From strategy to scale: How a partnership is enabling a culture of innovation at WFP
Discover how support from the John Deere Foundation is propelling WFP to cultivate a culture of innovation for greater efficiency and effectiveness.
By: Ishank Gorla, Sanjna Sudan, Hila Cohen and Miranda Stobbs
Did you know that although smallholder farmers produce 70 percent of the food in several countries (FAO), they are also among the most affected by poverty and food insecurity?
The World Food Programme (WFP) recognizes that achieving stronger food systems and ultimately zero hunger requires enabling smallholder farmers to build resilient livelihoods and access markets.
Smallholder farmers face numerous barriers, including limited access to financial services, quality agricultural inputs and reliable markets. These challenges often lead to low incomes and subsistence-level farming, where crops and livestock are produced mainly to meet the needs of a farmer’s family and community rather than for generating income.
Since 2021, WFP has partnered with the John Deere Foundation to strengthen food systems and help smallholder farmers gain meaningful access to markets, ultimately improving their livelihoods. The Foundation focuses on building resilient food systems, empowering youth in their communities to achieve strong learning outcomes and acquire relevant technical and vocational skills, and supporting stable, affordable housing to enhance overall quality of life.
With the Foundation’s support, the WFP Innovation Accelerator is driving innovation to create sustainable food systems that empower farmers. By improving decision‑making along the value chain from field to consumer and expanding market access, WFP enables farmers to boost incomes, strengthen food security, and move beyond subsistence farming.
In 2024, thanks to the support of John Deere, WFP started to work on its Innovation Strategy, taking steps to further-embed innovation into its DNA, with 4 key elements: the people served by WFP, innovation for efficiency and effectiveness, WFP employees and scale. WFP’s commitment to innovation is focused not only on advancing its mission but also on fostering efficiency and effectiveness across the entire humanitarian and development system.
Here are a few insights from this journey:
#1 Recognising why innovation at WFP is crucial now
We are living in an era defined by severe weather events, conflict and consequently unprecedented humanitarian needs. In this context, WFP recognizes that it must constantly adapt to continue serving the people who rely on it most and reduce future humanitarian needs. WFP’s innovation strategy is built on the idea that innovation is not only about new technologies, but it is about helping people and teams think, act and lead in new and innovative ways to meet growing and complex challenges. Therefore having a more deeply embedded culture of innovation is key.
The strategy focuses on improving how the organization works, with World Food Programme country offices serving as the engines of innovation, supported by regional innovation offices and the WFP Innovation Accelerator. This structure allows teams to adapt global strategies to the unique needs of local communities, ensuring WFP can deliver assistance more efficiently and effectively.
For example, internal initiatives such as the WFP Innovation Awards recognize WFP country office teams developing cost‑ and time‑effective solutions to deliver better results for the people we serve. WFP Innovation Network–led workshops that help country offices embed innovation into their strategic plans. In addition, a robust innovation database enables knowledge sharing across the organization, while opportunities to join a growing WFP Innovation Champions community further strengthen collaboration. All these initiatives are part of the innovation strategy.
“The priorities are clear: Increase our resources, improve our effectiveness and scale-up partnerships and innovation to bring modern solutions to those most needed.”
Cindy McCain, Executive Director, World Food Programme
#2 A consultative approach to implement systemic changes and embed innovation into the organization
To ensure the Innovation Strategy reflects diverse perspectives and experiences from around the world, the strategy is the product of a highly consultative development process, with engagement from stakeholders across the organization and external to it to ensure alignment with WFP’s mandate and priorities.
The Innovation Strategy will be implemented in an agile way, beginning with pilot projects and capacity‑building initiatives, before scaling and integrating innovations across WFP’s global operations. By 2028, the aim is to deliver measurable improvements in efficiency, cost savings, and food security, while continuously adapting to evolving needs and challenges.
This approach is already influencing how WFP designs and delivers its work. It embeds experimentation, user‑centered design and continuous learning into daily operations. By treating innovation as a shared system and enabler rather than a separate activity, WFP is better positioned to scale solutions sustainably and respond more effectively to the communities it serves.
