Regional Dialogue: African Food Systems Seventh Session of the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development

Abstract

Dialogues are part and parcel of the Food Systems Summit process. They offer a dynamic way to engage stakeholders involved in food systems to explore their respective roles and how these could be linked to others to accelerate transformative actions in support of the SDGs. Dialogues are convened at four levels: global, regional, Member State, and independent dialogues. Regional dialogues are meant to chart the way for collective efforts towards addressing challenges facing food systems in an integrated manner. The present regional dialogue aims to examine drivers that shape African food systems’ future pathway, highlighting complexity, challenges, and opportunities, pinpointing the importance of regionally coordinated actions, and formulating actionable measures towards accelerating food systems transformation. The background paper is meant to intellectually stimulate an organized roundtable discussion on accelerating African food systems transformation. The ultimate goal of the paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of African food systems with a view to help accelerate Africa’s agricultural transformation through highlighting drivers for change and well-aligned and coordinated efforts measurable actions.