Written by: Jenice Achieng

An invitation was extended to YPARD Kenya To participate in the Food Liaison Advisory Group (FLAG) exchange meeting with Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture on 31^st January 2023 at the Wigot Gardens in Kisumu County. Jenice Audi, the YPARD Kenya Representative stood in for YPARD in this meeting. 

Syngenta Foundation is implementing a project known as Nutrition in City Ecosystems (NICE) in Bungoma and Busia Counties. This is a project that seeks to improve food and nutrition; the availability and accessibility of fresh and healthy food for urban households in low-income areas.

The FLAG meeting convened participants from Bungoma and Busia as guest counties and Kisumu county as the host.

Also in attendance were representatives of the following 

1. Institutions of research which are involved in a study on rapid urban food systems appraisal under FLAG- such as the Maseno University
2. The Mazingira Institute of the University of Nairobi 
3. Secretariat from USAID funded Kisumu County Agri-nutrition implementation strategy (2023-2027) program

The objectives of the meeting included incorporating diverse interests and needs of food systems stakeholders in the counties around the lake region under the Lake Region Economic Block (LREB).

It was agreed that there is a need for self-sustaining participatory food governance and to establish planning mechanisms to support the development of sustainable food systems for the member counties. Busia and Bungoma counties were also on hand to share notes on their program dubbed NICE: Nutrition in City Ecosystems, a collaborative program comprising a consortium of like-minded organizations such as the Swiss Tropical Public Institute and Syngenta foundation for agriculture among others.

The FLAG project seeks to improve nutrition and well-being while reducing poverty among city populations, with a particular emphasis on working with women and youth.

The goals, among others, are

1. Food systems governance. FLAG seeks to have enhanced involvement, more so at the policy level, of women and youth in urban governance structures in matters of food and nutrition
2. Production and availability of diverse, safe and nutritious food. That food should be safe for both human consumption and for the environment
3. Enhanced knowledge of and creation of demand for consumption of nutritious and agro-ecologically produced food
4. Enhanced research to generate and share new knowledge on best practices for safe and beneficial food production. This is to be done by having mechanisms for both vertical and horizontal exchange of information.

It is with the objectives above that FLAG is in the process of setting up a food systems platform to be populated with information on new learnings and proposals for onward implementation.

The thematic areas for strategy are 

1. Legal and institutional framework 
2. Post-harvest handling and value addition 
3. Infrastructure development, market access and ICT integration 
4. Food safety and health
5. Mainstreaming of cross-cutting issues. 

These resonate with our objectives as YPARD in the areas of 

1. Active engagement in the agriculture and food systems sector 
2. Networking with like-minded organizations
3. Promoting the interest and active engagement of youth in agricultural activities that lead to food security.

Connecting with the engagements at the FLAG Meeting, YPARD-Kenya has been honoured with a request to join the FLAG team in its policy processes. This offers YPARD Kenya the opportunity to advocate support for an enabling policy environment and appropriate investment in young professionals’ contributions to sustainable food systems.