Building safe and resilient African cities and communities

The session will bring together partners of AfriFoodLinks and UN Habitat with a focus on Tunis, Dakar, but also brings in other cities experiences. It will showcase concrete best practices and knowledge gained and provide an opportunity for direct dialogue over urban and community resilience. The event will emphasize inclusive practices. It will take the form of presentations, a panel discussion and Q&A session to interact with the audience. In most African countries, food security remains a national mandate, but the daily realities of food insecurity, informal markets, and public health are concentrated in cities. Municipalities lack clear mandates, budget, and technical capacity to act, even though they are closest to communities. Investments in food governance are low-cost but high leverage: catalytic grants to support inclusive and city region multi-stakeholder platforms, food desks, and local policy development can unlock the efficiency of much larger flows of infrastructure or social spending. The urban food system, including community gardening, represents a recalibration of our relationship with food and nature, embedding cultivation within the very fabric of urban life. Several initiatives (UN Habitat, FAO, AfriFOODLinks) support Food Systems transformation: reorientating the Tunis Food Strategy, promoting community and school gardens, combat food waste, social economy, and knowledge sharing and exchange. UN- Habitat Tunisia and partners made significant strides towards achieving its objectives, contributing to the advancement of SDG 11, working in Tunis, and La Marsa municipalities, enhancing food security for vulnerable populations, particularly migrants and the homeless through the implementation of two urban gardens. AfriFOODlinks is a network program, supporting research, governance support, private sector engagement, pilots’ implementation building climate resilience into urban systems, city-to-city exchange, youth mobilisation, and global advocacy. It works with over 25 cities in Africa and Europe, ensuring cities are empowered to act alongside national governments. Dakar, is a rapidly growing coastal metropolis, it will show how food systems are central to the housing–climate–social inclusion nexus. Through AfriFOODlinks, the city positions food governance as a lever for urban resilience, linking school canteens, local value chains and community services to everyday living environments.