Grow Asia was established by the World Economic Forum, in collaboration with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), to bring together governments, the private sector, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other key stakeholders in the region to convene, facilitate, and scale efforts that promote more inclusive, resilient and sustainable food systems.
Building more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable food systems entails a multi-level approach to partnerships: at the field level, national level, and regional level.
Our Country Chapters, and their locally-based Secretariats, coordinate public-private activities on a national-level, which include forums, policy dialogue, training, and networking events. The Country Secretariats act as facilitators to the Working Groups, which form the backbone of our network. These crop or issue-based coalitions serve as a mechanism for stakeholders with aligned interests to collaborate on market-oriented solutions. At the national level, Working Groups are also involved in sectoral coordination on policy, national roadmaps, financing, market issues, and other shared challenges for their industry.
At the field level, Working Group partners typically co-design, co-implement, and co-fund direct interventions along the value chain that benefit smallholders. Examples at various phases of the value chain include:
​
-
Pre-farm: improving access to quality seeds, crop protection, irrigation, and fertilizers;
-
On-farm: knowledge transfer, training, and capacity building that can empower decision-making and improve climate-smart productivity;
-
Post-harvest: identifying market opportunities (both domestic and export) or encouraging value-adding activities to scale-up profitability.
​
At the regional level, the Grow Asia Secretariat in Singapore provides strategic support to the Country Chapters and coordinates joined-up activities with the potential to make value chains more inclusive, accelerate the adoption of climate-smart solutions, and increase food safety and nutrition security. These regional programs are: Agri-Food Innovation, Women’s Economic Empowerment, Responsible Agricultural Investing, and Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience. In addition, we have ongoing programs on biosecurity and supporting South-South knowledge exchange.
Our work is guided by four operating principles:
1
Smallholder-focused, keeping the farmer at the center of all initiatives and investments.
​
2
Country-led and locally-driven, owned by stakeholders and aligned with national plans, strategies and goals.
​
3
Multi-stakeholder and inclusive, engaging government, private sector, international organizations, civil society, farmer organizations and others.
4
Market-based, focusing on catalyzing and expanding sustainable, inclusive investments and market-based activities.
