The UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) was the first time youth were actively invited to be equal participants in a global food or nutrition summit. Youth played a pivotal role in UNFSS, contributing diverse perspectives to transform global food systems. Through youth-led dialogues, leadership in action tracks, and the UNFSS Youth Constituency, young people influenced policies, showcased innovative solutions for sustainability, and championed intergenerational equity. A key outcome of UNFSS was the Food Systems Pathways, which set out countries’ approaches for transforming their food systems to be more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient, aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals.
Food culture is often understood as the practices, beliefs, and traditions surrounding food and eating within a particular society or community. It encompasses various aspects of traditional dishes and recipes, culinary techniques and cooking methods, mealtime rituals, social aspects, and symbolism. Food culture in a critical factor shaping food choices by influencing eating and dietary norms and habitual behaviours. Given this, it is essential to clearly define the dimensions of food culture (particular to a country or region) if one is to seek to leverage its profound impact on individuals and communities. This working paper thus explores the multidimensional nature of food culture in India, emphasising its deep-rooted connections to cultural identity, social bonding, and wellbeing.
In April 2025, we took part in the Act4Food Youth Leaders Workshop held in Arusha, Tanzania, a truly transformative experience that deepened our already strong convictions of the power and potential of young people to shape the future of our food systems. Organized by ACT4FOOD with support from the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), the workshop brought together 22 youth leaders from across the globe working under the ACT4FOOD banner, along with GAIN staff and additional food systems youth leaders from Tanzania.
This webinar will introduce the FSD 2024 competition winners, provide them with a platform to share their experiences utilizing the Food Systems Dashboard (FSD) in their work.
The session will highlight how participants can leverage the FSD to access and analyse food systems data.
Every year, unsafe food makes 600 million people sick and claims 420,000 lives – including 125,000 children under five (World Health Organization, 2015). These aren’t just numbers; they’re a call to action. At GAIN, we are using science and evidence to change this. For World Food Safety Day, we are spotlighting 10 ways we’ve advanced food safety over the past year.
The world is facing multiple interconnected crises, including climate change and escalating conflicts, which pose significant challenges to food systems. These issues highlight the need for systemic transformation to improve food security, nutrition, and environmental sustainability. In response, GAIN's Nourishing Food Pathways (NFP) programme aims to strengthen and support the implementation of food system pathways in 11 countries.
One focus of NFP is exploring the intersection between food and environment, including climate change, to identify consumer actions that promote both nutrition and environmental sustainability in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Specifically, GAIN is interested in understanding if our Emotivate™ approach, which leverages emotions to motivate consumers to want better diets, can be extended to include emotions or values associated with environmental sustainability. Our initial hypothesis was that consumers felt emotional tensions related to environmental sustainability as a driver of food choices, which could be leveraged to develop an emotionally resonant campaign.
Incofin Investment Management and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), through the Nutritious Food Financing Facility (N3F), have announced new investments in three pioneering food enterprises in East Africa: Soy Afric in Kenya, and Mkuza Chicks Ltd and Rainbow Haulage in Tanzania.
The GAIN Student Challenge returns in November 2025 for its fourth edition! This unique, two-day challenge will bring together 50 students from across the Netherlands to co-develop, alongside peers from a Sub-Saharan African University, sustainable and innovative solutions to real-world food system challenges from one of GAIN’s projects.
This brief shares an analysis of trends in stunting and overweight among children under five – two of the six Global Nutrition Targets set by the World Health Assembly (WHA) for achievement by 2025 – in 12 focus countries.