#3 Scaling lighthouse innovations
Beyond direct humanitarian support, innovation is about implementation of innovations in WFP operations and country activities. Through the Innovation Accelerator and regional and country innovation hubs and teams, WFP will continue to support entrepreneurs and innovators in developing sustainable innovations and ventures. The following examples are teams supported by the John Deere Foundation.
In the Western and Central Africa region, several WFP-born innovations or those focused on supporting smallholder farmers are now scaling.
These “lighthouse innovations” are transforming how WFP delivers assistance and empowers communities to build resilience. One example is Ignitia, an agriculture technology company delivering hyper-local weather forecasts through an Artificial Intelligence model designed specifically for tropical climates. Its SMS-based platform provides smallholder farmers with highly accurate, easy-to-use weather intelligence that improves farmers’ decision-making (such as which type of seeds to plant and when) in the face of growing climate unpredictability. Ignitia delivers forecasts that are twice as accurate as global models, helping farmers plan when to plant, irrigate and harvest.
In Mali and Ghana, WFP works with Ignitia to provide these localized forecasts directly to farming communities, supporting them in adapting to shifting weather patterns and protecting their livelihoods. Globally and to date, Ignitia has reached 2.7 million smallholder farmers, equipping them with reliable information that strengthens resilience and improves productivity amid climate change.
In the Eastern and Southern Africa region, Post Harvest Loss Ventures (PHLV) is also achieving stellar impact. PHLV helps smallholder farmers use efficient tools and strategies to reduce post-harvest losses. These losses occur after crops are harvested but before they reach consumers, and they can reduce both the amount and quality of crops. PHLV supports farmers by creating business models that make it easier and more affordable to access helpful technologies. These include easier access to equipment, affordable training, digital tools, small loans for farm needs and storage, and support for farmer groups to jointly own and manage post-harvest equipment. As of December 2024, PHLV had reached more than 1.2 million people across five countries. In Mozambique alone, farmers prevented 1.416 MT (one thousand four hundred sixteen metric tons) of crop losses valued at US$448,000 by distributing over 28,300 hermetic bags and capacity building of over 68,600 smallholder farmers.
“To all of our partners: if you are seeking to invest in scalable solutions that strengthen global food security, WFP is your trusted partner. Together, we can take these innovations to scale, drive systemic change, and ensure that every solution we create delivers real, lasting impact for those who need it most.”
— Rania Dagash-Kamara, Assistant Executive Director, Partnerships and Innovation, World Food Programme
#4 Partnership as a driver for scaling innovation for and by communities
WFP recognizes that partnerships are vital to scaling innovation to achieve greater impact at a lower cost.
Collaborations with organizations such as the John Deere Foundation demonstrate how combining expertise and advanced technologies can accelerate impact. Through these alliances, WFP transforms promising ideas into practical innovations that deliver measurable benefits for smallholder farmers and their communities.
“True innovation happens when purpose meets partnership. Working with WFP gave us a chance to exchange ideas on how large organizations can embed innovation at scale, not as a project, but as a mindset. What stood out was WFP’s commitment to making innovation part of how its people think, lead and deliver impact every day. That shared belief, that innovation serves people, is what makes this collaboration so powerful.”
— Justin Rose, Worldwide Agriculture & Turf Division, Small Agriculture and Turf Care, Europe, Africa, and Asia Deere & Company.
By enabling our employees, embracing human-centred approaches, promoting localization and working hand-in-hand with governments, the private sector (including start-ups), academic institutions, and UN partners, WFP’s innovation strategy aims to create long-term, scalable impact. Together, we can address humanitarian challenges more efficiently and build stronger food systems, strengthen resilience and meet the needs of a changing world.
Subsequent blogs will offer reflections on how the innovation strategy is implemented.
WFP is always looking for bold, purpose-driven partners (such as the John Deere Foundation) to help tackle the world’s toughest humanitarian challenges. We invite you to reach out to us. Lasting change is only possible when we draw on the collective expertise, resources and leadership of governments, businesses, philanthropists and the communities we serve.
The WFP Innovation Accelerator sources, supports and scales high-potential solutions to end hunger worldwide. We provide WFP employees, entrepreneurs, start-ups, companies and non-governmental organizations with access to funding, mentorship, hands-on support and WFP operations.
Find out more about us: http://innovation.wfp.org. Subscribe to our newsletter. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn and watch our videos on YouTube.
