AFSA

The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) is launching Finding the Story, a three part online media series for African journalists who want to report on food systems with greater depth and confidence. Convened under the My Food Is African campaign, the series pairs participants with agroecology specialists, policy advocates and movement leaders to explore what is really at stake in African food systems, and how to recognise a story worth telling.

Twenty places are open to practising journalists based in Africa, working in print, online, radio, television or multimedia, who can attend all three one hour sessions and are comfortable in English and French. Sessions run online on Monday 21, Wednesday 23 and Friday 25 September 2026, covering agroecology, seed and land rights, and the money behind African food systems. Selected journalists receive a reference materials pack, a certificate, and a USD 150 stipend on completion.

Applications close Wednesday 9 September 2026. Send your details, two work samples and a 300 word motivation statement to afsa@afsafrica.org with the subject line “Finding the Story Application.”

After three days of dialogue among 187 delegates from 20 countries, the Second Congo Basin Convening closes with a declaration that puts numbers, deadlines and a mandate behind its demands

Yaoundé, Cameroon — 27 August 2026. The Second Congo Basin Convening has closed in Yaoundé with the adoption of the Yaoundé Declaration 2026, a 24-point regional pact on agroecology, food systems, biodiversity and climate justice in the Congo Basin. Over three days, 187 delegates from 20 countries — governments, farmers’ and pastoralists’ organisations, Indigenous Peoples, women’s and youth movements, researchers, parliamentarians, regional institutions, funding partners and media — worked through the progress made since the first Convening in Kinshasa in 2023 and turned it into a single, shared document. The official closure was pronounced by H.E. Mounouna Foutsou, Cameroon’s Minister of Youth Affairs and Civic Education, represented by Dr Akede Metounge Erik, who received the Declaration on the Minister’s behalf and committed to sharing it with the relevant government ministries.

The Declaration does not deal in vague aspiration. It calls on governments and the African Union Commission to name agroecology explicitly in national and regional agriculture investment plans, with at least 30 percent of relevant budget allocations dedicated to it. It demands that community and customary land rights be secured, that free, prior and informed consent apply without exception to conservation and extractive projects, and that farmer-managed seed systems be protected in law. It urges the Green Climate Fund, the African Development Bank and other financing partners to open direct-access windows so that at least 20 percent of climate and biodiversity finance reaches farmer organisations, women, youth, Indigenous Peoples and local communities directly — and it calls for a dedicated regional financing mechanism for agroecology, so the transition no longer runs on project cycles.

Alongside these calls to decision-makers, the Declaration binds its own signatories to action: farmer and community movements commit to seed banks and farmer-to-farmer training; civil society to a permanent cross-basin consultation space; governments to public annual reporting on what has been allocated and delivered; regional bodies to harmonised policy and cross-border trade; researchers, private-sector actors and media each to their own stated commitments. To carry it forward, the Convening adopted a Congo Basin Regional Action Roadmap and mandated the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) to raise funding for the implementation of the Congo Basin Biodiversity, Climate and Agroecology Initiative (COBCAI) and to host the regional coordination unit, while each of the six Congo Basin countries establishes or strengthens its own national platform. Progress will be published annually and reviewed, call by call and commitment by commitment, at the Third Congo Basin Convening.

Four voices marked the closing session. Elisabeth Atangana, President of CNOP-CAM and Treasurer of the AFSA Board, begged the participants to repeatedly ask themselves: “What part of the Declaration depends on me?” The history of the Basin, she said, will be written by those who turn commitments into action, not by those who make the finest speeches.

Dr Million Belay, AFSA’s General Coordinator, reminded delegates how the region is read from outside: a carbon sink, and a place to extract minerals. Seventy-five percent of the world’s cobalt comes from Congo. The entire energy transition rests on it, which puts the people of the Basin at the centre of the global climate conversation. “We need resources, we need money,” he said. “But when we come back, we will do the work, whether there is money or not.”

Baba Adama, for the AFSA Citizens’ Working Group, argued that Yaoundé had strengthened the bridge between governments, communities and partners, and that protecting the Basin is everyone’s job. Dr Akede Metounge Erik closed with the line that may define what comes next: “Ecosystems do not negotiate. They regenerate or degrade.”

Read the full Yaoundé Declaration 2026:
[English version] · [Version française]

The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) invites applications from qualified African researchers to support the first phase of the African Food Baskets initiative. Ten Country Researchers will be selected—one from each participating country—to document the foods, dishes, beverages, recipes, food sources, menus, stories, proverbs and cultural knowledge that shape their country’s food heritage.

The initiative forms part of the TAFS Project, funded by Sida, and contributes to AFSA’s My Food Is African campaign. It aims to preserve and promote African food knowledge while building a continental resource for advocacy, research, education, communication and policy engagement.

