Transforming food systems, finance, and inclusion in Colombia
In Colombia's rural communities, small-scale farmers have long faced subsistence farming with little room for growth, or attempt to scale up without access to the capital that could make it possible. Through the Joint SDG Fund, the United Nations is backing a suite of programmes in Colombia that are connecting dots on sustainable finance in food systems, while digital platforms are linking to social protection, and private capital is flowing toward nature-positive agriculture. A specialized facility designed to make these farmers bankable, helping them transition from survival mode to viable business operations while unlocking more than US$13 million in private lending for agriculture that works with nature. Meanwhile, major cities are expanding green finance for circular production that turns waste into resources, and nationwide efforts are strengthening the Universal Social Registry to improve how citizens access jobs services and social benefits through digital platforms and expanding government support to vulnerable communities.
By aligning public policy, private capital, and local systems within a unified framework, these initiatives create reinforcing effects. A farmer who gains access to sustainable finance can market products through improved digital platforms, urban circular production generates employment opportunities that feed into the jobs services system, and social protection mechanisms provide stability while economic opportunities expand. Colombia is proving it can work, demonstrating that coordinated UN action, when properly designed and locally grounded, can mobilize private capital, modernize public systems, and empower marginalized communities simultaneously. For the farmers moving from subsistence to bankability, the urban entrepreneurs building circular businesses, and the families gaining digital access to social services, are concrete improvements in daily life and a glimpse of an economy that works for more people while respecting the natural systems everyone depends on.
Investing in youth, resilience, and food security in Niger
In one of the world's most climate-vulnerable regions, Niger is confronting interconnected challenges, youth unemployment, food insecurity, and environmental pressures. Through the Joint SDG Fund, programmes are strengthening access to education and market-relevant skills for young people who make up the majority of the population, while newly approved investments in the Maradi region are supporting climate-resilient agriculture, improved nutrition, and sustainable livelihoods with a deliberate focus on women and youth who have historically been locked out of economic opportunity. These efforts build on earlier groundwork that digitized agricultural value chains, connected rural producers to markets they could never reach before, and strengthened national systems to absorb and respond to the food and economic shocks that hit Niger with devastating regularity.
What makes Niger's approach compelling is how each programme reinforces the others, creating a foundation for stability. When young people gain skills that match actual market demand, they become the workforce for climate-smart agriculture. When women farmers access resilient cultivation techniques and digital market platforms, they generate income that strengthens household nutrition and community resilience. This is construction of an economic and social infrastructure designed to bend without breaking, to absorb pressure without collapsing. For a nation navigating profound demographic shifts and climate realities, Niger's integrated portfolio demonstrates that inclusive growth and long-term stability are mutually reinforcing goals that require coordinated action to achieve.
Note:
All joint programmes of the Joint SDG Fund are led by UN Resident Coordinators and implemented by the agencies, funds and programmes of the United Nations development system. With sincere appreciation for the contributions from the European Union and Governments of Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland for a transformative movement towards achieving the SDGs by 2030.
