From the 22nd – 24th June 2021 the Jesuit Justice and Ecology Network of Africa (JENA) in collaboration with Caritas Africa and the Academic Stand Against Poverty East and Southern Africa (ASAP-ESA) will host a blended Food Sovereignty Conference in Nairobi, Kenya through the JENA Food Sovereignty Platform (JFSP). The Conference will gather national and international specialists, both policy experts and academics, in order to extend the concerns on the journey to build back better to attain Food Sovereignty in Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond in the African Continent. 

In the midst of plenty of food to feed everyone, millions of African people still go to bed hungry. The JENA Food Sovereignty Platform (JFSP) will contribute to the global discussion initiated by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. JENA will work alongside Caritas and with other local and global Catholic Church and nonreligious bodies like the World Food Programme, CIDSE, an international family of Catholic social justice organizations; the Economy of Francesco movement and others to propose a new agricultural development model that puts the poor and most vulnerable at the center. JENA is of the conviction that if there is no food and no future without nature. As such, JENA will work with others, both faith and non-faith-based groups, to promote food production that supports biodiversity and the protection of the planet.

In light of the afore-mentioned JFSP’s food sovereignty concerns amid disasters and drive to partner with other institutions; the overall goal of the Conference is to identify effective and forward-looking approaches to guide the creation of an elaborate framework for the JENA network in collaboration with other development institutions to achieve resilient food systems post-crisis in which climate and disaster risk reduction and social justice are mainstreamed. 

Specifically, the Conference will seek to answer the following questions:

1. What are the systemic, regional and in-country issues surrounding food sovereignty in Africa?
2. How can Sub-Saharan Africa achieve integral development by balancing attainment of food sovereignty and climate justice amid global trends in industrialization, mechanization and technology?
3. How can Sub-Saharan Africa with support from JFSP and other development institutions sustainably mainstream social justice with a focus on the poor and vulnerable while leveraging ecological agriculture?

Click on the link below to register for the conference.