The first phase will cover ten countries, selected to ensure regional balance across Africa and representation of Anglophone, Francophone and Lusophone contexts. The final list of participating countries will be determined after the applications have been reviewed.

Using the African Food Baskets KoboToolbox Toolkit, selected researchers will work with communities and local knowledge holders to document their country’s food basket. The assignment will include community engagement, field data collection, photography, validation of findings, and submission of a complete country data package and brief narrative report.

Applications must be submitted to afsa@afsafrica.org by 6 September 2026 and may be submitted in English, French or Portuguese.

Please refer to the full Terms of Reference (TOR) for details on the scope of work, eligibility criteria, deliverables, timeline, selection process and application requirements.

Download the Terms of Reference:
[English] | [French]

AFSA and partners launch a three-day gathering to advance agroecology, food sovereignty, biodiversity and climate justice across the Congo Basin

Yaoundé, Cameroon — 25 August 2026 — The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), together with the Concertation Nationale des Organisations Paysannes au Cameroun (CNOP-CAM) and Congo Basin partners, today officially opens the Second Congo Basin Convening — “Securing the Heart of Africa: People, Nature, Food and Climate Resilience” — running from 25 to 27 August 2026 at the Franco Hôtel in Yaoundé.

Three years after the inaugural Congo Basin Summit in Kinshasa, DRC (August 2023), this second gathering brings together an estimated 120 delegates from the six Congo Basin countries — Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea — alongside representatives from Angola, Chad, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia. Governments, farmer organisations, Indigenous Peoples, women’s and youth movements, researchers, financial partners and civil society will spend three days reviewing progress since Kinshasa and charting a shared regional roadmap for inclusive agroecology, sustainable food systems, biodiversity conservation and climate justice.

The Convening will be officially opened by His Excellency Gabriel Mbaïrobe, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Republic of Cameroon, whose government graciously agreed to host the gathering. Ahead of today’s opening, the AFSA delegation briefed the Minister on the Convening’s preparations and final agenda, and thanked the Government of Cameroon for its support.

Day One brings the region’s story into focus. Dr Million Belay, General Coordinator of AFSA, will introduce the Alliance’s continental work; Joséphine Atangana, AFSA’s Focal Point for the Congo Basin, will assess the achievements of the past three years and outline what this Convening aims to deliver; and Elisabeth Atangana, President of CNOP-CAM and Treasurer of the AFSA Board of Directors, will deliver welcome remarks ahead of the Minister’s official opening address. The day continues with plenary sessions on ecological resilience and the Congo Basin’s financing needs, a community agroecology exhibition, and a Cameroonian cultural dinner in the evening.

“Agroecology represents an alternative that promotes biodiversity, nourishes the soil, respects indigenous and local knowledge, and strengthens local economies,” says Dr Million Belay, AFSA’s General Coordinator.

Over the following two days, delegates will work through thematic sessions on land rights, climate justice and resource mobilisation, before adopting the Yaoundé 2026 Declaration and a regional action roadmap on 27 August.

About AFSA The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) is the continent’s largest civil society platform advocating for food sovereignty and agroecology, uniting 48 member alliances active in 50 African countries and reaching more than 200 million people.

Press contact
Patricia Mengong — +237 672 38 26 26
Charles Onana — +237 699 51 63 45

Request for Expression of Interest (EOI) To Undertake a Six-Country Study on Financial Services And Income-Enhancing Opportunities for African Agroecological Enterprises (AAEs)

The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) intends to commission a consultancy to map financial services and income-enhancing opportunities available to African Agroecological Enterprises (AAEs) in Uganda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Senegal and Togo. The study will identify and profile relevant providers, assess how accessible and suitable their services are for AAEs, and recommend practical service designs, partnerships and referral ways that respond to enterprise realities.

AFSA invites eligible individual consultants or consulting firms to submit technical and financial proposals for this assignment. The application should include:
• A signed letter of bid.
• A technical proposal of not more than six pages, excluding annexes, showing the applicant’s understanding of the assignment, proposed methodology, sampling approach, work plan, team organization and quality-assurance arrangements.
• A profile of the consultant or firm and evidence of relevant experience in inclusive finance, agricultural or enterprise finance, agroecology, food systems and multi-country research.
• At least two samples of comparable assignments, which AFSA will treat confidentially.
• Curricula vitae of the proposed team members, clearly indicating their roles and relevant experience.
• A financial proposal in United States dollars, showing professional fees, country-level costs, travel, translation, validation, taxes and any reimbursable expenses.

Technical and financial proposals should be submitted by email to afsa@afsafrica.org

The email subject should read: ‘AFSA – Financial Services and Income-Enhancing Opportunities Study’.

The submission deadline is 28 August 2026 at 5:00pm East African Time. Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.

The detailed Terms of Reference are provided below.

