Dr Segenet Kelemu, Executive Director of the Pana Programme at the Mastercard Foundation, has called for concrete and measurable outcomes from initiatives aimed at empowering young people, warning that discussions on youth development risk becoming “lip service” without clear actions and follow-up.
She made the call at the recently concluded World Food Forum Flagship Event by the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), held in Rome, Italy.
Speaking at sessions titled “Small Grants for Big Impacts” and “Eye on Scale: Partnerships and investment to scale youth-led initiatives and institutionalized models of youth engagement,” Dr Kelemu urged FAO’s Office of Youth and Women (OYW), to identify one or two actionable outcomes from the meeting and assess progress in subsequent years.
She said progress should be reviewed after one or two years to determine whether commitments made at such forums had translated into tangible results for young people.
“I would like to see at the end of this, the FAO Office of Youth and Women (OYW), identifying one or two actionable outputs from this meeting and what we can do,” she said.
“And a year from now, two years from now, we can report on this, what are the actionable areas. And I think not doing that would be just giving lip service for younger people.”
Dr Kelemu stressed that youth unemployment and food security were not challenges unique to Africa, noting that university graduates in other parts of the world also faced difficulties securing employment.
She said addressing these challenges required sustained action and collaboration among stakeholders rather than discussions alone.
She noted that, the Mastercard Foundation has prioritized young people and women in its strategy and investments, working with different partners to identify innovations that can be scaled up and deliver lasting impact across Africa.
“Mastercard Foundation has been a champion of young people at the centre, women at the centre, and Africa as a focus,” Dr Kelemu said.
She added that the foundation works with partners to identify innovations that are scalable, relevant to Africa, centred on people’s needs and capable of driving systemic change.
Making a contribution at the same event as a beneficiary of the Mastercard Foundation and grant through AGRA under the YEEFA programme, Alberta Nana Akyaa Akosa, WFF Ghana National Chapter Lead and Founder of Agrihouse Foundation, highlighted the importance of partnerships in translating youth-focused investments into practical opportunities.
She disclosed that Agrihouse Foundation had benefited from a US$438,935 grant spread over a three-year period to implement the organization’s Boost to Bloom initiative, which aims to transition young people into dignified, fulfilling, and sustainable work within the agrifood sector. The Boost to Bloom project seeks to strengthen production, value addition and competitiveness of horticultural crops targeting over 20,000 young people, women and persons with disabilities, in northern Ghana, including the Savannah Region, the North East Region, the Northern Region, Upper West and the Upper East Region.
She emphasized that the support received for the project had so far helped in training over 7,000 young people, women, and people living with disabilities, especially in the area of technical knowledge, access to inputs, value addition, market availability, post-harvest control measures, and among others.
She outlined that, as part of efforts to improve access to agricultural inputs and promote inclusive agribusiness, nine (9) agricultural input shops have been established and placed under the management of project beneficiaries, who are farmers with disabilities. The shops bring essential farming inputs closer to farmers and all farming communities while creating business and employment opportunities for the beneficiaries.
She further explained that, beyond production, business development and market access, the Boost to Bloom project continues to promote better nutrition and food safety through its “Eat Vegetable Campaign,” through radio discussions and public education activities on the proper handling, storage and preservation of vegetables to maintain freshness, and quality for safe consumption of locally produced vegetables.
Alberta conveyed that, the support from Mastercard Foundation had contributed not only to the implementation of project activities and the empowerment of beneficiaries but also helped in strengthening Agrihouse Foundation’s internal technical capacity, improved the team’s competencies and reinforced the organization’s structures and systems, enabling it to deliver interventions more effectively and sustainably that respond to the needs of farming communities.
She applauded AGRA and the Mastercard Foundation for their continued investment and support for youth-led organizations such as Agrihouse Foundation, noting that their support for interventions such as the Boost to Bloom project, is helping to build stronger communities while creating meaningful opportunities for young people, women and farmers with disabilities.
Alberta equally applauded the FAO office of Youth and Women and the Local Action Team, for designing all the meaningful, insightful, well-tailored, deeply powerful and empowering educational sessions for WFF National Chapter members attending the Flagship.
“These well thought-through and much-needed sessions will go a long way to strengthen our mindsets, help us grow our Chapters, build stronger partnerships and position chapters advantageously to take up agrifood system leadership positions,” Alberta added.
The discussions at the World Food Forum highlighted the importance of moving beyond commitments to measurable results, with sustained partnerships, skills development and investment needed to help young people and by extension, women, and people with disabilities participate more effectively in Africa’s agrifood systems.
About the World Food Forum Flagship Event
The 2026 edition of World Food Forum (WFF), hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), concluded on Friday, October 16, 2026, reinforcing its role as the world’s largest annual gathering dedicated to agrifood systems transformation.
Held under the theme “Innovate today. Nourish tomorrow,” the WFF took place from 8 to 16 October at FAO’s headquarters in Rome, featuring more than 200 sessions, exhibitions and side events. More than 90,000 people from 189 countries participated, with in-person attendance doubling from the previous year, to 32,000. WFF content and messaging reached an estimated 2.4 billion people online.
The flagship event brought together global leaders, policymakers, youth, Indigenous Peoples, scientists, farmers, fishers, investors and innovators around a shared goal: accelerating agrifood systems transformation and progress towards a hunger-free world.
Over the years, the WFF flagship event has offered a global convening space for young people, policymakers, scientists, innovators, investors and partners to connect, exchange perspectives and contribute to concrete solutions.
About FAO Office of Youth and Women (OYW)
The FAO Office of Youth and Women (OYW), led by Kazuki Kitaoka supports in strengthening the youth infrastructure needed for continuous generational renewal. The Office connects and provides technical expertise, facilitates partnerships, supports policy dialogue and evidence generation, and convenes governments, young people, academia, civil society, the private sector and development partners to institutionalize meaningful youth engagement and expand opportunities for young people across agrifood systems.
It is a specialized, cross-cutting institutional body established by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The office was created to mainstream demographic equity and tap into the potential of younger populations and women to transform global agrifood systems. The World Food Forum (WFF) Global Youth Action Initiative is managed by the Office of Youth and Women (OYW).
