The World Food Forum Youth Policy Board’s North America Team 2024 Focus: Regional Food Waste Reform

The World Food Forum (WFF) aims to provide a dynamic and inclusive space for global youth to engage in agrifood systems initiatives. The Youth Assembly, as WFF’s policy and action arm, builds young people’s capacity in policy advocacy and fosters intergenerational partnerships and collaboration. In this article, the North American Youth Policy Board team shares their strategic priorities, recent initiatives and ongoing projects that aim to drive meaningful change through youth-led action.

The Youth Policy Board (YPB) is comprised of 24 members, including four from the North America regional team: 

• Audrey Wong, a pharmacist based in the US who advocates for agrifood systems transformation and a healthy and sustainable future;
• Osman Naqvi, Regional Advisor, Prairies at Invest In Canada and co-founder of YOUth Heroes; 
• Sara Kate Smith, a senior policy and public affairs consultant at Clear Strategy and a member of the Canadian Agricultural Youth Council; and
• Shreyaa Venkat, founder and CEO of NEST4US, a multifaceted global nonprofit that tackles over 14 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through a dual approach of awareness plus action.

Following the recommendations of the 2022 WFF Regional Compendium, the YPB's 2023 outreach in North America aimed to address gaps in dietary behavior change among students. However, discussions revealed broader structural issues. Consequently, the North America YPB team, informed by the 2022 Compendium, the 2023 WFF flagship event and their April assembly, has set a regional policy priority for the coming year:

“Promoting a timely and sustainable transition towards a closed-loop food supply chain that minimizes waste and maximizes resource efficiency, with a particular focus on confronting the policy and implementation barriers within post-secondary institutional settings, identifying cross-functional solutions with potential for youth-driven impact based on existing research and experiences”.

To advance this priority, the regional team launched an agrifood systems student ambassador programme, empowering North American students to connect, collaborate and enhance their policy efforts. The program also includes workshops on agrifood systems, food security and nutrition.

The North American YPB hosted two regional assemblies to shape their policy objectives and engage with stakeholders from academia, policy and industry. The second assembly introduced a regional youth action survey, open until 30 August, to refine the YPB’s understanding and gather feedback on regional approaches.

Insights from these assemblies and ongoing consultations will shape their pilot project—a panel series on the food waste hierarchy with expert speakers and North American examples, offering actionable strategies for youth. They are also planning two more assemblies with innovative speakers who will collaborate with youth stakeholders to brainstorm scalable solutions for food waste mitigation, further driving impactful, region-specific strategies. Details for their upcoming event are linked below.

Building upon the regional action items, the World Food Forum and the Youth Policy Board invite you to join the WFF flagship event from 14 -18 October at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome, Italy. Youth representatives and global leaders will gather to discuss novel policies around agrifood systems transformation, under the theme “Good food for all, for today and tomorrow”.

Webinar on 23 August: Food for Thought: Regional Solutions for Redistribution and Waste Reduction

Join now the World Food Forum U.S. Chapter.