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The discussion topics followed three interrelated sections of the webinar, one, the presentation of the technical paper on the manifesto, second the expert panel discussion and third, the broad stakeholders’ poll on key decision pathway. The technical presentation highlighted the five pillars of the Africa manifesto viz., the establishment of a dedicated research system forgotten foods. Building the systemic capacity for innovation, the establishment of partnerships and strategic alliances, engagement of the private sector and creation of a regional pool of financial resources. The panel dis... Read morecussion highlighted the the central issues to be considered in ensuring the contributions of underutilized species to food and nutritional security in Africa. It explicated what is required to mobilize farmers, women and the youth all along the process. It further prescribed the agricultural innovation systems approach to and the best research to development partnership model. The likely funding mechanism for the process were also discussed. The result of the participants poll indicated that the five pillars are important to giving prominence to the underutilized food in the food system. The issues of publicity, research system development and engagement of youth were voted to be most important priorities. The poll indicated that the research system should give prominence to Market research for the commodity, germplasm collection and conservation and agronomic integration of the underutilized commodities in the food system. Eight nine percent of the participants agree that innovations systems approach is the best research for development model to be used; the research coordination should follow the FARA /SROs/NARI model with smart implementation of the subsidiarity principle. The resource mobilization efforts could explore funding from technology tax, support from industry corporate social responsibility fund and support from philanthropic endowments. Eighty-seven percent of poll participants agreed that incentives in terms of funds, policies and other support should be made available for the private sector to drive the process. Read less

The dialogue came up with five main key finding/recommendations that need to be implemented to enhance the Africa food system. These five elements should form the pillars for the Africa manifesto. (1). Establish a dedicated and functional research system for holistic development of forgotten foods. (2). Incrementally build an appropriate innovation capacity (infrastructure, equipment and expertise) at local level to enable African research and education institutions develop solutions for increased productivity, resilience to shocks, value-added production and quality assurance for forgotten fo... Read moreods. (3). Establish partnerships and strategic alliances to foster engagement of youth and women for rapid integration of forgotten foods into the national food system and engagement for policy development. (4). Facilitate the engagement of private sector for investment into production, processing and marketing of forgotten foods and (5). Create a regional pool of financial resources to support research and coherent development efforts on forgotten foods. Such funds should be accessible by institutions and governments which have research topics aligned to regional priorities on forgotten foods. In other to mitigate the danger of food shortage and nutritional insecurity that was orchestrated by various constraints and lately aggravated by climate change, COVID-19, increased desertification, etc. There is the need to invest in life-saving crops that are resilient and in wide diversity from a wider range of crops and cropping systems. This will require a major modification in the agricultural research and innovation approaches towards identified underutilized species in each region of Africa. These logical modifications include: i. Adoption of new metrics and indicators to show the value of forgotten foods. ii. Concerted efforts in participatory plant breeding to improve the adaptation of forgotten foods and forgotten foods to social, economic and ecological conditions, and nutritional value. iii. Granting required respect of rights of farmers through allowing them to locally use, save, exchange and sell their Forgotten Foods. iv. Development of sustainable seed systems, facilitating conservation, access, availability, use and exchange of high-quality seeds of forgotten foods by farmers. v. Introduction of the development of forgotten foods into education programs. vi. More advocacy and evidence-based policy change. vii. Better access to markets, support to short supply chains and alternative retail structures. viii. Enhance capacity development of NARES etc. ix. Novel research development and networking (e.g. molecular genetics, nutritional profiling, agronomic interventions, digital technologies and applications). x. Enhance awareness raising to ensure that the values of Forgotten Foods are recognized by all in society, including researchers and technical agents as well as urban communities and consumers, for their nutritional, cultural and environmental benefits. Read less

