Webinar: Food Systems Transformation with Sylvia Kuria Dr Rebecca Sarku

As part of the third module on the fifth edition of the food systems e-course, a webinar on food systems transformation was held on 28 February 2024. Participants had an insightful and inspiring plenary session facilitated by Herman Snel where Sylvia Kuria shared her experiences with agroecology and her company Sylvia's Basket, creating an enabling environment and uniting farmers around sustainable production. Rebecca Sarku shared her work on among other: citizens science, indigenous knowledge, ICT approaches and gender norms in extension services and how it has helped her to unite different perspectives towards a sustainable future. Both guest speakers shared about the strengths of collaboration and working from the farmers' perspective. Deliberate food system transformation is possible, when all voices and expertise are heard and valued, and collaboration is strenghtened.

Dr Rebecca Sarku is a researcher tackling poverty, food insecurity, and environmental challenges and delivers innovative and multidisciplinary result-oriented solutions in complex and marginalized communities. She is an expert in climate adaptation, climate information services, designing innovative governance arrangements, adaptive decision-making, and digital technologies for agriculture and sustainable food systems. As a Research Fellow in Climate Change and Food Systems, her research focuses on food security, climate change in the global south, and the issues of UNFCCC food systems.

Sylvia Kuria is an organic farmer and entrepreneur running Sylvia’s Basket. She delivers fresh food to households in Nairobi. She started growing food for her family in a kitchen garden and soon realized that there are many mothers just like her who also wanted safe nutritious food for their families. She has also trained more than 1000 farmers in East Africa and beyond on how to move to sustainable farming practices. Sylvia holds a BA in Community Development from Daystar University.

Please find the presentations and subsequent questions and discussion separately below.