Acting as a facilitator to enable debates and foster collaboration among a variety of actors in order to advance science, knowledge, public policies, programmes and experiences, FAO organized the International Symposium on Agroecology for Food Security and Nutrition in September 2014 in Rome, Italy. The Symposium was followed by three regional meetings in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean. The Multi-stakeholder Consultation on agroecology for sub-Saharan Africa was held in Dakar, Senegal on November 2015.

The regional meeting highlighted existing best practices, policies and scientific innovation in the region and addressed the challenges for the adoption of agroecology, as well as strategies to overcome these challenges.