New Youth Leadership Programme Toolkit on food systems brings practical skills to young leaders worldwide

The UN Food Systems Coordination Hub, through its UN Food Systems Youth Leadership Programme (YLP), has launched a new digital toolkit for early-career professionals worldwide. Developed with support from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and in partnership with Foresight4Food, the free, self-paced platform brings together learning and experiences from the YLP with expertise in systems thinking and foresight, making these resources accessible beyond the YLP cohort.

Structured across seven modules and 83 lessons, the toolkit combines practical learning with the experiences of young food systems leaders. Videos, case studies, reflection exercises and hands-on tools introduce learners to leadership, systems thinking and foresight, as well as approaches to partnership-building, advocacy and strategic action. A final chapter helps participants bring this learning together in their own action plan, personalizing the learning journey.

The toolkit draws directly on the first phase of the YLP, which since 2023 has brought together around 100 young food systems leaders from Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Their experiences and perspectives feature throughout the course, connecting its learning materials with the work young people are already doing in their countries and communities.

“This is what makes this toolkit real. It is not simply a collection of learning materials. It is an opportunity to make the knowledge, tools and lessons generated through the Youth Leadership Programme accessible to many more young people, wherever they are,” said Carlos Watson, Director of the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub.

Young leaders from the first YLP cohort also feature throughout the toolkit, bringing their own experiences and perspectives into the learning. At the launch, Alokita Jha, YLP alumna from India, reflected on the importance of systems thinking in her own work. “Systems thinking is refusing to look at problems in isolation,” she said, encouraging young leaders to bring the toolkit into their existing networks and adapt its learning to different local contexts.

The toolkit reflects this focus on giving young leaders practical ways to work across complex food systems and bring different people with different perspectives together.

"A lot of what you'll see in the course is about how you can be a systems leader, connecting producers, markets, consumers and other players to understand the whole system," said Jim Woodhill, Lead of the Foresight4Food Initiative. “We often talk about getting the whole system in the room –  the course will help you developed the knowledge and skills to be an effective convenor of change."

Nicole de Paula, Technical Officer at the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub and Global Coordinator of the YLP, emphasized that the toolkit is intended to be flexible and useful in different contexts: “This toolkit really captures a lot of what we learned together. It’s not a manual to be followed very rigidly, but a resource to be used, adapted and improved.”

The toolkit is designed for flexible use across different settings, with exercises that young people can adapt to their work, organizations and communities. It can be accessed on mobile devices, and learners who complete the course and submit their work can receive a certificate.

Closing the launch, Lara Blanco, Deputy Director of the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub, reflected on the young leaders taking part and the complexity they are prepared to take on. "There's an appetite for the fast and the simple, but there is no such thing as simple today. What I see here are brave young people willing to embrace complexity."

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Watch the launch

The Toolkit was officially launched on 30 September in a webinar bringing together young leaders, the development team and partners. YLP alumni from India, Nigeria and Antigua and Barbuda shared their own leadership journeys and examples of how they are applying what they have learned in their communities and professional work.

Watch the recording below to learn more about the Toolkit and hear directly from the young leaders and partners who helped shape it.