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Youth, art and African food sovereignty take center stage on eve of UN Food Systems Summit in Addis Ababa
Summary
Speakers at an event organized by the UN SDG Action Campaign urged governments and funders to invest in youth, protect traditional foodways and fix infrastructure gaps such as cold chains and school meals so food systems can be resilient and equitable.
Members of the UN SDG Action Campaign, youth advocates and chefs gathered on the eve of the UN Food Systems Summit in Addis Ababa to press for youth-led change, investments in agricultural and distribution systems, and respect for traditional African foodways.
Marina Ponti, global director of the UN SDG Action Campaign, opened the program and framed the event around youth and art as drivers of food-systems transformation. She said the world produces more food than ever, “yet nearly 3,000,000,000 people cannot afford a healthy diet,” and argued that art can reveal what statistics cannot and help build trust for change.
The panel combined first-person testimony, technical critiques and policy appeals. Sixteen-year-old Eldana Samuel, identified as a child parliamentarian in Addis Ababa, urged leaders to fund and expand school-meal programs and to institutionalize youth representation in food governance, citing Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child…
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