Africa’s food system faces massive challenges – including low productivity, biodiversity loss, and more than 280mln people are food insecure. Agriculture is the single largest contributor to the continent’s GHG emissions. Africa must tackle these interlinked challenges all while continuing to feed and create jobs for a population that the United Nations has projected to hit 2.5 billion by 2050.
How do we turn this multi-faceted challenge into an opportunity? How do we increase incomes and spur productivity growth while reducing GHG emissions?
Circular Food Systems offer a promising pathway for Africa to meet its food security, climate, and economic challenges simultaneously. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation defines Circular Food Systems as, “A circular economy for food mimics natural systems of regeneration so that waste does not exist, but is instead feedstock for another cycle.”
Over the last half-decade, there have been a number of promising pilots by donors, governments, and corporates to explore the development and deployment of circular practices and business models across Africa, including Ikea Foundation-funded projects like the Circular Food Systems for Rwanda program managed by World Resources Institute and the O-Farms circular business accelerator program with Bopinc, USAID’s Feed the Future Food Loss and Waste (FLW) Accelerator which helps to de-risk companies’ investments into food loss and waste mitigation through payment-for-results partnerships, and Biovision and Shona Uganda’s Neycha Agroecology Accelerator & Fund. 
In May, a diverse assembly of food system stakeholders convened with the Ikea Foundation, WRI, and Resonance in Nairobi, Kenya to collaboratively shape the foundational vision for the ACE4Food collective impact initiative.
Building on insights and learnings from these early efforts, Resonance, the World Resources Institute (WRI), and the Ikea Foundation organized a 2-day co-creation workshop in Nairobi on accelerating circular food systems across East Africa. The workshop brought together farmers, entrepreneurs, policymakers, investors, donors, corporates, and implementers all working to pilot and grow circular business models and practices across Africa. Working together, the participants articulated a shared vision for a scaled, sustainable, circular food system that addresses food security and climate challenges while also creating jobs and opportunities for entrepreneurs.
Fortified by the vision and insights drawn from the co-creation workshop, WRI, Ikea Foundation, and Resonance facilitated the drafting of a new White Paper that lays out a clear and compelling pathway for accelerating the circular economy in food systems in Africa, which we are now calling Accelerating the Circular Economy for Food (ACE4Food). ACE4Food is envisioned as a Collective Impact Initiative, whereby organizations agree upon the ACE4Food agenda and collaborate to advance shared goals, each contributing in their own unique way. An entrepreneur may share learnings on using Black Soldier Fly to create a new product from agricultural waste. A donor or foundation may provide funding to support policy reforms or to grow the entrepreneurial ecosystem. A government may commit to reforming policies that inhibit the use of food waste in products and goods. A research institution may share findings with farmers on what works and what doesn’t for regenerative agriculture practices.
With the White Paper officially launched, we are now engaging with key stakeholders - donor agencies, foundations, and corporates - who can serve as catalytic funders for ACE4Food. WRI has recently hosted the Circular Economy in African Food Systems session at the Africa Food Systems Forum’s 2024 Summit in Kigali, Rwanda. Meanwhile, we are looking to organize a funders discussion at the upcoming NY Climate Week.
WRI, Ikea Foundation are Resonance are proud to be incubating ACE4Food, but we cannot do it alone. We need stakeholders of all types – farmers, entrepreneurs, policymakers, investors, funders, and corporates – to lean in and shape the development of ACE4Food to catalyze the growth of the circular food system across Africa. Together, we can build an inclusive circular food system that reduces emissions, improves biodiversity, and increases jobs and incomes.
Are you interested in getting involved with or just learning more about ACE4Food? Please reach out to Shayna Krasnoff at skrasnoff@resonanceglobal.com. Look out for the ACE4Food White Paper to be released to the public in early September 2024.
Photo courtesy of Katie Garner/World Resources Institute.
Read the White Paper:
