World Food Forum side event: Youth for agrifood system transformation hosted by FAO in Geneva

Youth are at the front lines of today’s global challenges. As advocates and active citizens, youth have demonstrated their transformative power, sparking worldwide movements to drive the urgently needed changes. Yet, they stand to face an uncertain future influenced by the decisions and actions we take today. They are already bearing significant impacts from crises facing our planet, such as climate change, ecosystem degradation, biodiversity loss, hunger and malnutrition, water scarcity, access to energy, and health. In 2020, among children under five years of age, 149 million children were stunted from malnutrition, and 39 million were overweight.1 Unemployment rates for youth are three times higher than for the rest of the working age population in all regions of the world, with the majority of unemployed youth being young women.2 These problems have also been exacerbated by the impacts of COVID-19, putting livelihoods and jobs at risk.

Transforming agrifood systems, from production to consumption, is identified as one of the key pathways to achieving several targets of the 2030 Agenda. It also has the potential to provide a myriad of opportunities for young people when supported by policies and initiatives based on equity, rights and recognition. It is essential that we create an enabling environment for young people to get access to land and water as well as knowledge, labour, finance, and technology, to be able to engage in the agrifood sector. By investing in youth, who are the leaders of this generation and the next, we are securing a better future for all.

As part of the Flagship Week at the WFF, the FAO Liaison Office with the United Nations in Geneva (LOG) is organizing a dialogue to spark discussions on how youth can participate and lead in the transformation of agrifood systems. Representatives from different youth groups and organizations, mostly based in Switzerland, will present their initiatives and exchange their views on the constraints, prospects, opportunities and challenges faced by youth in engaging with the agrifood sector. The participants come from diverse backgrounds and areas and include young professionals, researchers, students, scouts, advocacy champions, young farmers and youth parliamentarians, all having different roles to play in agrifood systems and mitigating climate change impacts.

The dialogue will be guided by three questions which are aligned with the objectives of the WFF:

• How can we create awareness of the global hunger crisis and the challenges facing our global agrifood systems among the youth?
• How can we engage with the youth to be actively involved in discussing the issues, sharing knowledge and identifying solutions?
• How can the youth act as agents of change and drive sustainable transformation of agrifood systems to support the SDGs and end hunger?

Expected Outcomes

• Recommendations shared on increasing engagement with youth as well as supporting them in the agrifood sector

• Raised awareness among international organizations, youth networks and groups on youth activities and initiatives around climate, sustainable consumption and production, food security, and nutrition

• Opportunities explored for future collaboration between FAO and youth organizations

• Increased engagement and contribution of FAO LOG to the World Food Forum Potential collaborations among different youth groups sharing common interests

Agenda

Date & time: 20 October 2022, 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM CET

Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes

Modality: Virtual

Moderators: Mathilde Bolduc, Judy Kimani, Ei Hnin Hlaing, Xiaoyi Wang

Register here: https://www.airmeet.com/e/492e7530-1e03-11ed-91e6-97f7b110517b