From momentum to mandate — Charting the road to UNFSS+6

Dear National Food Systems Convenors,

In the 4 years since UNFSS, the two years since UNFSS+2, and most recently through the powerful outcomes of UNFSS+4 in Addis Ababa, you – the National Convenors – have proven that food systems transformation goes far beyond a technical reform agenda. It is a political project, a test of national leadership, and a courageous commitment to the wellbeing of people and planet.

The most valuable and transformative outcome of the entire UN Food Systems Summit process has been the emergence of this global community of National Convenors. You are the driving force of national progress, and the reason this process has retained legitimacy, relevance, and momentum. The success we have achieved so far belongs, first and foremost, to you. Without your determination, this would have remained a conversation. Because of you, it is becoming reality.

As we look ahead to the next critical milestone – UNFSS+6 – I want to offer a reflection on what we’ve accomplished together, the risks now confronting us, and the priorities we must pursue with even greater ambition. These thoughts reflect mainly on the deep discussion we had during the UNFSS+6 session with the National Convenors, as well as on our engagements (including a dedicated side- event) at UNGA80 high-level week.

What we have done together

Since 2022, the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub has focused on one central mission: to support you – the National Convenors – in translating the energy of the Summit and the ambition of your Pathways and other food systems transformation strategies into national delivery.

We brought the UN system and the Ecosystem of Support closer to your national priorities. We connected global guidance with country-level implementation, ensured that technical offers were responsive, and encouraged collaborative planning across agencies and sectors. We helped protect your space from fragmented initiatives and competing narratives, acting as a firewall against noise, while making sure you had access to trusted public goods and service providers.

We launched a range of innovative initiatives designed to respond directly to your evolving needs. The Convergence Initiative is helping bridge food systems and climate action through integrated policy and investment pathways. The Youth Leadership Programme is nurturing a new generation of systems thinkers and changemakers. The Food Systems Window of the Joint SDG Fund has begun to unlock catalytic financing to accelerate national transformation efforts. And through the regional networks of Convenors, we have fostered peer learning, political visibility, and solidarity. Our annual regional review processes, co-convened with UN Regional Commissions and key partners, are now institutionalized as critical feedback loops connecting national progress with regional and global action.

Our goal has not been visibility, but utility. Not centralization, but connection. Everything we have done has been anchored in your leadership and aligned to your countries’ trajectories.

What risks are emerging

Despite growing recognition of food systems transformation, we face new risks – both systemic and political.

First, the competitive landscape of development finance threatens to turn transformation into a zero-sum game. Many partners now compete for influence, visibility, and funding, often with overlapping initiatives and limited coordination. Rather than alignment, we risk duplication – and rather than country ownership, we risk fragmentation.

Second, we see a worrying loss of focus on sustainable development. As crises multiply – geopolitical, economic, and ecological – long-term goals are being sidelined by reactive agendas. Food systems, unless we act decisively, risk being deprioritized or depoliticized. This undermines SDG progress and erodes confidence in forward-looking public policy.

Third, we are observing a gradual weakening of multilateral governance, marked by increasing skepticism about the role and relevance of the United Nations system. This is unfolding in a context where the complexity of global challenges calls for more – not less – multilateralism. Yet, some voices now question whether the UN can still serve as the central platform for coordinating transformative action.

In this context, self-proclaimed saviors – including entities that present themselves as neutral non- state or non-profit institutions, but in reality, advance specific private or even commercial agendas – are attempting to occupy multilateral space without public mandate or accountability. These actors often claim to bring greater efficiency, visibility, or resources, yet in practice they rarely outperform multilateral mechanisms in legitimacy, coordination, or sustained impact. These efforts, however well-intentioned, can inadvertently sideline governments, fragment accountability, and blur the lines of responsibility.

The UNFSS process was designed precisely to avoid such fragmentation – to bring diverse actors together under a shared vision, with national governments and inclusive multilateral institutions at the center. As we move forward, it is essential to protect this governance integrity, and to ensure that transformation remains guided by principles of national ownership, inclusivity of stakeholders, legitimacy, transparency, and universality.

Our priorities for UNFSS+6

As we move toward UNFSS+6, our agenda must be clear, pragmatic, and bold.

First, we must link Convenors more directly to financial flows – not just technical processes. This means bringing Convenors closer to Ministries of Finance, Economy, and Planning – especially where Convenors themselves sit in those institutions. If the transformation is not financed, it won’t happen.

Second, we must renew the relevance of food systems for poverty alleviation and wellbeing. Not as an abstract systems agenda, but as a practical lever for reducing hunger, increasing resilience, and improving livelihoods. Food systems must matter in tangible ways for nutrition, environment, jobs, equity, and hope.

Third, we must elevate the role of the National Convenor within regional and global multilateral platforms. Convenors should be seen as more than delivery agents; they must serve as negotiators, connectors, and ambassadors of transformation. As the global landscape shifts, Convenors must have a seat at the table where decisions about trade, finance, and food sovereignty are made.

To make this possible, the Food Systems Summit process must be more formally anchored within the UN multilateral system. The gains we have achieved since 2021 – and the role of National Convenors as a new class of public leaders – now require a stronger institutional framework and a clearer intergovernmental mandate. Establishing this through appropriate channels and potential resolutions will offer the additional legitimacy and continuity needed to consolidate progress, elevate food systems within global governance, and ensure that countries and their Convenors remain central to the decisions shaping our shared future.

A closing word

The road from Rome to Addis showed that transformation is possible when national leadership is backed by coordinated support. The road to UNFSS+6 must now be defined by impact, accountability, and inclusion. Let us shape it together.

The Hub will continue safeguarding the integrity of the UNFSS process and amplifying your leadership – not as a gatekeeper in the narrow sense, but as a partner, strategic enabler, facilitator, and connector of the transformation you are building at country level and beyond.

In this spirit, I want to underline that the Hub is the only body formally mandated to coordinate and channel support to you, the National Food System Convenors, through the UN system and the Ecosystem of Support. Occasionally, private organizations may claim to act in place of the Hub. These claims reflect private interests rather than a support to the collective national leadership you represent. While many partners offer valuable expertise, it is your vision and authority that guide food systems transformation. The Hub’s mandate exists to safeguard this ownership by ensuring assistance is coherent, aligned, and fully respectful of your priorities.