The 8th meeting of the Malabo Montpellier Forum took place on 5 July 2021 and saw the launch of the Panel’s report Connecting the dots: Policy innovations for food systems transformation. It brought together senior government representatives from 13 African countries – Benin, Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi, Morocco, Namibia, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, The Gambia, Tunisia, and Uganda. The Forum also drew speakers from development partners and global think tanks, such as Dr. Godfrey Bahiigwa, Director of Rural Economy and Agriculture (DARBE) at the African Union Commission, Ms. Gunhild Stordalen, Founder and Executive Chair at the EAT Foundation and Dr. Roy Steiner, Senior Vice President for the Food Initiative at The Rockefeller Foundation. In addition, representatives from various partner organizations joined the meeting including AfDB, FAO, FCDO, FANPRAN, GIZ, and OECD. Finally, Malabo Montpellier Panel members HE Rhoda Peace Tumusiime, Prof Muhammadou Kah, Dr Elisabeth Claverie de Saint-Martin, Ms Nachilala Nkombo, Dr Debisi Araba, Mr Tom Arnold and Prof Sheryl Hendriks participated in the Forum. Because of the nature of the topic, it was the first time that the Malabo Montpellier Forum partnered with other institutions to co-host the event: AUC DARBE, The Rockefeller Foundation and the UNFSS Scientific Group. The Forum was also an official side event of the UNFSS Science Days.
The Malabo Montpellier Panel’s most recent report – Connecting the dots: Policy innovations for food systems transformation – was published in July 2021 and presents a collation of African perspectives and priorities on food systems and their transformation. A technical part summarizes policy areas that need to be prioritized to enhance and transform African food systems. The second part presents case studies of four African countries that have already made significant and visionary progress in transforming their food systems. By combining the High-level Panel of Experts (HLPE) definition of sustainable food systems and the latest data on country performance against CAADP indicators, four African countries were identified – Ghana, Malawi, Morocco, and Rwanda – that are leaders within their regions in adopting a more holistic approach to food systems transformation. These case studies have a particular focus on the lessons to be learned from government action: policy and institutional innovations and programmatic interventions on the ground – and interventions that can be scaled up and scaled out across the continent.

The Department of Policy Innovation oversees and coordinates AKADEMIYA2063’s involvement in the Food System Transformative Integrated Policy (FS-TIP) initiative that was launched to support African governments in realizing this transformation - in the lead up to the 2021 UNFSS and importantly beyond the Summit. As part of a coalition between African Population and Health Research Center, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Boston Consulting Group (BCG), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), International Development Research Centre (IDRC), The Rockefeller Foundation, Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, and World Food Programme, AKADEMIYA2063 is involved in the first phase of FS-TIP which runs the diagnostics work for two of the three countries, namely Malawi and Ghana. Several country policy briefs are currently in preparation, while a first brief about the project has been published.

On 18 June, we hosted an independent UNFSS dialogue, jointly with OECD, CGIAR and the government of the Netherlands on “Science for Food Systems Policy: an emerging agenda”; the event was invite-only and saw participation of 93 experts who are directly involved in the UNFSS process, including all 5 AT chairs/leads. Continued collaboration around this and follow-up events are envisaged by all partners.

The two regional food systems dialogues - Eastern and Southern Africa and West, Central and North Africa - organized by AKADEMIYA2063 and the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) on the theme “Building Resilient and Sustainable Food Systems in Africa: Mobilizing African Voices and Building Momentum for the UN Food Systems Summit” were held in May and June 2021. Results of the discussions will inform planning of the United Nations Food Systems Summit in September.
The dialogues convened a broad group of African stakeholders including the private sector, civil society, farmers’ groups, policymakers, and the research and academic community to deliberate on challenges and opportunities to transforming African food systems and ensuring that they are sustainable and resilient; showcase best practices, lessons learned, technological innovations, collaborations, and policies in transforming food systems; identify game-changing solutions; and to discuss the role of high-level African champions that can advance the African perspective and “solutions” coming out of the regional food system dialogues.

Power for All, GACSA, Rockefeller Foundation and the MaMo Panel hosted another independent dialogue in April on Scaling a Clean Energy Food Systems Transformation, which again saw the participation of over 200 people.