The dialogue on forgotten foods as a respite to sustainable food and nutritional security was organized to with the intention to foster a paradigm change in the production and consumption pattern for in Africa. The subject natter have strong bearing to the five action track of the food systems summit. The Human Development Index is premised on the balanced attention to issues that drive individual as well as societal wellbeing. The issues of food and nutritional security are central in this goal and they require more inclusive perspectives than the conventional. The webinar takes a deeper pers... Read morepective at the complete chain of issues and factors from production, through processing, marketing, distribution, quality control and safety, consumption patterns, food waste management, to recycling of nutrients and other elements of environmental sustainability. The action track 1 looks into ensuring access to safe and nutritious food; the documented evidence of the nutritious nature of the forgotten and underutilized foods warrants the crave to bring back this food into the food systems. Secondly that action track two on shifting to a sustainable consumption pattern, is consistent with the need for Africa to eat what it can produce to reduce the economic burden of food importation, Africa currently expend US$53 billion on food import per annual. Africa countries may also benefit economically from producing commodities that are well adapted to its natural resource base. This will reduce the cost of production owing to use of external inputs. The cultivation of well adapted food commodities will contribute to action track three on boosting the nature’s positive production at sufficient scale. Africa countries are struggling with huge yield gap on most of the food commodities, largely because of poor comparative advantage on climate, soils and other natural resources issues. It is speculated that with advancing the production and consumption of the indigenous commodities; the agrarian livelihood that engages more than 60% of the labor force in Africa will improve, this is consistent with action track four on advancing equitable livelihoods and value distribution. The indigenous commodities will foster resilience and reduce vulnerability, apparently, the commodity that sustains the populations are often the forgotten foods which are largely ignored in terms of research and development investment. It is crucial for Africa to revisit its neglected and underutilized species within the context of food system. The term forgotten food refers to crop and livestock commodities that have been neglected or underutilized as they have been displaced by increasingly uniform diets fueled by mass-produced processed ingredients from the ‘BIG FOUR’ of wheat, maize, rice and soybean. These four accounts for about two-thirds of the world’s food supply. The dialogue thus, identified the pathway to bring to the fore the subject of forgotten food and ensure its prominence in the continental food system. The need for awareness about the commodities and their nutritional advantages was identifies as the first action followed by the need to develop a new research and innovation system to ensure knowledge and technology development along the different commodities. It was opined that the research system will need to prioritize germplasm collection and conservation. It should also give attention to breeding and improvement. The issues of developing new food commodities that meets the need of the growing elites is important. The engagement of the policy makers for consistent action is vital. The stakeholders opined that active engagement of the private sector all along the development process is vital. Incentives should be created for agribusiness development around the various underutilized foods. Towing the pathways of sustainable intensification will be vital as the various endeavors develops and trigger the desired change. Efforts should be channeled to engage the growing youth population actively along the entire value chain to foster job creation and strong economic benefits from the upsurge in the production and use of the underutilized commodities. Read less

While there were active discussions where divergent views were shared, each group was able to come to a general consensus at the end of their breakout.

Action Points: Having trustworthy, accessible and robust processes for making decisions Maintaining effective horizon scanning efforts Building collaborations across other sectors (eg. healthcare, education, economic development) Embracing complexity and building collaborations across stakeholders Trust is key and power dynamics matter Showing successful projects and initiatives

The Canadian Food Policy Advisory Council (CFPAC) is a unique forum that can be leveraged domestically to bring voices from across the Canadian food system together and advise on pressing issues. Collaborative leadership is vital, bringing together a wide variety of perspectives and paying special attention to those who are marginalized. Food systems change will only happen when enough people see how they can benefit from and contribute to that systemic change. Internationally, the CFPAC is a leading example of collaborative food systems governance that can help lead to progress on all of the ... Read moreUNFSS’ action tracks and Levers of Change. Major global trends linked with population growth, climate change, new consumer expectations and novel technologies suggest that the next 10 years may be incredibly disruptive for food systems everywhere. In Canada, we have much to celebrate: our producers are amongst the most environmentally conscious in the world, most Canadians enjoy safe, healthy, and affordable food year-round. Nevertheless, systemic problems of food insecurity and disruptions to the food system caused by the pandemic mean that we need to do better. Together, by embracing models of collaborative governance we can ensure Canada has the tools it needs to continue having one of the greatest food systems in the world. This will not only help support domestic producers and consumers as well as allowing those parts of our food system that depend on exporting to international markets thrive and expand over the next generation. Read less

Ahead of the upcoming United Nations Food Systems Summit, Arrell Food Institute at the University of Guelph hosted three independent Food System Dialogues to bring together voices from across and beyond the Canadian Food System. The first dialogue explored models of collaborative governance to help create holistic and equitable policies and programming for food systems. There were 8 discussion groups in this Dialogue, all of whom discussed one of these three topics: • Top priorities for a Canadian Food Policy Advisory Council • Inequities in power and resources amongst actors in the food s... Read moreystem • Pathways to overcome distrust, leading to a greater willingness to engage in meaningful dialogue Framing speakers: Rt Hon Marie-Claude Bibeau, Federal Minister for Agriculture and Agri-Food Evan Fraser, AFI Director Read less

