FAO in review: A year of resilience in resource mobilization

A Chinese expert on new crops variety development, speaks to a worker who operates the sorghum plantation in the China-Uganda Agricultural Cooperation Industrial Park (CUACIP).
© FAO/Stuart Tibaweswa

External fiscal pressures and shifting global priorities have significantly impacted the availability of global resources for public investment. However, amidst these challenging circumstances, FAO has demonstrated remarkable resilience and effectiveness, successfully mobilizing approximately $1.624 billion in voluntary contributions in 2025. While this figure reflects an eight percent decline from 2024, it still ranks among the strongest results in FAO’s history.

Vertical funds, such as the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and the Pandemic Fund (PF) remain FAO’s primary resource partners, accounting for 45 percent of all mobilized resources.

Notably, 2025 marks a record year for the FAO-GCF partnership, with the largest sum ever approved for FAO-led GCF climate projects in a single year – totaling over $400 million, particularly benefiting Small Island Developing States (SIDS), Least Developed Countries (LDCs), and Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs). With FAO's support, these nations have successfully accessed and channeled increased financing for sustainable and resilient agrifood systems and for building resilience against the impacts of the climate crisis.

Through the FAO-GEF partnership, approximately $300 million has been facilitated to support the design and implementation of National Adaptation Plans, while also building the necessary capacity and institutional frameworks for future investments.

This success can be attributed to FAO’s increasing provision of technical and operational assistance to its Members, helping them mobilize resources for their development needs. By leveraging the expanding scale and scope of vertical funds and international financial institutions, FAO has fostered a process of recipient-led funding and financing.

This approach is particularly crucial for countries progressing to middle-income status, which often find themselves ineligible for traditional grant mechanisms, except for short-term humanitarian interventions.

25 May 2025, Baghdad, Iraq. FAO Director-General QU Dongyu delivers a speech during the Launch of the Green Climate Fund (GCF)-Funded Project.
© FAO /  ismael Adnan

A year of growth and diversification in investment support to unlock finance for Members

The FAO Investment Centre has been crucial in tailoring its investment and finance solutions for Members to scale up both public and private lending at country level. 2025 has been a year of growth and diversification with traditional and new financing partners supporting investment planning and policy, design and implementation, as well as advisory services on innovative finance.

The Centre supported the design of 34 new public investment projects in 40 countries for a total of $6.5 billion (Jan-Oct 2025) approved by financing partners such as the World Bank, IFAD and the European Investment Bank. It also supported the implementation of ongoing public investment projects worth more than $47 billion in 92 countries, helping ensure quality delivery and lasting impact.

Traditional forms of finance are not enough. By partnering with a range of development finance institutions, and with the support of the European Union, FAO has expanded access to finance for small and medium-sized agriculture businesses and smallholder farmers. In 2024 alone, these efforts led to almost $70 million in new blended finance in 19 countries. This includes providing advisory services for managing risks, identifying investment opportunities, and making agrifood lending easier. 

Left/Right: Afghanistan, afforestation and reforestation initiatives in Nuristan province. ©FAO/Azatullah Sahil
Landscape Restoration for Ecosystem Functionality and Climate Change Mitigation in the Republic of Sao Tome and Principe (STP).
© FAO / Eduardo Soteras

South-South and Triangular Cooperation

South-South and Triangular Cooperation continues to deliver practical results, enabling countries to transfer knowledge directly and lower the cost of solutions. In 2025, for the first time, FAO and the UN Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) formulated two joint regional projects for the Sahel and the Fergana Valley.  

The FAO-China Global South-South Cooperation “One Country One Priority Product (OCOP) Initiative” project, covering 15 countries across all regions, has strengthened agrifood systems by developing more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable value chains for Special Agricultural Products (SAPs). This model blends South–South knowledge exchange with investment in value chain upgrading and market-linkage solutions, representing one of the South-South and Triangular Cooperation programme’s most innovative financing mechanisms.

In October, a fruitful collaboration between Azerbaijan and Türkiye in advancing agricultural services received an award at the FAO Global Technical Recognition Ceremony for its outstanding contribution to South–South and Triangular Cooperation.

Protecting and promoting Türkiye’s Bursa black fig and peach.
© FAO / Onur Coban

Upcoming years

The next few years will be challenging for the entire development community, but FAO believes that its recent efforts to diversify its resource partners will provide new hope and a fruitful approach to continue supporting Members.

On the investment front, FAO has a 60-year history of acting as a bridge to connect financial institutions, the private sector, and developing countries. FAO will expand its support to public, private investment and innovative finance solutions to help Members transform agrifood systems. The Hand-in-Hand initiative is FAO’s latest successful example of this, and the Organization will also continue to mobilize significant development funding through triangular Unilateral Trust Funds.

FAO is also working to improve and expand its flexible funding system by developing a stronger Flexible Thematic Funding (FTF) model. This will allow resource partners to move away from isolated, tightly controlled projects towards multi-donor, more flexible funding pools.

With this new approach, FAO will direct contributions into specific areas, enabling quick support for the most urgent needs. This will also help finance long-term projects, test and scale new ideas, and maintain multi-year programmes with consistent support. The objective is to bundle priorities into attractive investment options, secure multi-year commitments, quickly allocate funds to areas that need it most, and report results in a way that lowers costs and enhances visibility and impact.