Established in March 2016, WFP Centre of Excellence for Rural Transformation (WFP China COE) is dedicated to knowledge sharing and technology transfer on food security, nutrition improvement, and poverty reduction among developing countries at policy, technical and community levels by facilitating policy dialogue and research, technical training, and field-level engagement in pursuit of Agenda 2030 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 2 for Zero Hunger and SDG 17 on Partnerships.
WFP China COE's engagement aligns with and operates within the framework of the approved UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework and the WFP's Strategic Plan. In line with WFP South-South and Triangular Cooperation Policy, WFP China COE promotes two-way knowledge exchange and partnership building among developing countries, while leveraging WFP's global network and ongoing programmes against food insecurity and malnutrition.
WFP China COE incorporates gender considerations and encourage women's participation in South-South and Triangular Cooperation, flagging women empowerment in rural transformation and poverty alleviation.
WFP China COE works in the Four Thematic Areas:
● Value Chain Development for Smallholders featuring technology transfer, capacity building, and participatory development of value chain strategies in China and other developing countries;
● Post-harvest Loss Management and Food Systems encouraging policy dialogue, knowledge and experiences exchange on national food security in support of regional, national or community food systems transformation;
● Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Resilience enhancing smallholders' capacity to adopt ecological approaches and environment-friendly technologies for their livelihood improvement; and
● Innovative Poverty Alleviation Initiative flagging China's innovative poverty alleviation modalities at different levels implemented by public and private sectors from all perspectives.
Digitalised South-South Cooperation and smart technologies underline enhanced knowledge sharing and know-how transfer; the web-based WFP-China South-South Cooperation Knowledge Sharing Platform and the Cloud School are both in operation for this purpose.
