Informal Sector Stakeholder Engagement Towards Improved Food Safety and Nutrition In Africa – Consultation Workshop ILRI Campus, Nairobi, Kenya. June 10-12, 2024

The African Union-InterAfrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) convened a workshop at the ILRI Campus in Nairobi, Kenya, bringing together informal food sector actors from African countries. This workshop, facilitated by the ECI-Africa team, was a follow-up to the Bellagio workshop (2023) that brought together national food safety and policy experts from across the continent to pioneer the formulation of guidelines that national governments could adopt to incorporate informal food markets into their food safety strategies and ongoing food systems transformation initiatives. This initiative is part of the broader Food Safety Strategy for Africa (FSSA), developed in 2020/2021, which provides a harmonized framework to mitigate various food safety threats and advance the continent’s agriculture and food systems in alignment with the commitments made in the Africa Common Position on Food Systems Transformation, adopted at the United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS)

The Nairobi workshop was therefore a strategic move informed by the need for recognition of informal food markets as vital sources of income and nutrient-rich foods for the majority of Africa’s population, despite their historical neglect and under-investment by governments. The aim was to gather input from informal sector actors to ensure the guidelines being developed reflect the diverse challenges and realities of value chain players across the continent. The consultations are intended to shape the guidelines to be relevant, practical, and inclusive, enabling their contextualization by governments to improve food safety and enhance livelihoods across the continent.