I am pleased to present the U.S. Agency for International Development Title XII Report for Fiscal Year 2013. The report highlights how Title XII universities, the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD), and other partners are strengthening food security and combating malnutrition in association with Feed the Future, the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative.

U.S. universities are significantly advancing agricultural research for development by finding research solutions to pressing food security problems. In this report, we provide an overview of the types of U.S. university partnerships that are essential to our shared goal of ending extreme poverty in the next two decades. The current and future U.S. university partnerships that we describe are advancing a new collaborative model of development that is evidence-based and results-driven.

Since the launch of the Feed the Future initiative in 2010, USAID has invested more than $450 million in directly funded, agricultural-related U.S. university programs. In FY2013, USAID invested nearly $110 million in partnerships with U.S. universities at a level similar to FY2012. These directly funded programs include more than 50 lead universities in nearly 30 states in the areas of agriculture, environment, and higher education.

Feed the Future is already demonstrating clear impact - in FY2013 programs reached more than 12.5 million children with nutrition interventions and helped nearly 7 million farmers and food producers use new technologies and management practices. It also leveraged more than $160 million in private sector investment, a 40 percent increase from FY2012. In addition, complementary efforts under the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition involve more than 200 companies that have signed Letters of Intent to responsibly invest more than $10 billion in African agriculture.

The Feed the Future Innovation Labs, Higher Education Solutions Network (HESN), and Global Development Lab (launched in FY2014) are recent examples of how U.S. university partnerships with the public and private sectors can address intractable challenges through data-driven, results-oriented approaches. For example, Feed the Future is pairing American ingenuity and expertise with some of the best and brightest minds across the globe through its 24 Feed the Future Innovation Labs. A unique network supported by over 60 top U.S. colleges and universities along with many partner country research and educational institutions, the Feed the Future Innovation Labs are on the cutting edge of efforts to research, develop, and take to scale safe and effective technologies that address current and future challenges posed by a changing climate and the need to feed a growing global population. The Feed the Future Innovation Labs also include short- and long-term training to support sustainability of these efforts.