FAO at the Eleventh Session of the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development

8 April 

10:00 (East Africa Time) / 09:00 (Italian time)

Side Event: Women’s Intra-Regional Trade as a Driver of Job Creation and Economic Growth

Read about the event here

This session will explore the untapped potential of women in intra-regional trade in Africa and discuss successful strategies to remove barriers to their participation advancing the 2030 Agenda and Agenda 2063. Women play a crucial role in Africa’s agrifood trade, yet they continue to face structural barriers that limit their participation and growth. This webinar will bring together leading experts to discuss innovative evidence-based solutions, from policy reforms to capacity-building initiatives, that can help unlock women’s trade potential.

9 April 

14:00  (East Africa Time) / 13:00 (Italian Time)

Side Event: Accelerate progress towards prevention of child labour in agriculture

This side event showcased current knowledge on the root causes of child labour in agriculture, with a focus on key socio-economic drivers such as poverty, lack of access to education, and inadequate labour laws. It also highlighted effective solutions and approaches being implemented across Africa, including innovative programmes, technologies, and partnerships that are successfully combating child labour and promoting safe learning environments and decent work opportunities for children and youth in agriculture. The event aimed to raise awareness among stakeholders and partners, reinforcing their commitment to accelerating and coordinating efforts to eliminate child labour in agriculture across the continent.

16:30-18:00 (East Africa Time) / 15:30-17:00 (Italian time)

High-level panel 2: Scaling sustainable, inclusive, science-based, evidence-based and data-driven solutions to dramatically increase economic growth, boost job creation and accelerate implementation of the 2030 Agenda and Agenda 2063

Abebe Haile-Gabriel, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa, was a panelist for this high-level session, which explored strategies to boost job creation and economic growth across the continent, in alignment with the SDGs. The session emphasized the need to mobilize finance, strengthen partnerships, improve data systems for evidence-based policymaking and enhance transparency and accountability. Key priorities also included promoting sustainable consumption and circular economy models, particularly in agrifood systems, reforming education and training, supporting youth entrepreneurship, and enabling the transition of informal workers into the formal economy.

10 April 

10:30 (East Africa tIME) / 09:30 (Italian time)

Side Event: Re-imagining the future of women in food systems: harnessing science, technology and finance to advance gender equality

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Co-organized by the Government of Uganda, FAO, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub, this side event highlighted both the barriers and breakthroughs in empowering women across agrifood systems. It presented regional solutions leveraging science, technology and gender-disaggregated data to break the barriers and empower women in agrifood systems. Particular emphasis was given to initiatives that helped in overcoming the socio-cultural barriers that otherwise prevent the introduction of science and technology in support of gender-equality.

14:30- 16:30

Parallel Session: SDG 3

Three of the top 15 risk factors for early death in 2021 were high sodium intake, low fruit intake, and low whole grain intake. In 2021, 10 percent of all deaths in 2021 were associated with unhealthy diets and 30 percent of all deaths from cardiovascular disease were attributed to unhealthy diets. Enabling the consumption of healthy diets will therefore be crucial for reducing the risk of diet-related non-communicable diseases. The recently launched FAO/WHO Joint Statement on What Constitute Healthy Diets outlines the four principles of healthy diets – adequate, balanced, diverse, moderate – meaning that healthy diets are diverse and thus include a wide variety of nutritious foods within and across food groups, balanced in energy intake, adequate to meet nutrient needs, and moderate in the consumption of foods of high energy density and minimal nutritional value, such as foods high in saturated fat, trans fats, free sugar and/or salt. 

Parallel Session: SDG 5

In sub-Saharan Africa, 66 % of women’s employment is in agrifood systems, compared with 60 % of men’s employment. The figure is higher  for some regions like East Africa where 72% of working women are employed in Agrifood systems. Women are especially highly represented in the off-farm segments of agrifood systems. They make up 60% of those employed in off-farm segments of agrifood systems in Eastern and West Africa. Despite their importance for rural economies, women continue to face considerable barriers to accessing resources, technology, education, training and economic opportunities. Empowering women in agrifood systems is not just a matter of fairness—it is an economic imperative. FAO estimates that closing the gender gap in farm productivity could boost global GDP by nearly USD 1 trillion and reduce food insecurity for 45 million people (FAO, 2023).

Parallel Session: SDG 8

Agrifood systems, comprising activities from farming and food processing to retail, distribution, and marketing, represent a key source of employment for youth in low- and lower-middle income countries. Investing in youth in agrifood systems by not only implementing targeted strategies such as modernizing agricultural education, integrating work-based learning, and supporting youth-led agribusinesses but also ensuring the creation of the required decent employment opportunities from the onset is crucial for unlocking their potential. This approach empowers youth to drive economic growth and social stability, particularly by creating access to decent jobs in sustainable agrifood systems. Together with expanding broad-based productivity growth and economic opportunities for all, investing in youth with targeted strategies is vital for achieving SDG8. Work-based learning, mentorship programs, peer support, and market access initiatives empower youth, while cooperatives and networks expand their resources and agency. Transforming rural youth livelihoods requires inclusive policies, cross-sectoral collaboration, and multistakeholder partnerships to address decent employment barriers, foster youth engagement in agrifood systems, and support youth-led enterprises. Improved policy coherence, evidence-based and well targeted programs, and labor market policies that address inequalities are essential for empowering rural youth and building resilient livelihoods. This requires joint interventions and policy alignment across various sectors, with social protection measures playing a critical role in providing a safety net and long-term support for vulnerable youth. 

Parallel Session: SDG 14

In the face of growing challenges such as hunger, malnutrition, climate change and environmental degradation, aquatic foods stand out as a transformative long-term solution to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and ensuring a healthy, well-fed population.  Despite a gradual decline in the global contribution of sustainable fisheries to GDP, fisheries remain vital for coastal communities, and the economies of Least Developed Countries and Small-Island Developing states, where they serve as a cornerstone of food security and economic development. Evidence is mounting on the under-valued but critical contribution of small-scall fisheries to food security and livelihoods. Despite this, small-scale fishers continue to face unequal access to resources, challenging working conditions, and limited opportunities to influence the decisions that shape their livelihoods. 

Parallel Session: SDG 17

The adoption of digital innovations is progressively transforming agri-food systems in sub-Saharan Africa, driving performance, inclusivity, and sustainability while advancing the fight against hunger and the achievement of sustainable development. Digital agriculture has evolved beyond standalone advisory and market services to integrated solutions that combine smart farming, digital finance, and other services. Innovations such as satellite data, drones, and artificial intelligence (AI) are unlocking new possibilities, with promising pilot projects emerging in many African countries. More than 50 percent of people in Africa are currently using a mobile phone, including many farmers in rural areas. More specifically, it is estimated that beyond the use of mobile phones, digital agriculture services will reach 200 million African farmers by 2030 (CTA, Dalberg 2019), which illustrates a fast rate of adoption considering the challenges faced in the adoption of these innovative tools, notably in rural areas. It is also estimated that by 2033, digital agriculture services may drive an additional income of USD 111 billion in the agriculture sector.  Our smallholder farmers, and the agriculture sector in general, are unfortunately facing many challenges that prevent digitalization from reaching its full potential. These include poor telecommunications infrastructure in rural areas, lack of access to reliable electricity, limited digital capabilities, and lack of sustainability for many digital agriculture services.