Some divergence areas were highlighted during the dialogue as listed below: o In the food systems approach, technology cannot be looked at in isolation. It is not just about putting technology on a farm, but also ensuring that the market systems is working such that if farmers invest in the technology, they can make money out of their investment. o Across countries, mainly agriculture, forestry, natural resource management, climate change, trade policies, and investment do not always include or provide for gender equality and women’s empowerment. In many cases, efforts for women’s empowerm... Read moreent has been limited to initiatives that sometimes fall outside of the policy framework. o When talking about women in agriculture or women in food systems, stakeholders should go back to the roles women play in the sector. Thus, the need to reframe the conversation to reflect how our food and agricultural systems contribute to achieving empowerment and justice. o Agricultural value chains start at the research stage and embed that gender lens at the beginning-end of the value chains is critical. o Governance remains a key part/output for gender-responsive agricultural research. o Gender-responsive policies should not only be limited to production but cutting across the entire agricultural value chains including agri-finance, agro-processing, access to inputs and research. o The pandemic had devastated so much with the countries, but it also presented a tremendous opportunity to show that these adaptations are possible. That, it is possible for people to work from home and be productive. o Recognize that gender mainstreaming is about the empowerment of women and the building of individuals, organizational, and institutional capacities to mainstream gender. o Most agricultural policies mainly focus on the production, processing, and marketing aspects of the value chains. In nearly all cases, these policies do not look at matters on relations of production. o Examine the involvement of the private sector because most are looking at profit-making as their primary interest. Hence, the need for a balanced perspective to understand why the private sector wants to advocate and help mainstream issues of gender. Read less

1. Capacity for gender-inclusive private sector engagement i. Access to proven technologies will help improve food production and food security, and job and wealth creation for women and youth across the value chains. ii. Promotion of gender-sensitive technology that meet women’s needs, labor-saving and very simple to operate by non-educated youth. iii. Build the capacity of women and youth for efficient use of the technology. This can be across the incubation centres or other ways of mechanism for capacity building. iv. Capacity building is needed for the private sector to address the speci... Read morefic needs of women and youth in terms of technologies and solutions that fit their needs and other productive resources to increase sustainable agribusiness development. v. Build technical skills and capacity of women researchers and provide mentorship to women who tend to be grossly underrepresented in research leadership on the continent 2. Building up policy support for gender-responsive investment i. Research must aim to solve the market's need and consider women’ needs. It must also be targeted at developing products that meet the needs of women who use agricultural services. ii. Policy programmes and agricultural development strategies must include and prioritize gender-specific needs of men and women. iii. Understand the environment to develop policies that cover the different cultures of the people they’ll serve towards ensuring collective uptake of policies and participation of all actors. iv. Regional Economic Communities in Africa must leverage their position as regional coordinators to mobilize support for gender-response policies in member states. v. Member states need to push for a policy that has been made to address critical issues for women and youth. Also, COMESA and other RECs have a solid role to play in lobbying, advocating and influence investments and gender-responsive products 3. Women and youth empowerment i. Empowering women through access to finance and markets while accelerating job creation for women through skills enhancement and increase in women’s access to social services through infrastructural development. ii. Provides quality information for women to scale up modern agriculture practices and enhance access to farm inputs. iii. Provides youth with the complete ecosystem of the value chain in ideation, acceleration, financing, coaching, and mentorships. iv. Improve gender equality and women's empowerment as pathway to get closer to food and nutrition security. v. Strengthen advocacy towards ensuring that women’s livelihoods are sustained and their working conditions are improved and not exploited 4. Data and evidence i. Provide one-stop-shop for gender indicators and sex-disaggregated data across the food systems. ii. Ensure that young people have access to data and accurate data to make a precise decision and scale up their business across the continent. 5. Innovation i. Facilitation and the application of science, technology and innovation in African agriculture while tightening the loop between technology generation, adoption, refinement, use of technologies and its commercialization. ii. Deploy innovative solutions to addressing critical issues on issues on climate change, cultural, political and economic environment, and agricultural systems in particular iii. Develop technologies with the users, the people who will use them because it ensures that they are going to address the needs and priorities of the users. Read less

