LETTER FROM THE CEO

Dear Friends:   I am pleased to share updates from DFC with you today. First and foremost, the agency has officially launched its inaugural development strategy—the Roadmap for Impact. This five-year plan outlines specific goals for the agency in order to pursue the most impactful projects in the most underserved communities worldwide.   In support of DFC’s mission, I’ve traveled to critically important regions this month—the Caribbean, Middle East, and Indo-Pacific. Each of these trips brought together senior officials from U.S. government agencies to strengthen America’s relationships with our friends and partners, as well as explore strategic and developmental investment opportunities.   While in the Caribbean, I signed an América Crece MOU seeking to collaborate on investments that will strengthen key industries, create jobs, and bolster the local economy. In the Indo-Pacific, and on the sidelines of the Indo-Pacific Business Forum, the agency announced new DFC initiatives that will help realize the vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific. Finally, in the Middle East, I joined Israel and the U.A.E. to launch the Abraham Fund—an integral part of the historic Abraham Accords that will help promote prosperity and enduring peace.   I look forward to sharing more news from DFC soon! Adam Boehler (@AdamUSDFC) Chief Executive Officer U.S. International Development Finance Corporation

DFC INTRODUCES FIRST DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY: ROADMAP FOR IMPACT The Roadmap for Impact: DFC’s Inaugural Development Strategy, outlines investments of over $25 billion and aims to mobilize an additional $50 billion to reach more than 30 million people in developing countries by the end of 2025. LEARN MORE

U.S., ISRAEL, AND UAE ANNOUNCE ABRAHAM FUND Through this fund, the U.S.— through DFC—the UAE, and Israel will mobilize more than $3 billion in private sector-led investment to promote regional economic cooperation and prosperity in the Middle East and beyond.  LEARN MORE

CONSERVING KENYA'S COASTAL ECOSYSTEMS WITH BLUE BONDS DFC political risk insurance will support an innovative project by The Nature Conservancy of Arlington, Virginia to create a trust for long-term investment in conservation in these coastal areas. LEARN MORE

NEW INITIATIVES SUPPORTING PROSPERITY IN THE INDO-PACIFIC On the sidelines of the Indo-Pacific Business Forum and following his travel to the region, CEO Boehler announced new plans to support investments in multiple countries across the Indo-Pacific. LEARN MORE

DFC CONVENES LEADERS FROM THE U.S. AND AFRICA DFC and the Atlantic Council hosted the Investing in Africa’s Future conference to bring together African leaders, U.S. government officials, and others to announce new efforts to promote U.S. trade and investment in Africa. LEARN MORE

U.S. GOVERNMENT DELEGATION TRAVELS TO THE CARIBBEAN The delegation, consisting of six U.S. government agencies, visited Suriname, Guyana, Jamaica, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic to advance growth, private sector investment, and economic security. LEARN MORE

ADVANCING FOOD SECURITY DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Yasser Toor is managing director in DFC’s Office of Development Credit, where he heads the agency’s new food security transaction unit. How did the food security unit come about? This is a joint initiative pioneered by DFC and USAID’s Bureau for Resilience and Food Security to use all of our tools to combat hunger in developing countries. The businesses in food supply chains in these countries are often regarded as risky investments and supporting them requires sector specific expertise and a willingness to deal with complexity. Following the launch of DFC a year ago, which granted the agency additional latitude to support the agriculture sector, this initiative was formed to ensure that smallholder farmers and small agribusinesses receive the attention necessary to succeed and grow. How did you come to work in this role? I started my career working for a private equity firm focused on branded food and beverage products, which led me to become interested in food systems. I went on to join the office of then-U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, working in Sierra Leone on the country’s private sector development strategy, which had an enormous agricultural component. That led me to join the Africa Agriculture Development Company (AgDevCo) as one of its original directors to help build out its investment strategy in West Africa. Working at DFC to advance global food security is the culmination of many things I’ve worked on over the past 20 years. How is COVID-19 impacting food security around the world? Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are regions of serious concern because they have the greatest food insecurity in the world. Initially there was concern that lockdowns would break supply chains. The good news is that didn’t happen. However, moving goods has become more expensive, leading to a sharp increase in food prices. This impacts poor communities the most and could result in greater hunger and malnutrition. An additional concern is that a lot of rural microfinance institutions that support small farmers are starting to see defaults that will affect their ability to lend. At DFC, we are leaning in to support our existing clients through emergency liquidity facilities and we are proactively working to put together new lending facilities to support these microfinance institutions. What are some of the other ways DFC is working to advance food security? We are working to strengthen local and rural supply chains. This means investing directly in SMEs—on which most of the food that is consumed in Sub-Saharan Africa depends—as well as in intermediaries and funds that support these companies. We are also focusing to collapse the distance between small producers and consumers through investments in businesses like Twiga, which works to connect Kenya’s rural food producers to its urban vendors; and Milk Mantra, which sources milk from tens of thousands of smallholder farmers in India.

‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