Thoughts for Food

Informal meeting space of A&FS Network

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Every two months, on Wednesday morning at 8.15 CET, the A&FS Network organizes a short, informal session to share some thoughts for food with network members and anyone else interested. The Thoughts for Food sessions provide an overview of​​ a few interesting news in the area of Food Systems and take participants on a deep-dive into two specific topics each time. There will also be a space for discussion and exchange with other participants. Join to feed your brain with some thoughts for food!


Next Meeting

Wednesday, 8th May 2024

Thoughts for Food 15
programme and participation link well be published shortly before the meeting


dates of further Thoughts for Food meetings: 3 July, 4 September, 6 November

Past meetings

Wednesday, 6th March 2024

Thoughts for Food 14
with presentation on fair market conditions

Slides and recordings

View the slides of the session

Empowering African Producers & SMEs Through Stronger Enforcement of Competition Laws and Policies
Chilufya Sampa, Shamba Centre

 


Promoting Competitive Markets Through Effective Regulations: CUTS Interventions in Africa
Sajeev Nair, CUTS International​



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Wednesday,10th January 2024

Thoughts for Food 13
with presentations on ICT for agroecology in Tanzania and on digital solutions to improve farmers' market access


Slides and recordings

View the slides of the session

ICT4Agroecology: a participatory research methodology for agroecological field research in Tanzania
Dr. Angelika Hilbeck, Senior Scientist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich

 


Digital solution delivery - from farmers to markets
Samuel Munguti, founder and CEO of Shamba Pride

recording not available


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Wednesday, 1st November 2023

Thoughts for Food 12
with presentations on an Integrated Climate Resilience Approach and on a Guidance for a Landscape Approach in Displacement Settings


Slides and recordings

View the slides of the session

An Integrated Climate Resilience Approach from Southern Africa: Actions from the Field
Tiwonge Machiwenyika and Sandra Hakim, WFP Resilience and Climate Unit, Regional Bureau for Southern Africa

 



Introduction to GLADS – Guidance for a Landscape Approach in Displacement Settings
Jolien Schure and Paolo Cerutti, Senior researchers with CIFOR-ICRAF

 



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Wednesday, 13th September 2023

Thoughts for Food 11
with presentations on the UN Food System Summit +2 (C. Blank) and on empowering youth (D. Magero)


Slides and recordings

View the slides of the session

UN Food System Summit +2 : call for action – a push to transform food systems and accelerate action for the SDGs

Christina Blank, Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the UN Organisations in Rome


Empowering youth – challenges and positive youth development programmes
Deogratious Magero, Youth Engagement Manager at CABI (Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International)



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Wednesday, 5th July 2023

Thoughts for Food 10
with presentations by Caroline Nanzer (SDC), Jean-Noël Gentile (WFP) and Yvonne Diallo-Sahli (SDC) on the topic of durable solutions


Slides and recordings

View the slides of the session

The recordings will be published soon.

What exactly are Durable Solutions?

Caroline Nanzer, SDC Policy Officer on Triple Nexus in Niamey


Durable solutions, migration and livelihoods in Niger
Jean-Noël Gentile, WFP Country Director


Durable solutions – what’s next?
Yvonne Diallo-Sahli, SDC Advisor for Durable Solutions


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Wednesday, 3rd May 2023

Thoughts for Food 9
with presentations on rebuilding the dairy sector in Ukraine (V. Shutkevych) and on the 2021 Food Systems Summit (A. Gläsel / M. Egermann)

Slides and recordings

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Ukraine – Rebuilding the dairy sector after Russian occupation
Viktor Shutkevych, National Programme Officer at the Swiss Embassy in Kyiv


Opportunities and limitations of international mechanisms to foster just transformation. The case of the 2021 Food Systems Summit
Astrid Gläsel and Markus Egermann, Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development (IOER)



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Wednesday, 1st​ March 2023

Thoughts for Food 8
with presentations on the potential of the 10 Elements of Agroecology (Edmundo Barrios) and on push pull technology (Amanuel Tamiru)

Slides and recordings

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Harnessing the potential of the 10 Elements of Agroecology to facilitate agrifood systems transformation
Edmundo Barrios, FAO Plant Production and Protection Division


Push-pull agricultural management technique  
Amanuel Tamiru. International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE)



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Wednesday, 11th ​January 2023

Thoughts for Food 7
with feedback on the Convention on Biological Diversity’s COP15 (Christian Schwarzer) and a critical view on the SDGs (Tobias Haller)

Slides and recordings

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Feedback on the negotiations, key challenges, results and way forward after the Convention on Biological Diversity’s COP15s
Christian Schwarzer, co-founder of GYBN and Youth Ambassador for the UN Decade on Biodiversity


Sustainable for Whom? A critical view on the SDGs
Tobias Haller, Institute for Social Anthropology, University of Bern



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Wednesday, 7th​ December 2022

Thoughts for Food 6
with presentations on Participatory research approaches (Amritbir Riar) and on Sufosec’s Agroecology Learning Journey (Sarah Mader)

Slides and recordings

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Agroecological Learning Journey 2021 – 2024: Results to date and next steps
Sarah Mader, SWISSAID Senior Advisor Agroecology and Coordinator of Sufosec Learning Group Agroecology


How to combine agrobiodiversity, nutrition, and smallholder farming with improving rural livelihoods and climate change adaptation?
Amritbir Riar, Senior Scientist, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL)



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Wednesday, 5th​ October 2022

Thoughts for Food 5
with presentations on the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub (Stefanos Fotiou) and land systems for sustainability (Brigitte Portner)

Slides and recordings

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Post-UNFSS: UN Food Systems Coordination Hub​
Stefanos Fotiou, Director, Office of Sustainable Development Goals

 


10 facts about land systems for sustainability
Brigitte Portner, Commuinty & Development Officer, Global Land Programme​

 


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Wednesday, 3rd​ August 2022

Thoughts for Food 4
with presentations on Organic versus Conventional Farmer Crisis responses (David Amudavi) and on Private Sector Capacity Development  (Philipp Aerni)

Slides and recordings

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Organic versus Conventional Farmer Crisis responses: implications under COVID and Russian war in Ukraine
Dr. David Amudavi, Executive Director of Biovision Africa Trust (BvAT)

 


Institutional Framework Conditions for the Promotion of Private Sector Capacity Development for Agricultural Innovation
Philipp Aerni, Director of the Centre for Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (CCRS)

 


Update on further recent developments​

 


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Wednesday, 1st June 2022

Thoughts for Food 3
with presentations on a playful approach of spreading the understaning of agreocology (Gurbir Singh Bhullar) and on IPES's special report “Another Perfect Storm?" (Nick Jacob)

Slides and recordings

View the slides of the session

Snakes and Ladders on the way to Agroecology - playful approach of spreading the understaning of agreocology in India and Tanzania
Gurbir Singh Bhullar, Professor of Sustainable Agroecosystems, BFH-HAFL

 


IPES's special report “Another Perfect Storm?" on the factors which have made many parts of the world vulnerable to market shocks
Nick Jacob, IPES

 


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Wednesday, 6th April 2022

Thoughts for Food 2
with presentations on the conflict in Ukraine (Friederike Greb) and on Food System Country profiles (Christine Chege and Chris Béné)

Slides, references and recordings

View the slides of the session

References and Links

The conflict in Ukraine in the current global context
Friederike Greb (World Food Programme)

 


Food System Country profiles for transforming food systems towards sustainability: Ethiopia, Honduras, Bangladesh
Christine Chege and Chris Béné (Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT​)

 


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Wednesday, 9th February 2022

Thoughts for Food 1
with presentations on the Global Diet Quality Project (Alessandra Roversi) and on the Food Systems approach applied in Bangladesh (Rudolf Lüthi and David Bexte)

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