Attaining sustainable inclusion of women in Africa’s’ Food System, requires a set of game-changing actions by stakeholders. These include but are not limited to: Increase capacity to a gender-inclusive private sector engagement. Access to proven technologies will help improve food production and food security, and job and wealth creation for women and youth across the value chains. Having the technology at scale will help more women and youth to access the technology for their agribusiness development. Thus, the need for private sector engagement to produce the technology and put them at s... Read morecale. Additionally, promotion of gender-sensitive technology that meet women’s needs, labor-saving and very simple to operate by non-educated youth. Hence, promoting research products that do not add to women’s daily workload and household engagements. With the availability of proven technologies, the private sector can put them at scale and enable conditions to facilitate the adoption and use of the technologies by women and youth. Therefore, it is essential to build the capacity of women and youth for efficient use of the technology. This can be across the incubation centers or other ways of mechanism for capacity building. Similarly, capacity building is needed for the private sector to address the specific needs of women and youth in terms of technologies and solutions that fit their needs and other productive resources to increase sustainable agribusiness development. Building up policy support for gender-responsive investment. Research must aim to solve the market's need and be in line with the need for women who are primarily involved in agricultural trade. Also, research must consider women and meet their needs. Research must, therefore, target at developing products that meet the needs of women who use agricultural services. Ensure inclusivity and diversity in frameworks by considering the needs of women and vulnerable groups and establish approaches that meet the needs of all groups of people. This can be done by understanding the environment to develop policies that cover the different cultures of the people they will serve towards ensuring collective uptake of policies and participation of all actors. Advocacy by RECs for gender-responsive products and investments at member states is also crucial while at the same time, RECs to leverage their position as regional coordinators to mobilize support for gender-response policies in member states. On extension, the ratio of women extension to men is very low most because extension agent and services are not gender sensitive. In some countries like Ethiopia and Sudan, women have almost no access to extension services. In Sierra Leone, for example, less than 5% of women have access to extension agent. This is limiting women’s productivity/yields. To solve the financial issue for women, a women’s cooperative can be created to train them on business practices and technology and increase the ratio of women extension agents in agricultural services. Cultural and religious barriers for instance, where men do not want their women to be in close contact with men, often limit women’s access to extension services or resources. Develop Strategies for implementing a gender-responsive food system. Women need to be provided with the solution because they need the solutions, research products, communication products, market access and linkages. So, women need to be involved in developing the solutions. Research needs to have them at the table to let the researchers know what they need and vice-versa. There is a need to put the women at the forefront, to be the advisers to researchers as they conduct their research and other field experiments. There is a need to design an approach that encompasses all the groups and meet the need of all the people including the youth, vulnerable groups, and women. Also, there is a need to operate intelligently on the uneven field, making it even and bring onboard women and the vulnerable group to have a part in this uneven environment where the policymakers and private sectors tend to dominate and exclude the women. Hence, we need to ensure that our framework brings women, vulnerable groups, and youth onboard to have a voice in this uneven terrain. Member states need to push for policies that address critical issues for women and youth. Also, RECs have a solid role to play in lobbying, advocating and influence investments and gender-responsive products. Exploring an integrated or combination approach is critical given that gender is a cross-cutting approach, and it involves different institutions and stakeholders. Stakeholders should therefore examine the involvement of the private sector because most are looking at profit-making as their primary interest. Hence, the need for a balanced perspective to understand why the private sector wants to advocate and help mainstream issues of gender. Private sector involvement is essential, but there is a need to define the extent of their participation, especially in assessing and managing risks. It is therefore imperative to strengthen advocacy towards ensuring that women’s livelihoods are sustained, and their working conditions are improved and not exploited. Read less

The dialogue focused on an exploration of private sector investment in gender-responsive food system in Africa. It was noted that despite important initiatives advocating for gender equality for African agriculture development, there is still an increasing demand in the continent to ensure greater visibility and productivity for women who are central to food production and food security on the continent. On the topic of equal access – There is ample evidence suggesting that there is substantial difference in women and men access, use of financial services and capital. Women, however, still l... Read moreack savings, collateral to start new businesses and grow existing ones. Most often, social, and institutional support systems do not protect farmers, particularly women farmers against lost and shocks. Discussions on capacity development within the sector, women in Africa largely lack essential business skill, particularly rural women. There are still gender differentiator social capital in terms of access to the network and social interaction that promotes business for both women and men, especially in the rural areas. The institutional framework for promoting private sector investment across Africa, are still skewed in favor of foreign direct investment, and still not targeted at indigenous growth. Thus, the institutional framework is still relatively weak or lacking in different countries. While there are gross variations across countries in Africa, many institutions are still not investing adequately in gender-inclusive strategies and actions. For example, growth is still disintegrated, disjointed across the value chains development (production, processing, distribution, or consumption). Most private sector development investment and service providers still advocate in the agricultural sector, demonstrating a lack of gender competencies. Gender-specific needs of men and women, therefore, need to be prioritized. Policy programmes and agricultural development strategies must include their interest and intersections with other identity actors. On the other hand, the dialogue recognized that agricultural value chains begin at the research stage and must begin by supporting the ability of researchers to lead and develop gender-responsive innovations. Agricultural value chains start at the research stage and embed the gender lens at the beginning-end of the value chains. Evidence has confirmed that gender-responsive research is more efficient, more inclusive, better targeted, and more relevant innovations with higher adoption rates. Most important are the ongoing efforts by AWARD, to ensure that women are conducting research and are also empowered to deliver the very best for the continent. AWARD has therefore developed a model that tracks what empowerment looks like, and some of the elements measured are power from within, power to do, power over resources – the power to be able to attract funding, for example into their research institutions, power to collaborate – that’s power with, and most importantly, the power to empower others. The dialogue therefore embodied an open collaboration in building science skills, synergy, expanding networks, growing institutional capacity, advancing women leadership in Agricultural research, advancing policy for inclusive agricultural research and collaborative training. Read less