding, healthy diets, support for agroecology and regenerative agriculture—are essentially aligned with SDGs 1 and 2 and with the vision of fair, healthy, and sustainable food systems. By investing in research, knowledge production, civil society, and local programs, philanthropy translates global ambitions into concrete actions, mobilizing coalitions among governments, academia, and social movements.
In the Global South, where philanthropic resources are scarcer, this catalytic role becomes even more strategic by creating structural conditions and sustaining long-term agendas around social justice, climate justice, and food sovereignty. The Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty thus represents an effort to rebalance forces and rewrite the grammar of international diplomacy. By bringing together governments, civil society, science, philanthropy, and multilateral banks around proven policies, it offers the world a plate full of hope—with a concrete roadmap for action.
Andre Degenszajn, Manoela Justo, and Marina Yamaoka
Andre Degenszajn is CEO of Instituto Ibirapitanga and a member of the Champions Council of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty. He holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from PUC-SP, served as Secretary-General of GIFE, and is one of the founders of Conectas Human Rights. He is Co-Chair of the Global Alliance for the Future of Food.
Manoela Justo is Manager of the Food Systems Program at Instituto Ibirapitanga. A social scientist trained at UFF and currently a Master’s student in Development, Agriculture, and Society at UFRRJ, she has worked for over 15 years in project management and institutional strengthening of civil society organizations in the fields of culture, economy, and politics.
Marina Yamaoka is a Specialist in the Food Systems Program at Instituto Ibirapitanga, with a Master’s degree in International Development from Sciences Po Paris and is currently a PhD candidate in Political Science at the Université Gustave Eiffel. She has 15 years of experience in communication, research, and public policy in food security and agroecology.
