The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations(FAO) has reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening youth-led agrifood systems transformation in Africa following a high-level engagement with the World
Food Forum (WFF) Africa Regional and National Chapters held at the FAO Regional Office for Africa in Accra, Ghana, on Tuesday, 16 December 2025, where FAO’s Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative to Africa, Mr. Abebe Haile Gabriel, challenged the WFF National Chapters to strategically position themselves, create a distinctive niche, and consistently deliver strong value propositions to consolidate their role in Africa’s leading youth movement in agrifood systems.
The meeting, convened to provide clarity on the WFF Africa Chapters’ structural roadmap and collaboration pathways with FAO, was led by the FAO Assistant Director Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa, Dr Abebe Haile Gabriel, and brought together representatives of WFF Africa National Chapters and FAO technical officers.
Dr Abebe described the engagement as long overdue and a critical window of opportunity for strengthening collaboration between the WFF Africa Chapters Network and the FAO Regional Office. He noted that the meeting marked a strategic transition of the WFF Africa Chapters Network from a largely conceptual platform into an operational, independent and sustainable mechanism for youth-led agrifood systems transformation, supported by FAO’s technical expertise.
He challenged national and regional chapters to become more operational and programme-driven, align their activities with FAO and WFF strategic priorities, develop distinctive identities and niches, and consistently deliver tangible technical direction, resource results that demonstrate their value within Africa’s agrifood systems.
The FAO Assistant Director-General emphasized that strengthened engagement opens new opportunities for national chapters to consolidate regional network, scale-up youth-led initiatives, expand institutional partnerships, and empower young agrifood systems actors to contribute meaningfully at national, regional and continental levels.
He stressed the importance of positioning the WFF Africa Regional Chapter as a strong continental coordination platform capable of amplifying youth voices, aligning action across countries and leveraging FAO and WFF platforms to influence policy, foster innovation and deliver practical solutions to Africa’s food security, nutrition and sustainability challenges.
The meeting focused on strengthening collaboration across three core strategic areas, namely capacity building, training and knowledge sharing strategic partnerships and institutional integration; and technical direction, resource mobilization and incentive-driven engagement.
In this context, FAO outlined a number of concrete support mechanisms, including the organisation of a flagship “Knowing FAO” information webinar for all WFF National Chapters, the delivery of monthly thematic training and knowledge-sharing sessions, and the formal introduction of National Chapters to FAO Country Offices to facilitate closer collaboration at country level.
Dr Abebe clarified that access to FAO resources through country offices would be guided by defined criteria and demonstrated commitment, rather than automatic funding, and encouraged chapters to proactively engage FAO structures at national level.
Further FAO commitments highlighted during the meeting included support for the development of a structured Leadership, Policy and Governance Training Programme in partnership with RUFORUM and CODEP, the initiation of an Agrifood Systems Changemaker Prize to recognize and reward high impact National Chapter initiatives, and assistance for the production of a Quarterly WFF Africa Regional Newsletter to enhance visibility, coordination and knowledge exchange across the network.
FAO also underscored its ongoing engagement with youth and women, including collaboration with the FAO Office of Youth and Women and the use of surveys to inform youth-focused side events at the upcoming FAO Regional Conference.
A key highlight of the engagement was a comprehensive presentation delivered on behalf of the twenty-two WFF Africa National Chapters by Alberta Nana Akyaa Akosa, WFF Africa Regional Focal Point and Lead of the WFF Ghana Chapter.
The presentation, developed collaboratively by the National Chapters across the Africa Regions with guidance from the WFF Local Action Team, outlined achievements to date, identified gaps within the regional chapters network and proposed a structured, results-oriented collaboration framework with the FAO Regional Office.
It emphasised the readiness and commitment of National Chapters to scale up action across Africa, the need for continuous capacity building in governance, operations and administration, improved understanding of FAO digital platforms and youth opportunities, and the importance of establishing a clear identity, visibility and value proposition for the WFF Africa Regional Chapters Network.
The presentation also proposed concrete regional initiatives, including the establishment of a Regional Chapter Coordination Team with defined functional roles, joint regional interventions, monthly coordination meetings, regional webinars and training sessions, the development of a Regional Chapters Handbook or Operational Guide, the roll-out of the Agrifood Systems Changemaker Prize, and the production of a Quarterly Regional Newsletter.
In her remarks, Ms Akosa emphasised that, in line with FAO’s guidance, WFF Africa Chapters aim to position themselves not merely as participants but as leaders driving tangible change across the continent, influencing policy, advancing innovation across agrifood systems and building a youth-led movement recognised both regionally and globally, while aligning with FAO-led and FAO-supported programmes and retaining the independence and creativity that define youth-driven initiatives.
FAO leadership formally endorsed the presentation, commending its clarity, depth and alignment with FAO priorities. Dr Abebe provided further directives, stressing that training programmes should clearly demonstrate how youth can access FAO opportunities, not only identify them, and expressing strong support for the Understanding FAO sessions, monthly training, the Changemaker Prize and the Quarterly Newsletter as key tools for motivation, capacity building and visibility.
He also tasked WFF Africa National and Regional Chapters with developing concepts aligned with the International Year of the Woman Farmer and requested that the WFF Africa Chapters lead the development of a side event concept for African Ministers of Agriculture at the forthcoming FAO Regional Conference.
As the meeting concluded, FAO reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the operationalisation of the agreed roadmap through sustained technical assistance, capacity building and knowledge exchange, while setting high expectations for proactive leadership accountability and measurable impact from WFF Africa National Chapters.
Dr Abebe commended the chapters for identifying the right priorities and noted that the engagement marked the beginning of a more structured, coordinated and impactful approach to youth- led agrifood systems action across Africa.
