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development begins with new research and
breakthrough technologies, it does not end there.
In order for agribusinesses to thrive, smallholder
farmers need access to durable supply chains, reli-
able sources of capital, and affordable insurance
products. And women farmers need exactly the
same access as men. Without these fundamental
elements, farmers cannot succeed—here in the
United States or anywhere else.
That is why we are helping unlock the power
of the global—and local—private sector through
innovative, high-impact partnerships that can
deliver profits for companies, lift up smallholders,
and reduce poverty at the same time. As impor-
tant to agricultural development as a new seed or
irrigation system, these public-private partner-
ships abide by high standards of responsibility,
transparency, and accountability—in deep contrast
to some of the more controversial private-sector
engagements of the past. As we work, we are also
consistently measuring and evaluating our efforts
to ensure that our investments effectively empower
women in their businesses and lives.
This past year, we partnered with PepsiCo
and the World Food Programme to help 10,000
chickpea farmers improve their yields and join
PepsiCo’s supply chain. PepsiCo will use those
chickpeas to create a highly nutritious food paste
to sell to the World Food Programme, which can
use it to save the lives of malnourished children.
We are also working with J.P. Morgan to drive
capital toward East African agribusiness. Along with
the Bill & Melinda Gates, Gatsby, and Rockefeller
Foundations, we enabled a Kampala-based fund
manager to invest $25 million in at least 20 agricul-
ture firms throughout the region, raising incomes
for at least a quarter of a million households.
Inspired by the legacy of the Green
Revolution, it is easy to think of new seeds as the
silver bullet. But success will be determined not
just by investments in science, but also by our abil-
ity to mobilize responsible private-sector invest-
ment to generate real results. Ultimately, we can
help developing countries transform their econo-
mies, reduce poverty and address the staggering
rates of malnutrition that rob children around the
world of their potential.
Ending Preventable Child Deaths
When we emphasize the importance of breast-
feeding, train a community health worker to use a
low-cost bag mask to help newborn babies breathe,
or provide bed nets, we do not often stop to con-
sider that we are harnessing significant innovations
in development. But it is precisely these break-
throughs that make it possible today to achieve an
unprecedented legacy in global health.
Thanks to tremendous progress over the last
several decades, the global community has the
knowledge and the tools to end preventable child
deaths and bring child mortality in the developing
world into parity with the developed world.
But in order to realize this vision, we need to
do things very differently. We need to engage more
effectively with emerging economies that do not
receive development assistance, but have the ability
to reach this goal. We need to figure out how to
improve the rate of child survival in large countries
that have lagged behind, including Nigeria and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo. And we need
to help shape a policy and political environment
that can maintain focus on this critical goal in a
fast-moving world that always offers new priorities.
The effort to end preventable child deaths
begins even before the moment of birth. Through
the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief,
we are ensuring pregnant HIV-positive women can
give birth to an AIDS-free generation. On World
AIDS Day in 2011, President Obama announced
that the drop in the cost of a year’s supply of AIDS
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