Food and Agriculture Youth Institute (FAYI)
Who are we?
- The Food & Agriculture Youth Institute (FAYI) is an independent committee that deals with sustainability, climate change, and biodiversity
- The idea of FAYI itself came out as we are in the situation where climate adaptation has become our main focus to contribute toward the future of food and agriculture, and youth, as millennials and Generation Z, are the keys to contribute to the sustainability of the future of food and agriculture system
What is a Think Tank?
A think tank can also be referred to as a think factory or policy institute and it is an organization that gathers a group of interdisciplinary scholars to:
- Perform research around particular policies, issues or ideas
- Cover a wide range of topics, including social policy, public policy, economic policy, political strategy, culture and technology
- Combine knowledge and policy-making to impact future policy processes
FAYI and IAAS World
- In IAAS, we act as an independent committee that deals with sustainability, climate change, and biodiversity policy
- By collecting the expertise of professionals within related fields, think tanks can legitimize their findings and share them through means of publications, conferences and seminars
FAYI’s Mission
- To promote youth involvement in solving the global climate change, food and agriculture issues through capacity building, policy making, advocacy
- To educate and empower youth to act sustainably following the SDGs
- To connect our members with institutions (research centers, national agencies, NGOs...), experts through conferences, parties and observers at UN negotiations
FAYI’s Vision
Inspiring people to solve the world's agriculture, food and climate challenges
What are our typical activities?
Already mentioned in our mission statement, our specific activities consist of:
- Policy making by writing position papers and call to actions, for instance, the Water scarcity & Food Security position paper, the Climate Smart Agriculture call to action and the Cropping Systems for the future position paper. We are now working on the African Food System Manifesto and the Food Waste position paper
- Capacity building by training our IAAS members that go to political conferences, summits and dialogues. The most successful example is the training programme we organized with YPARD for our delegation of the COP27 of the UNFCCC
- Advocacy: On those political conferences, summits and dialogues we spread the messages written down in our policy papers and call to actions
- To educate and empower youth: We organize scientific conferences and events with different IAAS committees about a certain theme where participants join in several knowledge sharing and capacity building activities. Often, the result of such a conference is a position paper.
- To connect: while working together and with our partners, we have the chance to meet a lot of people from different backgrounds
FAYI Team 2024–25
Head: Upendra Bhusal (fayi@iaasworld.org, head.fayi@iaasworld.org)
Secretary: Zakia Sultana, Md Amim Al Maruf (secretariat.fayi@iaasworld.org)
Finance Director: Gyanendra Kunwar (finance.fayi@iaasworld.org)
External Relations Director: Salma Naji, Shekhar Parmar (externalrelations.fayi@iaasworld.org)
Communication Director: Himani Chand (communication.fayi@iaasworld.org)
Human Resource Director: Sumaya Nazrul (humanresources.fayi@iaasworld.org)
Policy Director: Abu Sayed (policy.fayi@iaasworld.org)
Strategic Advisor: Meherunnesa Noor
Our ThinkTanks
Food Security ThinkTank: Kenneth Obayuwana (foodsecurity.fayi@iaasworld.org)
Bioeconomy ThinkTank: Etieno Essein (bioeconomy.fayi@iaasworld.org)
Plant Health ThinkTank: Upendra Bhusal (planthealth.fayi@iaasworld.org)
One Health ThinkTank: Muntahina Moutusi (onehealth.fayi@iaasworld.org)
Climate Adaptation ThinkTank: Brian K. Kimani (adaptationthinktank@iaasworld.org)
How can you be part of FAYI
Joining a think tank:
Currently our two active think tanks are the Climate Adaptation Think Tank and the Food Safety and SecurityThink Tank. So if you have expertise in one of these two fields or are impatient to learn about the topics you are welcome to join one (or more) of the think tanks to support our current teams in their work and projects. Do not hesitate to promote new projects or ideas of your own!
Creating a new think tank:
If you are eager to start a think tank about another important topic, you can just create one yourself! You need at least 5 members from a minimum of 3 countries. The working area should be different from the current Think Tanks (Climate adaptation, Food Safety, Food Security), and relevant to IAAS.
Become an individual member:
If you would like to support one of our Board members in her or his work or if you like to do a bit of everything and help where more hands and brains are needed, then you can become an individual member. You will be assigned to a Board member as your manager with whom you can learn and coordinate your work.
In case you want to join FAYI in any of the three aforementioned forms, please fill in this Google Forms: here . We will contact you at the latest in one month's time, but we will do our best to contact you sooner!
For any questions, doubts or problems, please drop us an email at fayi@iaasworld.org