Download the TOR

Terms of Reference (ToRs) for event rapporteur Continental Convening on strengthening African civil society climate action on food systems and agriculture towards COP32 Introduction and Background

Agriculture remains the backbone of most African economies, employing a significant proportion of the population while simultaneously being highly vulnerable to climate variability and extreme weather events. Rising temperatures, shifting rainfall patterns, prolonged droughts, floods, and land degradation are already undermining agricultural productivity, disrupting food supply chains, and worsening nutrition outcomes across the continent. These impacts are disproportionately felt by smallholder farmers, pastoralists, women, youth, and indigenous communities whose livelihoods are directly dependent on natural resources.

At the same time, agriculture and food systems offer one of the most powerful entry points for climate action in Africa. They are critical for advancing adaptation, given their direct link to resilience and livelihoods, and they also present opportunities for mitigation through sustainable approaches like agroecology. Gradually, global climate policy spaces under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are recognizing the importance of agriculture and food systems, including through ongoing workstreams related to the Sharm el Sheikh Joint Work on Implementation of Climate Action on Agriculture and Food Security and outside negotiation spaces for example the establishment of the Food Systems Hub at COP30.

With the thirty second Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP32, scheduled to take place in Ethiopia in 2027, Africa is presented with a historic opportunity to shape global climate discourse from within the continent. The outcomes of ongoing negotiations, for example the operationalization of the Belem Adaptation indicators under the Belem-Addis Vision, are expected to culminate around this period, making it essential for African actors to be strategically aligned and influential. The period leading up to COP32 therefore represents a critical window for building a strong, unified, and well-coordinated African civil society voice on climate action in food systems.

In light of the above, the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), in collaboration with likeminded African CSOs and partners has planned to hold a convening which will bring together various African CSOs working on advancing the food systems agenda within climate discussions. The convening will act as a space for these CSOs to plan their collective engagement in forthcoming regional and global climate events including COP31 and COP32.

To ensure strategic documentation of the proceedings from this multi-stakeholder gathering, AFSA seeks to engage a professional and experienced conference rapporteur to document the discussions from the convening.

        Purpose of the Assignment

The Rapporteur(s) will be responsible for documenting the discussions, outcomes, and key messages emerging from the gathering. This includes compiling a detailed report, capturing highlights, preparation of summary briefs and the civil society actors’ declaration from the convening.

            Key Responsibilities

• Attend and document all sessions, including plenaries, breakout discussions, and informal reflections.
• Accurately capture key points, recommendations, action items, and stakeholder contributions.
• Support the documentation of the declaration/call to action/communique that will come out of the convening.
• Produce a comprehensive final report of the event (10–15 pages).
• Draft a 2-page summary brief highlighting outcomes, key messages, and next steps.
• Ensure all outputs reflect the event’s diversity, policy depth, and strategic direction.
  
  
  

  Deliverables

• Daily session summaries (submitted each evening during the event)
• Draft declaration/call to action/communique that will come out of the convening (support editing and compilation with facilitators)
• Final Event Report (submitted within 5 working days post-event)
• Summary Outcome Brief (2 pages, for advocacy and dissemination)
  
  Qualifications and Experience

• Proven experience in reporting, documentation, and synthesis at high-level policy or cultural events.
• Strong background in food systems, climate change advocacy, African development, policy is highly desirable.
• Excellent writing, analytical, and listening skills.
• Ability to work independently and under pressure to meet deadlines.

  
  Duration and Location
  
  The consultancy will span 8 working days, including 3 days of on-site documentation and 5 days of post-event reporting and revision. The event will be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and physical presence is required during the event.
  
  Reporting and Supervision
  
  The Rapporteur(s) will report to the Programme Coordinator for Climate Change and Agroecology at the AFSA Secretariat, working closely with the event coordination team and relevant thematic leads.
  
  Application Process
  
  Interested applicants should submit:

1. An application letter outlining their understanding of the assignment and proposed approach.
2. A CV highlighting relevant experience and sample previous reports.

Submissions should be sent to afsa@afsafrica.org and copy simon.bukenya@afsafrica.org not later than 21st August 2026.

New AFSA report finds hunger up 58% across AGRA’s target countries since 2006 — while Senegal, never part of the programme, cut hunger in half

Twenty years ago, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa launched with a promise: commercial seed, synthetic fertiliser and better market access would lift yields, raise incomes and cut hunger across the continent. This week, as AGRA marks that twentieth anniversary with a continent-wide celebration tour, a new report from the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) puts that promise against the record — and finds it broken.

The Green Revolution Has Failed Africa: Twenty Years of Evidence and What Works Instead, released today, is the most detailed independent assessment yet of what two decades and billions of philanthropic dollars actually bought the thirteen countries AGRA prioritised. The numbers are stark. The count of chronically undernourished people across those countries has risen 58% since 2006 — nearly double the 31% increase already flagged in an earlier assessment in 2020. That’s against a programme that set out, explicitly, to cut hunger in half.

