U.N. FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION WORLD FOOD FORUM (WFF)in partnership with REAL FOOD SYSTEMS

The 2025 Agrifood Leadership Education Programme is Underway!

The WFF/RFS Agrifood Leadership Education Programme (ALEP) is in full swing: We are excited to announce the start of ALEP’s first cohort of ten amazing youth in January! After a rigorous application process, candidates were chosen from the following countries (a country is ALEP-qualified by having a WFF National Chapter, to support the Candidates through the program): Argentina, Egypt, Indonesia, Kenya, Nepal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Eight of the ten candidates are women. Classes began in February.

ALEP’s central goal is job readiness in the areas of agrifood education and policy. The program is divided into three sections:  Explore, Encourage, and Experience. Explore, during the first four months, encompasses weekly interactive classes and Learning Reflections at month’s end. The WFF is orchestrating technical subjects such as Digital Technologies, Systems Approach, Food Waste Reduction and Community Centric Food Systems. RFS is curating the Soft Skills subjects including Communications, Self Care/Resilience, Ethics, Policy/Advocacy Negotiating, and Understanding Financial Strategies. We are so proud of our RFS members who are teaching most of the Soft Skills subjects:  Michael Ahimbisibwe, Stephen Bright Sakwa (creator of the original concept), Marie-Claire Graf, Rayan Kassem, and Bernis Cunningham. Karlee Schnyder and Amber Ansari are administering the RFS-end of ALEP.

In May/June, candidates will begin ALEP’s Encourage phase by being matched with a Mentor from their region/country. There will be sessions led by youth who have done on-ground education or advocacy projects, to share their insights, challenges and lessons learned. This will lead the program into Experience, when candidates will develop a local project in coordination with their Mentor and FAO/WFF National Chapter (Chapters identify local agrifood challenges and target solutions). Each candidate will create their project, culminating in presentations at the October 2025 WFF flagship event in Rome. Stay tuned for updates throughout 2025, especially to see what exciting projects will be created!

ALEP is a rigorous program aimed at job-readiness skills and practical experience, most notably for youth who are entering the job market after university, and/or who are young career professionals. More information here:  https://youth.world-food-forum.org/education/agrifood-leadership-education-programme/en

With the completion of ALEP 2025 in October, we hope that the FAO WFF will continue and expand ALEP 2026!  We are thrilled to be a part of this journey, where we ALL learn and grow to facilitate a positive, inclusive and JUST food systems transformation.