Let's build innovative food system solutions together

This initiative is democratizing access to information about game changing innovative solutions at a critical time. The IFSS portal serves as a rich source of inspiration as well as a catalyst to connect people across the food system to engage with each other to move toward action to solve pressing problems together.

[The IFSS portal] is an incredible opportunity to get additional resources and support to empower us as youth to move forward and spearhead taking actions around these food systems solutions with skills and knowledge to guide us. This has been a great collaboration and responds to what we’ve been asking for -- resources and support to allow us to move forward as a youth-led movement, working in collaboration and partnerships to make real change.

Across LMICs, access to finance is a consistent challenge faced by SMEs and especially for youth entrepreneurs as they enter into this space. The IFSS portal provides a unique platform where investors and support providers can learn about promising solutions being launched around the world and help to build scale-up for real impact in food system solutions.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a massive (negative) shock to food systems, but we need a positive shock at least ten times larger to get the Sustainable Development Goal 2 - Zero Hunger - on track and safeguard our planet. The IFSS portal has been created to help us get these transformative processes started BEFORE it is too late.

There is no silver bullet that will help us address global food challenges. We know that systemic challenges to the agri-food supply chains are complex. With a long-term view, tools that empower bottom-up approaches invite a rich exchange of ideas from stakeholders, researchers, and practitioners.

Youth have a tenacity for life that pushes them to rally around the possibility of a better, more just tomorrow. Young people understand that to make tomorrow fair, we must stand up and fight today through strong advocacy and activism. We consider and strategise ways to fix what is broken.

We, as youth, don’t any longer have to watch from the sidelines wondering, “when and how can we get involved?” We can get involved in these solutions right now using really empowering sets of tools - like those here on the IFSS portal - and take actions in our own communities . There are no wrong answers, it’s just time to jump in, take action and join together.

As the Business Lead from Scratop Nigeria Limited, we recover biowaste and convert it to nutrient-rich fertilizer from local traditional markets. The backcasting-to-pathway map allowed my team to think 'outside the box' and go through the process of we are at as a start-up and where we would we want to be by 2030 in line with the UN sustainable development goals. I encourage every entrepreneur, 'if you are thinking business, you need to go through the backcasting map'!.