1341. Report on the Side Event of the Follow-up Meeting of the UN Food Systems Summit

The UN Food Systems Summit +4 (UNFSS+4) took place from July 27–29 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. On July 27, JIRCAS held a side event with partners from Japan, Ethiopia, Vietnam, and Uganda, representing national research institutes, government ministries, and NGOs, the private sector and the UN. The event introduced examples of tools and approaches designed to support farmers in adopting science, technology, and innovation (STI) tailored to local contexts while addressing global climate, food security, and land degradation neutrality goals. 

UNFSS+4 Side Event: “Tailoring Science, Technology, and Innovation to Local Contexts while Advancing Global Agendas: Lessons from Multi-Country, Cross-Sectoral Approaches to Agri-Food Systems Transformation”
https://www.jircas.go.jp/en/event/2025/e20250727

A detailed report of the side event is now available on the UNFSS+4 Side Events website.

https://www.unfoodsystemshub.org/un-food-systems-summit-4-stocktake/sid…

This event brought together a gender-balanced team of speakers from Asia and Africa, representing diverse sectors. The speakers also reflected a wide range of institutional affiliations — national agricultural research institutes, government ministries, international organizations, private companies, and NGOs. This diversity created a valuable opportunity for the panel participants to share practical experiences in applying knowledge-based tools across various contexts. It also provided lessons on how to apply systemic approaches effectively to the transformation of agri-food systems.

The audience, comprising stakeholders from  international agricultural research institutions,  government ministries, UN initiatives, and NGOs, actively engaged in the Q&A with the speakers and panelists to gain insights from on-the-ground experiences and apply the lessons to their own contexts. 

The participants witnessed the synergies from the multi-stakeholder representation presenting diverse on-ground experiences in utilizing knowledge-based tools in different contexts to address global agendas, with the interactive discussion excellently facilitated by the moderator. As Prof. Dechassa of the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) reflected, the exchange of lessons learned gave the participants hope, for, despite differences in each context and no-one-size-fits-all rules, the participants were certain that partners were envisioning a common vision for the future with sustainable and resilient agrifood systems.

Thanks to the selection criteria for UNFSS+4 side events, the CN development process had become a 'Connecting the Dots' experience for this side event team, as the organizers were reaching out to our existing partners in the research and public sectors, while also being introduced to new partners in the private sector and the UN. So, this side event offered not only a science policy interface, but a forum for public-private, multi-stakeholder dialogues at this important stocktaking moment. We sincerely acknowledge the UNFSS+4 Side Event team for enabling this to happen. 

The side event information is archived at the following link: https://www.jircas.go.jp/en/event/2025/e20250727

Contributor: IIYAMA Miyuki, Information Program