African Youth Host Dialogue Ahead of Food Systems Summit
Anchored in the Summit’s five action tracks, the group’s position paper emerged from two days of intensive consultations.
With support from Policy LINK, a network of youth engaged in the African Union’s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme has wrapped up a three-day effort to craft youth-centered policy positions ahead of the UN’s Food Systems Summit, scheduled for September of this year.
Anchored in the Summit’s five action tracks, which include access to “safe and nutritious food for all,” the group’s position paper emerged from two days of intensive consultations held on Monday and Tuesday of this week. Both days featured contributions from young leaders throughout the continent, including Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria, South Sudan, and Zambia.
A draft of the subsequent position paper was presented to the group on Wednesday. Included in the paper were a set of commitments aimed at supporting the UN’s Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. That link—between food systems and climate change—was echoed by Ann Vaughan, Senior Advisor for Climate Change at USAID’s Bureau for Resilience and Food Security, who spoke at Wednesday’s closing session.
The Bureau, with support from Policy LINK, is facilitating engagement from a broad range of stakeholders as part of the food summit’s national dialogue process. Outcomes from these dialogues will help shape the agenda for the September gathering, which comes as part of a wider push to fast-track the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Working at the regional level, Policy LINK has been providing “backbone support” to African Union institutions implementing the body’s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme. That support, which includes engagements with the program’s youth network, will continue beyond the UN’s Food Systems Summit.