Driving Change Across Asia and the Pacific: Youth transforming agrifood systems

Across Asia and the Pacific, agriculture is a foundation of livelihoods on farms, in fishing villages, and in the markets that connect them. Yet a changing climate, an aging farming population, and financial and geographical constraints all threaten its future. The future of our agri-food systems is a puzzle. and across the region, young people are already holding many of its pieces. Listen to their stories and watch everything fall into place.

In southern Bangladesh, water can swallow the land for months. But farmers have found a remarkable way to keep growing without waiting for water to disappear. Using water hyacinth, they build floating gardens where vegetables can grow on the surface of the water.

I don't always know where my food is grown. I usually just get them from the stores.

Who grew it? How was it grown? How it affects the soil and whether soil health drives our food quality. We want more youths asking away.

In 2024, the WFF Bhutan chapter was born from one belief. Young people can shape the future of our food.

We began in fields, walking alongside our farming communities. Our chapter hosts and follows the antibodies to get in building a stronger and more sustainable system.

Our chapter connects young people to government and key stakeholders to amplify youth voices in agriculture policy. Recently, we interviewed Ms. Lim Hye, a member of the Korean National Assembly, focusing on agriculture and food policy.

The World Food Forum Australia Youth Chapter, we are ambitiously developing a Youth Food Charter, a national living document capturing the values and priorities of young people across Australia for food systems transformation. On the ground, we are engaging with farmers to promote sustainable agriculture practices like manure compost training and organic waste management.

We are building a nationwide network database to connect these young innovators and turn collaborations into meaningful and lasting impact for a better food system.

Because when we preserve our food stories, we preserve a part of who we are.

From the Solomon Islands, you chapter, tagi o tuma. We are the hope of today and the future of tomorrow. May peace prevail.

WFP Indonesia chapter, powered by youth, shaping the future of food.

Isn't it amazing? Good morning, excellencies, distinguished guests, youth leaders, and everyone joining us from around the world, both in person and online. My name is Xuefeng, and I represent the World Food Forum China Youth Chapter.

I'm Ann Heron from the FAO Office of Youth and Women, and proudly from the Philippines. Welcome to Driving Change Across Asia and the Pacific: Youth Transforming Agri-Food Systems.

A quick reminder, this section offers interpretations in English and Chinese for everyone in the room and online. We are going to.

Provide interpretation in English and Chinese.

The reality is youth people's face and what they need to lead an investment that will make their work last. And the opening video actually already gave us the first look at that. Young people build a strong agricultural system in their own communities and one piece at a time. And that is just the beginning.

To formally open our session, it is my pleasure to invite the FAO Assistant Director General and Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific, Mr. Albert Dahan, let's give him a round of applause.

Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, our fellows, young people, very good morning. The transformation of agri-food system is one of the defining challenges of our time. Across Asia and the Pacific, This transformation is taking place against a backdrop of climate change, changing demographics, technology advances, evolving agri-food systems, and growing demand for more sustainable and nutritious food. Young people have a particularly important role in this. They are not simply leaders of tomorrow, they are already contributing to transformation across Asia-Pacific. Young people can develop new approaches to climate resilience, nutrition, sustainable agriculture, and entrepreneurship, digital innovation, as well as community development. They are identifying challenges in their communities, and importantly, they are developing solutions to address them. So we see this creativity and commitment every day. But we also need to ask ourselves an important question. Are we doing enough to help these solutions grow? Too often, a promising youth-led initiative can have a meaningful impact in one community, but struggle to access the resources, partnership, financing, knowledge and institutional support needed to reach many more people. So this is where investment in young people becomes so important. Investing in youth cannot mean simply creating opportunities for young people to participate in discussion and consultation. It must also mean investing in their ideas, their initiative, and their ability to turn those ideas into sustained action. Young people need access to the right networks, knowledge, technology, financing, mentorship, and markets. They need opportunities to connect with institutions, decision makers, and they need to patchway through which successful initiatives can be strengthened, replicated, and adapted to other communities and contexts. In other words, we need to create a patchway from UDECSN to sustainable impact. This is not something young people can do alone. Governments, institutional organization or international organization, development partners and private sectors, financial institutions, civil society and other stakeholders all have an important role to play. We need to create bridges that connect promising youth-led solution with resources, expertise and partnership that can help them grow. At the same time, scaling doesn't mean taking a solution developed in one place to simply applying it everywhere. The strength of youth-led action is obtained that these respond directly to the local realities. So our role should be help those solutions grow while preserving the knowledge and community ownership that made them successful in the first place. This is also where APO has an important role to play. Across Asia and the Pacific, FAO is working with governments, partners and young people to create greater opportunities to agree for system transformation. Through initiatives such as the World Food Forum National Youth Chapter, we are seeing young people come together, develop solutions, engage with institutions and take action in their own communities. These initiatives are important, they show us what young people are already capable of when they have the opportunity to act. They also give us opportunity to identify promising approaches, connect young people with one another, and build partnerships that can help more this solution further. This is particularly important for generational renewal in our agri-food system. Our ambition should therefore be to move beyond supporting individual example of youth action, and toward building stronger ecosystem of investment, partnership, collaboration around youth-led solution. Because when we invest in young people, we are not investing only in young people. We are investing in the future of our agri-food system. We are investing in innovation. We are investing in more resilient communities. We are investing in new ideas and approaches to some of the most complex challenges facing food systems today. And ultimately, we are investing in generational renewal and in the ability of the next generation to shape the system that will define the future. So today, I hope we can listen carefully to the young people joining us from across the region, to let us learn from solutions they are already developing, from the challenges they continue to face, and from what they need from institutions and partners to take their work further. The question before us is not whether young people have ideas or whether they are ready to act, they are already acting. The question is how we can do more to ensure that promising youth-led action has the investment, partnership and opportunities it needs to grow, connect and create lasting impact. So I look forward to the discussion and to hearing from the young leaders and partners joining us today. Thank you and I wish you all a very productive session. Thank you very much. And I have, I do apologize. So I have to leave this forum because I have another joint DG's forum. Yeah. Thank you so much and I really appreciate it.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. Alonto Horn. So as you remind us, young people across the region already creating the solutions and also building the partnerships, taking them further. And we are the important moment for the region. We have the opportunity to put the youth at the center of the AgriFood system dialogue and to invest generational renewal.

All right. Some of the clearest examples of that movement are in this room today. World Food Forum National Youth Chapters, young people leading transformative change across Asia and the Pacific. 21 chapters, 21 countries. They work side by side with farmers, governments, universities, and the private sector. They preserve local indigenous knowledge, champion healthier and sustainable diets, and bring innovation to agriculture. But what is it really like to lead youth action today? and what is still missing. Let's hear it from them in their own languages. Please welcome the World Food Forum Asia and the Pacific National Youth Chapters.

Long Vanuatu, all young flagel, more boy, all live in some hard time, long, got money, um, low side, low work, more access and medication.

Get to go near my.

Mask is over to the team, one bar, come back and over, yes, it's over, I could do that, my bill opportunity, I have a to participate, no contribute, but political system, I have, and see menus, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Shilong. City. Solomon Island.

And.

Daanminkgo, the chongnyon deulren, Nongshipun Bunya, Hekshin, and Ikkulgo, Ismya, Jengche, Kjeot, Gajang, Ismya, Chongnyon, and Chom, Hwaktayagi, Wi, and Jisok, Joro, Mokso, and Neko, Ismya.

Hangatwalang, Sapatna, Access, Sakapital, At, Supportang, Institutional, Manana, Tiling, Lebas, Usaping, Agri, Food, System, and Man, Habata, and Filipino.

All young people planning to look out in ground. I bring a message from our friends in Pakistan who are unable to be here this week. Without greater access to land and financing, rural youth in Pakistan continue to face barriers to participating in agri-food systems.

You are a good body. This is Nepal. You are my three. I have a second one.

Foreign foreign foreign foreign foreign foreign foreign foreign foreign foreign foreign foreign foreign foreign foreign foreign in Malaysia perbincangan mengenai sistem pertanian dan keterjaminan makanan masih kurang mempunyai suara kolektif khususnya daripada golongan belia.

Tanpa dukungan teknis dan finansial yang memadai, pemuda-pemudi Indonesia akan kesulitan dalam menerapkan tantangan agriport.

Skala lokal, terutama dalam menghadapi perubahan iklim..

Skill development and financial support unlock more possibilities for Chinese youth to engage in agri-food systems.

Belia dan petani Brunei masih memerlukan lebih banyak akses dalam teknologi, latihan dan modal yang kukuh.

Jukin najin sugi, amtuin najin da, ikoin najin sugi, japjor da takkel lo, japjor bui.

Shamprasharon Sheba, Orthaon, Evong, Kishibitik, Evong, Odik, Bajare, Odiktor, Shujot, Bangladesh, Torunder, Kishibitik, Kado, Kishibitik, Uddogoritulte, and Shohata Korbe.

We continue to see how youth voices need greater representation in policy and innovation spaces in Australia and across the region.

It's cheers, cheers for our national chapters. Aren't they amazing?

They are, they are. I'm so proud of them. It's very nice to be in a room full of people from all over the world.

And you may have noticed that the song playing that the chapter coming, the Rooted, by Maia Kaimi, this is a singer and then songwriter from Tonga. the strength of the communities and to face of the climate changing. And that you have seen from the chapters, they represent the different voices from different contexts. But the same pieces come up again and again. They spoke about access to finance and resources. having a voice in space where decisions are made. And many of them spoke about the skills, training, and institutional support. These are fitting to the puzzles.

Exactly, Rifan. None of these gaps are new. Young people across the region have been naming them for years. What is new is that they are no longer waiting for someone else to close these gaps. Young people are already leading the way, but passion alone does not make change last. For youth action to grow into lasting impact, three pieces need to be in place. The first is capabilities, the skills and knowledge to act. The second is agency, a real voice and a seat where decisions are made. The third is systems, the institutions, policies, and partnerships that hold everything together. These three pieces are the focus of our first panel, From Youth Action to Sustained Impact, Building the Foundations for Change. Our panelists bring the view from government, from academia, and from our own chapters, with voices from Fiji, Nepal, and the Republic of Korea. Together, they will explore what it takes to turn youth action into change that lasts. To guide this conversation, please welcome Nandita Krishnamurthy from the World Food Forum Youth Policy Board for Asia and the Pacific.

Thank you, Anne. Thank you, Rufeng. Good morning, everyone. How are you all feeling today? Good? All right. I'm feeling good, too. 00 AM in the morning. I hope everyone's had their coffee, tea, or at least some water. In 2026, the World Food Forum Youth Assembly brought together over 1,900 youth voices and developed the youth-led recommendations for Asia and the Pacific. It was the first time in history youth had been brought on a regional platform. Before that, I'd like to acknowledge the contributions of the Youth Policy Board team, Isaiah Sugithan, Alina Mubashir, and Ananta Osa, together with myself, and of course, the World Food Forum national chapters of Fiji and Indonesia. So what makes youth participation meaningful, and how do we make it a lasting change? In 2022, the Committee of Food Security endorsed policy recommendations for youth to be brought into employment in agri-food systems. Without further ado, let me introduce our panelists today. Please join me on stage. Honorable Tomasi Tunabuna, Minister for Agriculture of Fiji. Professor Anjas Asmara Samsudin, Chairman of the ASEAN University Network for Agriculture and Food Security. Sorry, sir. I'll be sitting here. You. Okay. Thank you. Nishta Davadi from the World Food Forum, Nepal Youth Chapter. Alexio Rabaka from the World Food Forum Fiji Youth Chapter. And Yoonse Choi from the World Food Forum Republic of Korea Youth Chapter. All right. So my question to the panel today is, what role have you played in strengthening capabilities, agency, and systems for young people, and what gaps still stand in the way? Each panelist has two minutes. Minister, let's begin with you. Let me repeat my question so it's more in line with you. From the government side, what makes young person's voice and what does it take for a young person's voice to actually land with the ministry?

Thank you, excellencies. Distinguished guests, country youth chapter representative, Nisambula Vinaka, and thank you very much for the opportunity for Fiji and the Pacific to be part of this forum. Now, for Fiji, youth people are not simply beneficiaries of agriculture programs. They must be recognized as farmers, as entrepreneurs, and innovators, and decision makers. And I wish to admit the fact that in Fiji, there's still a lot of room to improve on how we coordinate our work with youth groups and to fully realize the potentials of our youth. And I wish to acknowledge all those who have been part of the development of the Fiji Youth Chapter. We just met very recently in this meeting. Our youth in agriculture policy, which is from 2022 to 2027, focuses four priorities. And these are access to productive resources, finance and markets, education and skills, commercial agriculture and innovation, and climate resilience. It is supported by a collaboration between the ministries responsible for agriculture and youth, together with training institutions, development partners, and the private sector. For Fiji, we are translating policies into practical pathways through school farming, through young farm support, agripreneurship training, and the National Youth in Agriculture Symposium. These initiatives are intended to help our young people to move from training into viable enterprises and meaningful participation in the sector decisions and development. However, I can't ignore the fact that important gaps still remain. Young people, particularly young women, and those in the rural and maritime communities in Fiji continue to face barriers in accessing land, finance, equipment, extension services, and reliable markets. Government partners must therefore move towards short-term project, towards coordinated long-term support, including a management mentoring, credit guarantees, shared machinery, processing facilities, and structured by arrangement. Young people must also take initiative, organize into producers groups, develop bankable business plans, use available training and technology, and maintain production records, and actively participate in decisions affecting the sector. When you are given resources, responsibility and a genuine voice, they become partners in transforming our agri-food system. And I thank you, Madrid.

Thank you so much, Minister, for that. I completely agree with you. You need that resources to feel responsible in this field. And without further ado, over to you, Prof. Anjas. Universities train the next generation and how can institutions like yours support youth-led networks?

Before I start, seeing lots of young people today gives me hope. It gives me an assurance to see that the future agriculture and food security production in the global will be taken care by all these young chaps. So join me to give all of you a big warm applause. Thank you very much for showing interest in agriculture and food security. Well, from the perspective of university, and also at the ASEAN University Network for Agriculture and Food Security, or known as AUN-AFS, we believe that young people should not only be the participant in agri-food system transformation, but also the driver of change. As a regional network hosted by University Putra Malaysia, the AUN-ASF connect universities, researchers, policymakers, industry players to strengthen sustainable agriculture and food security across Asia. And of course, one of our key initiative is the recently that we have program with FAO, we really call it FAO, AUN, AFS, research proposal competition for youth. that has been developed in collaboration with the partnership and strategic unit FAO. And through this initiative we provide young researchers from ASEAN plus three countries with opportunities to develop innovative research proposal addressing the real agri-food challenges. But we are not only asking for the research proposal, we incorporate various activities throughout the pipeline. So we provide the student or we provide the participant or young researchers with a technical lecture, lecturers, technical input. We provide them with a mentorship program. We provide them with how to do, you know, pitching and how to pitch your research proposal to the funding agencies and so on. And beyond the competition, we also support the capacity building and knowledge and exchange through the FAO e-learning Academy, technical lecture series, and engagement with international experts. And however, there's one issue that needs to be taken into consideration. One critical gap remains, the lack of structured pathway to translate youth-led research and innovation into sustained real-world impact, because we don't want that innovation to be conserved within a small area. We would like the innovation can be applied globally. So to make sure that the innovation reach globally, of course, the young researcher or the youth requires funding. So this is where universities play an important role. Our platform plays an important role in bridging or connecting or reducing those gap between young researchers or youth group with funding agencies. So our goal should not simply to empower young people to innovate, but to build an ecosystem that enables their innovation to grow, be adopted, and deliver lasting impact. Because we know that the young researcher, usually, they don't have a good credit profile. So, by having a backup from university or any you know, a thematic group based on agriculture and food security, it will give them hope, eh, it will give, it will give them a chances to receive funding from any available funding agency. So, that, that, I think that should be one of the role, how university can help youth people in addressing agriculture and food security issues globally. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Professor Anjas. And I completely agree with you. Funding is important and the way that your initiative shapes around mentorship, training and also pitching because a lot of youth are still seeking that learning to pitch and it's very holistic to hear from you. Thanks very much for sharing that. And next up we have Nishta. Nishta, your team focuses on ideas and to implementation. From your experience, what is still missing? Could you share a bit?

So thank you so much everyone for having for coming here and thank you so much for having me. So so talking about ideation. So one of the best thing we implemented in the World Food Forum Nepal chapter I feel is decentralizing and going from one to seven and seven to 100, which is one national team to seven province youth team and 200 plus local youth team and the university chapter across the Nepal. So the idea behind this concept was to decentralize our initiative and to reach on the more grassroots level. And so and what and the benefit and the benefit we got. I just wanted to share one particular example for it. So recently in on the occasion of World Food World Skills Day. One of our provincial youth team conducted a program in collaboration with the Mid-West University. And for that, and for context, Karnali Province is declared as the organic province of Nepal. So they were encouraged to find the challenges that is relevant to their local needs and they conducted a program on vermicompost and around 20 young women were given the hands on training and it was done to turn the idea into tangible action and through the action, we identified a lot of challenges, such as limited access to finance and market. And we also felt there is a technical skill gap among us, among youth, women. And there are a lot of issues related to climate. There are a lot of issues related to climate. And so the program gave us gave the participant a skill that is directly relevant to the problem they are facing. So I feel young people don't just lack the ideas, they also lack the support, they also lack the finances, and they also lack the mentorship. So I feel investing in youth is not just for the next generation, but I feel we should invest in youth to make our food system more inclusive, more sustainable, and more climate resilience. So, yeah, thank you.

Thanks so much, Nishta. It's very interesting to have over 20 women farmers and equipping them with practical skills and really looking forward to seeing more of that with your chapter, Anisha. And over to you, Alexio. What do you feel needs to be changed?

Thanks for the question, Anita. My name is Aleki and I'm from Fiji. I am honored to be on the panel with our fellow honorable Minister of Agriculture from Fiji. From our experience in Fiji, one of the most important things we've learned is that when empowering young people, we need to first understand the systems that surround them, as opposed to giving them information and just letting them do as they will. So in doing that, as a chapter, we've explored this in a number of ways through different initiatives. One of our initiatives is the traditional foods recipe book. which is really much more than a collection of recipes. Through this initiative, we're looking to preserve our food heritage and also create awareness on the local food systems around us while improving the relationship between communities and those food systems. Because in Fiji, food is deeply connected to our land, our ocean, and our very identity, much like our fellow Pacifica brothers and sisters here. So when we help, sorry, when we Yes, when we help young people understand better and value their traditional food systems, they also understand and value healthier food choices. They value their local food systems and appreciate resilience in the face of climate change. Another such initiative we work on is the Talanoa podcast series, and this initiative aims to platform young researchers, farmers, entrepreneurs, and those who work broadly in the area of agri-food systems to share their knowledge and experience. As a chapter, we view this as important because this form of knowledge exchange, this form of storytelling, allows our young people in Fiji to connect with others and their networks. And finally, through our collaboration with the Australian chapter on the Australia Pacific Youth Food Lab, which was just launched yesterday. We managed to help support 32 young people from Australia and the Pacific and their projects throughout the pilot program. And what this demonstrated for us is that young people already have the ideas and the solutions. They often need the resources, the support, and the opportunities to further those ideas. And I think that for me is where one of the biggest gaps remains, a sustained investment in our young people. We need to move beyond merely inviting people or our young people to have a seat at the table or giving them a voice. We need to now create more accessible and dedicated pathways for our young people. More than that, we need to stop viewing young people as our leaders of tomorrow. In the Pacific, The youths are the partners we need today. And if we are serious about talking in youth-led action that create lasting impacts, then we need to invest in the capabilities of our youth, trust their agency, and create systems that would allow their ideas to influence decisions and discussions, and endure beyond individual projects. Naka.

Very, very, very, very good to hear about the initiative, Alexio, and congratulations also in collaborating with the Australian National Chapter. And for Yunseo, in your recent interview with Lim Mee of the National Assembly, what did you learn and how can youth actually reach policymakers? Please share with us a little bit. Thank you.

Okay, thank you for the question, and also thank you for inviting me as a panel for this session. Hello, everyone. I'm representing the National Youth Chapter of the Republic of Korea. So our chapter's role is to turn young people from audiences into participants in policy. Like she said just before, this year we held a youth to legislator policy dialogue at the National Assembly with a legislator who is also a working farmer. Our members prepared the questions on food security, agrivoltaics, and the future of farming. We asked what young people need to lead agrifood innovation, and her answer started with farmland. Young people cannot afford it, and older farmers are struggling to find eligible buyers. And she told us that without young farmers, smart farming and AI cannot take root. So young people must be at the core of innovation. And that is agency. Young people asking the questions and the policy maker answering. Then we also turned the dialogue into cartoons and reels, and our most watched reel actually reached more than 3,600 views so that young people outside the room could also join. So what made this possible? I can say three things. preparation, trust, and also storytelling. So we studied the legislators' priorities and with the FAO partnership and liaison office beside us, we held a balanced conversation. And also the short visual formats reach young people where they are, but still gaps remain. First, one dialogue is not a system. young people still lack permanent seats in policy processes. And second, we lack follow-up channels to turn barriers in the room, like farmland access, into real policy input. So what I want to say for the last is, invite youth once and we will speak, and institutionalize youth and we will transform food systems. Thank you.

That's the impact you're going to make, Yun-Tzu. All right. Thanks very much, panelists, for sharing regarding your initiatives and what gaps we are still experiencing. But before we even move on to the next, I have one pressing question. What do you think is still a gap for implementation to happen? Maybe we'll start off with Minister, up to Yun-Su, in just one sentence or two, if you could share to the audience today. Thank you.

Thank you. There have been a number of discussions around the gaps that we have, I think, for us in Fiji, because we live in a multiracial country with different ethnicity and cultures. There seems to be some issues when it comes to addressing how we deal with our resources to maximize sustainable management systems that we have and to address the needs from the different communities. We have both increasing the hotel industry which requires also production of quality food when we are led to believe that we traditionally can grow what can be supplied to the market and that might be very different from what the market wants. So those are the gaps that we have As far as the agri-food systems that we have in Fiji, together with that, we have some very old legislation that are not very supportive to the current changes that we have, including transboundary diseases and also the effect of climate change. We're so blessed that we can coordinate across different organizations and how we can deal with this uh gaps that we have and a lot had been uh done and supported by fpu and other organizations including uh ADB in addressing the needs uh that we have to uh uh to reduce the gaps in terms of uh agrifood systems thank you.

Thank you very much Minister and over to you Prof an right.

In a few words, I would say that university need to help young innovators to translate their innovation into problem solving, into a practical solution for agri-food system. So this definitely requires investment from the government. It requires funding from the financial institution because as we know that especially the conventional financial institution, they still have some doubt on the agriculture activities due to the return of revenue for agriculture sector usually takes time and this is where we would like the government to play an important role to provide lots of research grant or funding of incentive for young researchers or youth that would like to help the country to solve the the agriculture and food security agenda. I think that's from me. That's all from me.

Thank you, Prof. Over to you, Nishta.

I feel one of the main gap we as a youth face is finance. Not just Nepal, but I think youth from all over the world is facing this issue. And to be precise, in our context, all of our opportunities are centralized and we are really trying, working to decentralize the opportunities to the youth and we never know the next promising idea or innovation can come from the area which is often neglected. So yeah, I encourage a lot of investment and a lot of finances in the youth and youth sector. So thank you.

Thank you, Anita. I think for youths in Fiji and a common sentiment shared across our blue Pacific continent when it comes to youth in agriculture broadly is what really is missing is investment in youth capacity, specifically the resources, support and capacity building opportunities. Naka.

Okay, for me, so like if I say in a short sentence, the key enabler is a permanency for young people in policy processes with clear follow-up channels so that like one of dialogue can become like permanent implementations. And that's all. Thank you.

Thank you, Yunseo. So we heard about capabilities from Fijian national chapters, food recipe books. We heard about agencies from UNCTO's example of the youth to legislator dialogue. We also heard about Nishta's systems where she had youth-led networks. So if you could maybe pop up the puzzle to see what is the missing piece. So we have capabilities, agencies, and systems. Maybe we could stay on for the next session to find out what the missing piece would be, and I hope that we can all, you know, discover that today. Thank you very much, distinguished panelists, for your time today, and I hope everyone had an insightful session. Thank you.

Thank you, Renita, and thank you to our panelists for searing such a rich conversation and showing us clear examples of what it takes to build the foundations for change. Now the picture is becoming clearer, capabilities, agency, systems. And still, as Renita said, one piece is missing. We will continue to listen to various stories, exchange ideas, and see what completes the puzzle. But first, we want to hear from you. Now, if you could scan the QR code behind us, answer, what do you think is the missing piece? Now, we have a wealth of diversity in this room today, the perfect opportunity to hear as many perspectives as we can. You start scanning, you have your choices there. And we'll start reading the answers in a bit. I think. I mean, it's been such a great panel so far, right, Weifang? The stories we've heard from our chapters has been great from representatives from different industries. So grateful to have them all in this room today. And now we see the answers coming in. Ooh, it's exciting.

Amazing. Thank you.

It looks like access to finance and investment is the top pick. We have people answering better infrastructure, something community and social networks.

Access to land now we've got one vote, okay.

But it does seem very clear that access to finance and investment would be some of the most important things that we need. All right, thank you everyone. I guess it's clear now.

Thank you. Thank you very much for the voting. And we see that access to finance, how crucial people are focusing on these parts. As we heard from the chapters earlier, and one gap actually appears across the board. It is access to finance and resources. Skills, a voice that robust system that takes young people far, but without investment, youth-led action cannot grow. And cannot last, that is focused on our second panel, investing in the next generation. And how do we scale up for youth-led action and how do we sustain it? To guide us, please welcome Lucinda Gibson, founding members of the president of the World Food Forum Australia Youth Chapter. Welcome.

Thank you, everyone, and thank you, Riphung. Good morning. I hope you've all had a lovely morning so far. In the first panel, we built three pieces of the puzzle, capabilities, agencies, and systems. The chapters and many of you in the vote pointed to what is still missing, access to finance and resources. So this panel is about the piece that holds the others in place, investment. The central question we will be exploring today with our panelists will be, what concrete investments, policies, and partnerships do youth-led initiatives need to grow, scale, and sustain their impact? I'd like to welcome our panelists up to the stage. We have Mr. Narayan Aya, the Principal Natural Resources and Agricultural Specialist of the Asian Development Bank. Amelia Tay, Alternate Representative of Malaysia to the FAO. Suyung Dong, the Partnership Officer for the Regional Office of Asia for the Global Green Growth Institute. Rizma Rizkia Nurdiyanta from the World Food Forum Indonesia Youth Chapter. And Pema Lhaden Topgay from the Chapter Leader from the World Food Forum Bhutan Youth Chapter. Please welcome our panelists. So our central question, what concrete investments, policies, and partnerships do youth-led initiatives need to grow, scale, and sustain their impact? Each panelist will have a few minutes to share. Thank you, Mr. Iyer. Would you like to begin?

Thanks, Lucinda. And I mean, it's really energizing to see the profile of this audience. It's in marked contrast to all the sessions that I've been attending the last couple of days. So thank you for assembling. And I'm taking this in a positive sense. So I don't feel old just by looking at you, though I am. I try to feel young looking at the energy, the real energy here. So let me-- I saw the results of the survey, and I've been hearing about access to financing and financial resources quite a bit. But believe me, in my experience, you know, whatever I've seen over the years, financing usually is a necessary condition, but not sufficient. So there are several other things. I mean, the C and A and S are equally important, and maybe there are other pieces to the puzzle as well. if you construct the shape in a different way. And most, it's not just the youth, but for anyone, the motivation to do, to engage in any endeavor needs something beyond just the resources and the financing. So people say passion, but passion is also quite overrated. It has to be a combination of multiple things. which finally add up to a hole in someone's mind. So in the case of agri-food systems, what we've seen, and it's a serious issue from our side that we, you know, agriculture is aging. So what that means is the people who are farming the fields, they have been continuing to do so for decades, and the succeeding generations are not joining, you know, the professions, so to say. Because it's just not sexy enough. It is not attracting the youth because they see, or you see, so many other better avenues to earn your living or just engage yourself, spend time. You need to be doing things that not only stimulate you, but also give you respect and have appreciation of everyone else. And that's just not there. And today, in a world that is increasingly going online and driven by technology, this is a profession that is fuddy-duddy. It's meant for old people like us. So how do we-- financing is one thing, but how do we turn the whole story and make it a little more appealing for youth? It is the problem that also we are trying to solve, because for us, Disbursing money is the simplest thing. So what we are trying to show the youth in different countries, wherever we do projects, is that this profession, this profession of farming, as well as processing, all through the value chain, is changing very rapidly too. It is reacting to various considerations that the world has today, be it sustainability, be it climate change, be it deploying technology to solve these problems, using artificial intelligence to enable more efficient use of resources, using drones. Today, you can have a farm, let's say a five-acre farm, managed by one person. if you have the right technology being deployed, if you have the knowledge to do that. So as a multilateral development bank, in every project that we do, we try to-- wherever, of course, it's possible, wherever it's relevant-- we try to bring in a capacity building, a training component to our projects. where we not just train, try to be inclusive, not just train, bring in gender equity, but we also try to engage youth as much as possible to just show them how things can be attractive, things can be rewarding in this, in agri-food systems all across the value chain. and then leave it to them to come up with ideas. And we find that the youth are full of ideas, many more ideas than we have. So we have multiple avenues to support these ideas. We have venture capital funds within the bank. We have specific programs which take in cohorts of youth look at their, you know, give them certain teams, look at their ideas, incentivize them with then further opportunities, which may require funding, which may require connections, which may require networks, which we try to provide. So we are very cognizant of, you know, this issue. It's an issue for us, but it's an opportunity for, you know, for you youngsters. And our endeavour is to work with the governments to provide those opportunities to you. It's up to you to take up those opportunities and make something of it. Let me stop here. Thank you.

Thank you very much. What a great answer. As mentioned, it's about a conversation as much as it is financing, as it is inspiring intergenerational renewal and making it a viable and exciting career path. So we'll continue the conversation. Ms. Tay.

Thank you, Lucinda. I agree with Mr. Narayan. It's all about mindset and interest. And within our society, you can actually ask your parents or even ourselves, do you want your children to be farmers? That's the question that we are asking. So back to Malaysia's policy, I would like to share with you what we have. We realize that across Asia and the Pacific, our agri-food systems face a critical demographic change. Farmers are aging and generational renewal is no longer an option. It is essential to make sure that the new generation continue to produce and ensure that there is food security and resilience. So allow me to share with you our experience and also policy pillars. So to enable youth-led to scale and endure, Malaysia focuses on three pillars. So the first, number one, capital. So this is always the reason, you know, why youth mentioned that they have this biggest hurdle, which is access to financing. So in Malaysia, we have a bank. It's called Agrobank. So this Agrobank provide financing for agropreneurs, youth agropreneurs. So there we even have training included and also grants and also soft loans. So through targeted financing, we provide all sorts of startups. so that we are able to help our youth. And of course, these are youth with good record. It's not like just anyone. So the next C would be capability and innovation. So as mentioned by Nisha from Nepal and also Alexio, skills is very important. So we facilitate young farmers through our national agro food policy 21 to 2030, where we are accelerating the shift from traditional farming to modern agritech. So by integrating smart farming, IOT, precision agriculture and drones, we are raising productivity while transforming agriculture into an attractive, high yield, high tech career for digital native youth. So our third C would be continuity and land access. So in Malaysia, we help young farmers access to land through designated permanent food production parks and incubator spaces as well to ensure youth enterprises transition securely and smoothly from small pilots into commercially viable, businesses. So looking forward, national efforts alone cannot bridge every gap. We must strengthen public, private and youth partnership as well. So sharing this panel with development financial institutions like ADB and also Triple GI highlights our key opportunity, which is to blend public seed funds with multilateral climate finance and private capital to de-risk youth investments at scale. So moreover, platforms like our WFF youth chapters will provide vital regional infrastructure to exchange agritech solutions and scale youth enterprise across borders. So to conclude, young people are not merely future beneficiaries. Young people are today's innovators and commercial drivers of agri-food transformation. Hence, it is important to ensure our youth possess the right tools, capital, and institutional backing to lead this change. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Ms. Bong.

Thank you, Lucinda. It's a pleasure to join this discussion. The Global Green Growth Institute, GGGI, is an intergovernmental organization with 55 member states across the world. We work with governments and partners to build greener, more resilient, and more competitive economies. So our starting point is that green growth is an economic opportunity, and young people should be at its center. Climate-smart agriculture, sustainable food production, and clean technologies offer opportunities for innovation, jobs, and better livelihoods. Young people bring fresh ideas, entrepreneurial energy, and can help develop innovative solutions using new technologies. But then the skills, networks, and resources to turn that practical potential into practical opportunities. In the Pacific, GGGI's Pacific Green Entrepreneurs Network combined business training, mentoring, and networking with seed funding. Across three cohorts, 146 enterprises completed the incubator program, and 60 seed grants totaling $300,000 were disbursed. Selected growth stage businesses also received interest-free repayable grants. Supported enterprises included hydroponics and organic food and beverage businesses with particular attention to women and young people. We also invest in youth knowledge and leadership. So in August this year, GGGI and the UN Office for Sustainable Development co-organized the SDGs Summer Youth Camp in Seoul, bringing together young leaders from 16 countries. The program introduced carbon markets through expert-led sessions, practical exercises, and policy development. Also beyond the region, our climate-smart agriculture work in El Salvador similarly combines sustainable farming practices with entrepreneurial skills for women and young people. These examples show the value of connecting learning with practical support. Since its establishment, GGGI has supported the mobilization of approximately 18.5 billion US dollars in green investment, including around 4 billion in 2025. The challenge is to ensure that more of this investment reaches young innovators and the communities they serve. For youth-led agri-food initiatives, this requires finance alongside mentoring, technical assistance, market access, and supportive policies. So governments, international organizations, financial institutions, civil society and the private sector can work together to make this support easier to access. Giving young people skills, finance and opportunities to develop their ideas can help them build businesses, create jobs and improve livelihoods in their communities. Thank you.

Great. And thank you so much for sharing those tangible examples in which you funded particular projects. Now over to our chapters, our representative from Indonesia.

Okay, thank you so much, Lucinda, and good morning, everyone. I would like to start with a question. Why is the investment for youth-led initiative very hard to get? In my perspective, on behalf of World Forum Indonesia, we think that youth are seen as risky, with no collateral, need small funding, and lack of access to land, to market, and even to the decision makers. But before I share the successes of Wolfo from Indonesia, let me share three big challenges that we also experienced to secure the grant. First is a proactive outreach because most of the time, opportunity very rare come to us. So we have to actively introduce ourselves, pitching our idea, send a lot of proposals. So we have to be recognized. And the second challenge is it's about the human resources. To manage funds responsibly, we need a capable and professional team, at least for conducting the initial research, to execute the project, and even to prepare the result or the report, which are very hard for us because it's a voluntary best work. And the third challenge is the legal readiness, because obtaining our legal decree or position in Indonesia is very tricky, it takes so long. And if you are not legally ready, you are not likely to receive the grant. And despite these challenges, we actually tried our best to turn the grants into the partnerships. The first grant that we secured last year is from the private sectors. It's from Japra Company. And then we successfully conducting the first Indonesia Food Academy with 480 euros. We actually didn't ask for charity. We aligned with their mission, with their visions. Javan needed a future talent, and we need support for the youth capacity building. And the second grant that we secured this year, it's kind of the tripartite partnership from the Jallian Foundations. So together with the Midless Money Indonesia, World for Women Indonesia, successfully conducting the second Indonesia Fit Academy with 480 euro only. And then instead of conducting one event, we also this time propose another shared outcomes where Jolene brings behavior change expertise and Meatless Monday brings the healthy diet campaign. World Food from Indonesia brings the youth network. And together we conducted these eight virtual classes and then one hybrid classes. of Indonesian Food Academy 2026, and we also co-creating an e-book regarding the 10 best food map in Indonesia. And the third regional grant that we successfully granted is from ACC. We secured 2,000 euro, and it's funded by the EU through the Bread for the World in consortium with the Asian Green Generation Alliance. So actually, what do we need as a youth? First, for the investment, we do think that we need the fund collaboration, not the competitions, because our project may exist because the funders allowed us as a consortium. And the second thing, we thought that we need policy, in perspective of the policy, we do have to create a youth window with the lighter bureaucracy. And the third thing is the partnership. Please do see us, the youth, as the co-leaders, not only the beneficiaries. And then to sum up, I would like to say something that to scale up the youth-led impacts, like the Indonesian Food Academy, Indonesian Food Symposium, and other programs in Indonesia, the development banks, the ministry, the government, international organizations must move beyond the traditional rigid funding structures. Therefore, we urgently need this institution to establish dedicated, low-bureaucracy funding windows and legal mentorship tailored specifically for youth initiatives. Ultimately, we don't just need isolated investment. We need institutional partners who will provide the trust and accessible pathways required to sustain the agri-food system transformation for the youth, particularly. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Some powerful words. And finally, to our representative from Bhutan.

Thank you, Lucinda. And good morning and everyone. I'm from the World Food Forum Bhutan chapter. So the Bhutan chapter was established in 2024 and we have since grown into a registered volunteer led community based organization. With the support from FAO, Bhutan and the Ministry of Agriculture, we have been able to create platforms for young people to engage in areas such as innovation, capacity building, climate action and agri food systems. So through this work, what we have seen is that there is no shortage of young people who want to contribute. They have the ideas, knowledge and the willingness to act. But what is often missing is the resources, platform and the pathway for their ideas to go into action. So in Bhutan, we saw this through some of our initiatives that were the local conference of youth, where young people shared their perspectives, and our digital agri hackathon, where they developed ideas around real agricultural challenges. But perhaps the clearest initiative from us was our Seeds of Innovation Fellowship, which helped take ideas into practice. With the support from FAO Bhutan, five young innovators each received a micro grant of USD 1,000 to begin the For us, this showed us that even relatively small and accessible investments can help turn youth ideas into action, but it also raised another question. What happens after the first opportunity? How does a promising initiative move beyond its first pilot and continue to grow its impact? So I would like to highlight three priorities. That is first, accessible financing with opportunities to further support what when an initiative demonstrates potential. Young people need a chance to build on what they learn. Second, partnerships that continue over time. FAO Bhutan and the ministry have helped the Bhutan chapter grow with guidance, mentorship, and institutional connections. For young people, having partners we can turn to makes a real difference. and third, support for youth organizations themselves. As volunteers, we still need to coordinate programs, manage funds, and follow up with participants. So stronger systems alongside clear opportunities to access grants and become implementing partners would help us, the youth networks, handle greater responsibilities. So for us, investing in youth is not just about funding another activity. It is about building an ecosystem, a pathway for youth voices to turn into ideas and ideas to turn into actions and actions that works to grow into a sustained impact. And perhaps I could end by bringing that question to our panelists for the discussions today. How can financing, government support, and partnerships work together so that promising youth-led work can continue beyond its first opportunity? Thank you and tashdeleh.

Thank you very much for that. I'd like to explore that a little bit deeper. Payma, your fellowship supported five ideas with $1,000 each. What is the missing piece between that first grant and longer-term support?

So I think the first grant allows young people to test their ideas. And if an idea shows potential, the next question would be, how can we build on it? So that would mean some things like follow-up grants and technical mentorships, access to accelerators or government programs, and for viable businesses, like connection to investors. So the support could maybe fit the initiative required. Youth chapters could then take the lead over here where they can help young people to navigate these options and follow their progress. So to provide the support consistently, youth-led networks also need access to resources to help those young people. So one possibility worth exploring is allowing networks with the right governance and accountability to manage fund directly with guidance from experienced partner. So what matters is that the first opportunity should not simply become the last opportunity simply because there is no bridge to the next step. And I think that is something we can work on together. Thank you.

Great, yeah, absolutely. These youth organizations and youth-led networks can be that bridge between initial and ongoing investment. So that brings me, Mr. Ear, beyond initial grants and short-term funding, how can development banks and other financial institutions provide more sustained and direct support to youth-led initiatives and networks?

So venture funds, sorry. So thanks, thanks. I think it's an, I'm gonna be just extending whatever I spoke, you know, in your first round, which is that we encourage not just with grants, but also with building capability. And we believe that just money is not enough. And money also chases capability. So you need the capability first, you need the interest first, and then the capability, and then the money follows. So that's the sequence of how things really work. When you just have a grant and then you try to figure out what you want to do with that grant, then it almost never works. So you have to have some purpose first. We try to encourage you to build that kind of capability, purpose, vision, objectives, which can go hand in hand and be built at the same time, so that some spark of an idea, some path, you know, the youngsters get. We have, for instance, something called Water and Youth Action Hub. So you can actually access that online, where it provides opportunities for young people to go there and engage, get guidance, get support, collaboration with other people, other young people having similar ideas. This spans the domains of urban development, agriculture, and food, of course, and water. So we've been doing this for the last few years. And it can lead to multiple things. People make use of that to go on and do their own thing, or they also continue to engage with this hub and then sometimes benefit from programs that we have. As an example, we had this program in our Greater Mekong subregion. So we have a GMS Our GMS program is actually multifaceted, so we cover various things. It brings together the various Greater Mekong subregion countries and looks at solving issues that are engaging all these countries. And some of those issues are also in looking at how youth can be gainfully engaged in multiple things. So under this, we had a subprogram where we had 10 teams of young people who came up with different initiatives, and they were grant funded at that time. And then some of them, of course, went on to do more in that, and some of it just petered out. But these are the kind of initiatives in projects, as part of projects, that we try to give space for youth to explore. And our objective is to continue to do these kind of things. When specific ideas mature, then there are more there are more systematic ways like venture funds that we have which come in and explore whether it can be funded. Because that is then not just a grant, it then becomes far more serious because there are investors who are looking for returns as well. So yeah, let me stop there.

Thank you for sharing. Young people have the capability, agency and systems in place. So what left, as has been mentioned, is supportive policy, values aligned partnership and of course investment. At the World Food Forum Australia Youth Chapter, in just one year, we've hosted more than a dozen events, connected hundreds of young people, brought them from farms to markets to restaurants. We've engaged in policy discussions and participated in formal policy submission processes. We've planted native trees, we've published a youth literacy report, and of course, we launched our Australia Pacific Youth Lab. And we built all of this as volunteers with little to no funding. So can you imagine what we and other youth-led organisations could do with some investment and sustained impact? That brings me to a closing question. I'm mindful of time today. The conversation could definitely continue. So to all our panellists today, we can start from the end and work our way here. I'd like to ask, what is one thing you'd like to share with the audience today on the topic of investment?

So to close it off, I would just say one step we could all look towards is how about jointly piloting a program that bears small youth grants with sustained mentorship and a clear route to further support, giving promising ideas the chance to become a lasting change.

So, I mean, again, on behalf of all from Indonesia, because it will be different from one country to another country, but we do hope in Indonesia that every stakeholder can support us. It's not about the money, but it's about the support and the impact that can come up. of the words.

I think one important change will be to move from short term and project based support towards more like sustained partnerships for investment. So that's where governments and development partners can play an important role, not only providing funding, but also to create opportunities to connect youth with policymakers and markets.

Okay, thank you everyone. For Malaysia, youth, you all are the greatest investment, number one. Okay, then next comes the rest, the capability, the skills, the financing, the land, and most, like I say, thank you again for all of you for your presence here and for the spirit that you have shown. And I'm very happy to see that, you know, this is, this is, this reflects the commitment of our youth to ensure food resilience. Thank you.

My closing message is going to be the same, which is that there are, there's lots of money chasing few ideas. And that's the truth. You might feel from your perspective that, you know, investment and money is at a premium. But actually, there's a lot of money floating around and very few good ideas out there. Ideas come only with capabilities. So that's where you need to start. Build up knowledge, build up capability, build up your thought process that can be channeled in the right way. And if you then come with a well-formed idea, there is no dearth of money. So whether it's ADB or whether it is the private sector out there, which is actually far more dynamic than multilateral institutions like us, money is not a problem. So that's what I would like to convey. Thank you.

Thank you to our panelists for exploring a little bit more about what investment in the next generation could look like. I hope that this time next year we have some exciting projects that have taken place following said investment. So please join me in thanking our panelists and I'll hand over to our emcees. Thank you.

Thank you, Lucinda, for leading us through the question that matters the most, how do we invest in future generations? And thank you again to our panelists for joining us today. We can now see the full picture. Capabilities, agency, systems, and investment. Investment is what holds the other pieces together. It turns skills into jobs and businesses, voices into decisions, and systems into real support for young people. Together, these four pieces let young people turn their ideas into lasting impact. And together, they allow for something bigger to come into play, generational renewal. Today, we have seen that young people across Asia and the Pacific are not bystanders to an industry that urgently needs change. They are not waiting for it. They are already creating it in their communities, in their countries, and across the region. But now the question is, how do we give them what they need to go further?

Because generational renewal means young people choose to farm, to fish, to bring the new ideas and to lead agri-food system within the support the need succeed across the region. So farming populations are actually aging and many young people are leaving the agriculture for the cities, for work, abroad. So investing in youth, it's how we reverse that. And it is how we build the agro food system that deliver food security and nutrition and reduce the inequalities and stand up for the environmental pressures and for generational to come. But no one can complete this puzzle alone. Not one government, not one young persons. It takes all of us. and working together to help to shape more sustainable and resilient future for our agri-food system. Before you leave, please take a moment to share your feedback and please scan the QR code behind us.

Now, as the session comes to a close, we leave you with one question. What do you pledge to ensure generational renewal in agri-food systems? I hope you all have the time to think about that.

And on behalf of all the young people driving change across Asia and the Pacific, thank you. Thank you for listening to our ideas, our stories, and joining us today here in Rome and in the world online. Thank you very much.

Thank you. This morning we heard from 21 chapters, 21 countries, one generation that is ready to drive change across Asia and the Pacific. Now it is up to all of us to put the pieces in place. The last piece of the puzzle is now in your hands. Remember, we are only getting started. Thank you. My name is.

Thank you for joining us today.