With the support of CARE International in Tanzania, Dr. Rasel Madaha attended the Africa’s Food System Forum 2023 at the Julius Nyerere International Conventional Center in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Africa’s Food Systems Forum 2023 Summit’s theme, “Recover, Regenerate, Act: Africa’s Solutions to Food Systems Transformation,” focused on building back better food systems and food sovereignty with youth and women at the center. The theme identifies three steps needed to achieve this transformation: Recovery, Regenerate, and Act.
More than 5400 delegates from 90 countries –including 5 Heads of State and Government, 30 Ministers, 6 former Heads of State and Government, more than 80 heads of international agencies and businesses were present. CEOs of global, regional, and national companies, combining to create a private sector delegation of 1200, including SMEs. Youth, farmers, and women represented 57% of the speakers.
Apart from interacting with the attendees of the forum and participating in a number of presentations, Dr. Madaha had an opportunity to interact with several CARE staff who were very well represented at the event. He also interacted with farmers engaged in Farmer Field and Business School (FFBS) as they shared their experiences with the attendees of the forum and the public at large. The exposure gave him an opportunity to learn more about the model. FFBS is an approach with a proven record of helping small-scale farmers and producers build the skills they need to increase production, improve resilience, adapt to climate change, diversify diets and boost nutrition.
During the official inauguration of the Africa Food Systems Forum in Dar es Salaam, CARE International received a momentous recognition. In his opening speech, the Vice President of Tanzania, Hon. Phillip Isdori Mpango, acknowledged CARE International as one of the foremost stakeholders in the agriculture sector within Tanzania.
From your left Christine Campeau (CARE Global Advocacy Director – Food Systems), Prudence Masako (Country Director @ CARE International in Tanzania), Prof. Raphael Tihelwa Chibunda (Vice Chancellor of Sokoine University of Agriculture), Dr. Rasel Mpuya Madaha (Senior Lecturer at the Department of Agricultural Extension and Community Development and CARE Contact Person at SUA), and Alfei Maseke