Igniting prospects for future food systems meetups

So, on September 6, Netherlands Food Partnership (NFP) and Young Expert Programmes (YEP) organised the meetup. It was, actually, a sudden thought to bring YEPers and e-course participants together, sparked when the NFP and YEP team plan to travel to Ethiopia. And Mahder Akalu (who is both YEPer and e-course participant) and I were very much honoured to facilitate the meetup.

What happened?

Marjan Riepma, Knowledge Broker at NFP and Project Manager YEP Agrofood, welcomed participants and opened the first round of pitches. In addition to explaining activities of YEP in Ethiopia, she mentioned upcoming opportunities for YEPers. Representing NFP, coalition builder, Rojan Bolling told us about the activities and plans of NFP, including transforming food systems in different countries. The two met and discussed with 16 organisations in Ethiopia in less than five days on how NFP and YEP can better integrate and contribute to initiatives in the country.

From the e-course side we had participants like Mekibib Million and Alemayehu Bashe who came from Southern Ethiopia Agricultural Research Institute, Areka Research Centre, Naol Adugna who pitched about his organisation called Beta Blockers that produces nutritious food products at Burayu, as well as Fitsum Ashenafi from Dilla University and Berhanu Legesse from Altilid Food Consulting who both are among the twenty blog writers this year. We also had Desta Damena, network facilitator of AMEA in Ethiopia.

YEPers are Blen Mezegebu from Fair & Sustainable, Mestawet Demessie from Ministry of Water and Energy, Semachew Ayele and Tomas Hidde from World Waternet, Marijke Zonnenberg from Resilience & SeedNL, and Joppe Bastiaansen from VNG International. In addition, there were people like Nanati Tadesse from ZOA and Selam Fitsum from Tradin (Sunvado), who are both YEPers and e-course participants. On the other hand, we also had Hibiete Tesfaye, General Manager of Fair & Sustainable, former host of AgriProFocus (ancestor of the now NFP).

Participants promoted their organisations and projects, and shared their contributions on food systems transformation.

Future Meetups

It was relatively a small gathering with twenty participants who made it out of thirty-two confirmations. It was, in fact, a short notice. And the heavy rain followed by high traffic congestion may have led some to cancel at the last minute. Yet, it was a successful pilot that ignited the prospect for future food systems meetups. In addition to NFP and YEP, other organisations – for example, AMEA and Fair & Sustainable – strongly expressed their interest and willingness in having and contributing to regular meetups on food systems transformation.

There you have it, YEPers and e-course participants, as you are together in the ambitions for food system transformation: be ready for more.