The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) comprises a broad group of civil society actors who work for the promotion of agroecology. Its members represent smallholder farmers, pastoralists, hunter/gatherers, indigenous peoples, faith-based institutions, and environmentalists from across the continent. AFSA is a network of networks, with members active in 50 African countries.

From 27 to 29 October 2020, AFSA held its third Biennial Food Systems Conference and Celebration. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, AFSA decided to hold this conference virtually. The three-day event explored issues relating to “Shaping the Future of Food Markets in Africa: What kind of markets do we need for the transition to agroecology?”

Three main objectives informed each day of the conference:

1. Understanding African markets and trends;

2. Shaping the future of markets for the transition to agroecology;

3. Changing policy towards markets for healthy food systems.

Over the three days, the conference brought together over 200 delegates from 64 countries, 37 of which were African. Participants represented farmers, research and development institutions, governmental organizations, and nongovernmental organizations. AFSA created a conference website to promote the event and share presentations from the speakers. Video recordings of speaker presentations were uploaded to AFSA’s YouTube channel and the report of the conference can be found here.