Fertiliser use more than doubled over the same period. Cropland expanded by 46%, as forests and grazing land were cleared for cultivation. Yet staple-crop yield growth actually slowed compared with the twelve years before AGRA began. Much of the additional food produced came from farming more land, not farming it better — and the crops that historically carried households through drought, millet and sorghum among them, lost ground as maize monocultures spread.

Malawi illustrates the paradox at the centre of the report: it recorded the strongest yield growth of any country studied, and hunger still climbed there by 61%. Growing more of one crop, the report argues, is not the same as building a food system that can feed people through a bad season.

The report singles out Senegal as the clearest counter-example. Never an AGRA focus country, Senegal achieved over the same period exactly what AGRA set as its own target and failed to reach: it cut hunger in half, bringing it below 5% of the population, while using roughly half the fertiliser applied in a comparison country like Zambia. Millet production rose 85%, sorghum 75%. Senegal did this by keeping its farming systems diversified rather than narrowing them to a single input-heavy package.

“The agroecological alternative isn’t theoretical. Farmers are already building it — restoring soils, protecting their seeds, diversifying their farms and reducing dependence on expensive external inputs,” said Million Belay, General Coordinator of AFSA and a member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems. “It’s time to fund what works.”

The report lands alongside a second, independent assessment — Requiem for Africa’s Green Revolution, by Timothy A. Wise of Tufts University’s Global Development and Environment Institute, published August 17 — reaching similar conclusions from separate data.

For Mutinta Nketani, National Coordinator of the Zambia Alliance for Agroecology and Biodiversity, the findings describe a country she watches every day. Zambia spends up to 72% of its national agriculture budget subsidising a single input package, and maize yields there rose just 14% while cultivated land nearly doubled. “After billions poured into AGRA-aligned policies, farmers have only grown hungrier and more in debt,” she said. “We cannot continue this way.”

The report’s release is timed deliberately. African governments are currently drafting the next ten-year agricultural strategy under the Kampala CAADP framework — the document that will direct billions in public, development and climate finance for the decade ahead. The African Union’s own scorecard found that not one of forty-five countries met its targets under the previous ten-year plan. AFSA’s report warns that the new strategy risks carrying the same model forward at greater scale, through the African Development Bank and the World Bank, with input-heavy programming increasingly rebranded as “climate adaptation” to draw in climate finance.

The report’s central recommendation is a redirection, not new spending: 10% of existing agricultural finance shifted toward farmer-managed seed systems, soil health and diversified production by 2028, rising to 25% by 2030 and 33% by 2035. National agroecology laws already exist in six African countries, with five more currently drafting their own — evidence, the report argues, that this isn’t a future experiment but a policy path communities have already chosen.

“African farmers must stop being treated as beneficiaries of someone else’s transformation,” Belay writes in the report’s foreword. “They must be its authors.”

The full report, launched today at a press conference moderated by author and academic Raj Patel with Belay, Nketani, Famara Diedhiou and Timothy Wise, is available now.

Read the full report: The Green Revolution Has Failed Africa

Editorial

The second quarter of 2026 was marked by a clear shift from advocacy alone towards influence, implementation and institutional change. Across the period, AFSA’s work entered legislative chambers, regional trade discussions, global climate negotiations, financial policy debates and community learning spaces. The significance of this quarter lies not only in the number of activities undertaken, but in the way they connected. Seed rights were linked to human rights. Agroecology was linked to law and trade. Soil restoration was linked to enterprise. Food culture was linked to citizen power. Research was used not simply to describe problems, but to challenge the institutions and investment models shaping Africa’s agricultural future.

Several developments gave this quarter particular weight. The East African Community Agroecology Bill moved formally into the legislative process. The N’Djamena Declaration gave renewed continental direction to farmer managed seed systems. African farmer testimony began feeding directly into a United Nations process on the right to seed. At the same time, AFSA questioned the choices being made by major financial institutions, advanced agroecology in climate negotiations, strengthened agroecological markets and enterprises, and documented practical evidence from communities restoring soils and building livelihoods. The launch of the My Food Is African Barefoot Guide also expanded the conversation beyond policy, reminding us that food systems are shaped every day in homes, schools, markets, kitchens and public culture.

This edition therefore tells a story of convergence. Laws, markets, seeds, finance, climate, culture and community action are often treated as separate fields, yet the quarter showed how deeply they depend on one another. AFSA’s achievement was to hold these threads together and to keep African farmers, citizens and communities at the centre of each conversation. What emerges is not simply a record of completed activities, but evidence of a movement gaining stronger tools, clearer positions and greater influence over the decisions that will shape Africa’s food future.

Download the free PDF copy of the newsletter here