Bill & Melina Gates Foundation is focusing on bringing together various partnerships in its efforts to empower the poorest people in the world, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, said Mark Suzman, director of policy, advocacy and special initiatives for the Global Development Program of the foundation.

The foundation, founded by Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates, is focusing internationally in two areas, namely its Global Health Program and its Global Development Program, the biggest component of which is agriculture development, according to Suzman.

A large part of the poorest people in Africa is smallholder farmers living in rural areas. To promote inclusive growth in Africa where these people can directly benefit, the foundation is helping to "put together coalitions of partnerships" that draw in the private sector, the national governments and smallholder farmers in sustainable models, Suzman told Xinhua in an exclusive interview on Thursday at the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on Africa.

Suzman cited the example where the foundation cooperates with TechnoServe, Inc to help aggregate small-scale coffee growers in East Africa into large-scale and high-quality production, and connect them with potential purchasers around the world.

East African coffee farmers who live at high altitudes are well- situated to supply the market of premium coffee as they can grow high-quality Arabica beans.

But traditionally, these countries have not been able to access those markets because they can not produce coffee of certain quality and scale that buyers need, Suzman said.

In this partnership, farmers receive training and learn how to process their coffee of high quality to be sold at higher prices.

By creating models like this, the foundation is also working with the World Food Program (WFP) in the Purchase for Progress initiative, where WFP can purchase food directly from smallholder farmers in Africa, thus improving farmers' income, the director added.

"We don't need to be there for the long term because you need to become self-sustained," he said. "What we can do is come in and provide the catalyze funding, and help bring together the partnerships, and hopefully we can create models with the national governments and other international players so that they (the models) could be replicated without us having to be involved at all."

Tremendous potential remained untapped in Africa's small-scale farmers, who are producing some 80 percent of food consumed in sub- Sahara Africa.

The foundation, well aware of the status-quo, is working to break the cycle of hunger and poverty by providing small farmers with the tools and opportunities to boost their productivity, increase their incomes, and build better lives for themselves and their families.

Poor farmers were assisted by the foundation to be linked to markets, provided with agricultural training and access to improved inputs such as quality seeds, as well as better information including data, research, and policy analysis.

"The lesson that has been learnt over and over again is that success of development in inclusive growth is only possible when it's home grown, driven by local actors," said Suzman, who is here to participate the World Economic Forum on Africa.

"Where foundations like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation can help is that we are able to make the kind of long-term investments which may have benefit, and which might be difficult for governments to make those investments," he said.

Similar approach is applied in the foundation's wide range of works including its Global Health Program where huge investments were made to discover new insights to fight serious diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis and, develop effective and affordable vaccines, medicines, as well as deliver proven health solutions to those who need them most.

The World Economic Forum, held under the theme "From Vision to Action, Africa's Next Chapter," brought together more than 900 participants from over 60 countries to discuss issues including Africa's role in post-crisis era, drivers behind the continent's economic growth, as well as potentials and challenges of Africa's economic development.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet