Across African cities, food insecurity is no longer defined by scarcity alone, but by access, affordability, and nutrition quality.
In urban areas like Nairobi, Kisumu, Ouagadougou, and Dar es Salaam, the intersection of poverty, processed food markets, and sedentary lifestyles is fueling a silent epidemic of obesity and non-communicable diseases (NCDs)—especially among adolescents.
With more than 50% of Africa’s population projected to live in urban areas by 2035, city-region food systems must evolve rapidly to deliver equitable, nutritious, and sustainable diets.
A growing movement is now emerging across the continent—one that recognizes youth, digital innovation, and urban agriculture as vital components of that change.
At the center of this transformation is FSPN Africa is leading in advancing evidence-based urban agriculture strategies and digital interventions for food system resilience.
Why Are Adolescents Central to the Food and Health Agenda?
Adolescents aged 10–19 make up a significant share of Africa’s urban population and face heightened exposure to unhealthy food environments. In Kenya alone, over 26% of children under five are stunted, and adolescent obesity is on the rise—driven in part by poor diets, limited physical activity, and aggressive marketing of processed foods.
At FSPN Africa we recognize adolescents not as passive recipients, but as active co-creators of healthier urban futures. Our interventions focus on empowering youth including the adolescents through practical food production, nutrition literacy, and behavior change initiatives—grounded in both local knowledge and science.
In Kenya, FSPN Africa is part of a global initiative with partners such as Karolinska Institutet, the Kenya Medical Research Institute and TUK, reaching more than 1,500 adolescents through targeted programs in urban schools and community hubs.
While this partnership (under the Changemaker project) provides important support, it is one pillar of a broader, multi-sectoral approach spearheaded by FSPN to transform how young people eat, grow, and learn about food.
How Does Urban Farming Contribute to Public Health?
Urban farming is a public health tool as much as it is a food production strategy. In cities like Nairobi, which rely on external sources for more than 80% of their food, school and community gardens are positioned to help shorten supply chains and provide direct access to fresh, nutritious produce.
FSPN Africa has helped design and implement models that include:
- School gardens using vertical and tire gardens to address space limitations.
- Composting systems to reduce food waste and improve soil fertility.
- Nutrition-sensitive crops integrated into school feeding programs.
- Agroecological techniques adapted for peri-urban conditions prone to drought and flooding.
These initiatives are designed not just to feed students, but to teach them where their food comes from—and how healthy diets can prevent long-term conditions like diabetes, obesity and other non-communicable disease.
Can Digital Literacy Support Food and Nutrition Security?
Access to digital tools is now essential for adolescents to navigate food environments, learn about nutrition, and build skills for the future. Yet many youth in informal settlements or peri-urban areas lack tailored platforms that provide this guidance.
FSPN Africa working in collaboration with other partners fills this gap through:
- Mobile learning platforms that deliver localized nutrition content in accessible formats.
- SMS-based agricultural extension services for youth-led garden projects.
- Gamified education tools to make food systems learning engaging and culturally relevant.
These platforms are being adapted to support city-level strategies to improve food literacy and youth inclusion, as recommended in local urban food dialogues supported by FAO and ICLEI Africa Food Systems Dialogues.
By equipping adolescents with digital tools and knowledge, these initiatives are not only empowering individual choices but also laying the groundwork for broader structural change—where youth-led and adolescents insights can inform and influence the very policies that shape urban food systems
What Are Cities Doing to Support Youth-Led Food Systems?
Urban food governance is evolving—and local governments are increasingly partnering with civil society actors like FSPN Africa to embed food into planning, infrastructure, and climate resilience strategies.
In Nairobi, the county government’s Food Systems Strategy (2021) recognizes the need to include informal vendors, urban farmers, and school-based initiatives in its broader development vision.
The strategy specifically calls for integrating agriculture into land-use planning and creating food-sensitive infrastructure.
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FSPN Africa contributes technical expertise and capacity-building support to help translate these goals into action—ensuring that policies produce impact in neighborhoods and schools.
Meanwhile, in Burkina Faso and Tanzania, FSPN Africa is working alongside academic and policy partners to localize these interventions. In Dar es Salaam, adolescents are being involved in co-creating ways to manage school gardens and monitor food diversity, while in Ouagadougou, city authorities are exploring ways to formalize peri-urban agriculture into municipal food supply chains.
What Impact Is Being Achieved—and What’s Ahead?
FSPN Africa’s programming under the broader food systems transformation agenda is looking at achieving:
- Engagement of over 1,500 adolescents in urban agriculture and nutrition education programs together with other partners.
- Establishment of more than 5 school and community gardens with composting and agroecological systems.
- Using digital platforms like CVH.Africa for nutrition and health learning.
- Increased capacity among educators and public health staff to deliver food systems content in classrooms.
These interventions are also contributing to data generation and behavioral research, helping cities and ministries understand what works in shaping adolescent health outcomes.
As urbanization accelerates and climate pressures mount, expanding these efforts across additional counties and city networks remains a priority.
Scale must be matched by inclusion—ensuring that youth, especially those in low-income urban areas, remain central to the food systems of the future.
Conclusion: Transforming Cities Through Youth, Innovation, and Food
Africa’s urban future demands new approaches to old problems. Malnutrition and NCDs are no longer distant threats—they are daily realities for millions of young people. But the solutions are within reach: a school garden in Kibera, a composting workshop in Kisumu, a digital nutrition app accessed by a teenager in Dar es Salaam.
FSPN Africa’s work demonstrates that when youth are empowered with tools, knowledge, and opportunity, they become leaders—not only of tomorrow, but of today’s most urgent food and health challenges.
To learn more about our programs, visit: Our projects
For more information, contact info@fspnafrica.org
