Climate change, population growth, and shifting consumption patterns shape the global food landscape, and developing resilient food systems is more critical than ever for sustainable agricultural transformation. A multi-faceted approach to food system resilience, combining insights from key research institutions, is underway and will be outlined in this session.  
 
Beginning with the State of the Region Report focusing on agro-based transformation and its future in East and Southern Africa, a collaboration between the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), the Food Agriculture Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN), and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) will highlight critical trends and challenges in Eastern and Southern Africa, focusing on climate-smart agricultural innovations and sustainable market transitions. Initiatives like Ukama Ustawi and FoSTA Health are practical solutions to strengthen agro-based futures throughout the continent. 
 
Building on this foundation, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) will showcase scaling pathways for CGIAR innovations, emphasizing the role of strategic partnerships, including the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) program, with an emphasis on aligning CGIAR’s research agenda with Africa’s policy frameworks, notably the CAADP-Kampala Targets and Abidjan II Action Plan, ensuring that agricultural innovations reach the farmers and stakeholders who need them most. An International Potato Center (CIP) case study on Zero Till regenerative agriculture will highlight one innovation already reaping results. CIP will also highlight the emerging urban food systems landscape, exploring ways to link rural agricultural production with urban consumption and innovations in food safety, waste reduction, and the role of food vendors in sustainable urban supply chains.  
 
The International Food Policy Research Institute, together with the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT will highlight the importance of including diets, consumers and the food environment in shaping food systems by presenting findings from its innovative food environment research in Viet Nam on the food environment-diet linkages of adolescents, food retail practices of thousands of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and stakeholder perceptions of the barriers limiting food systems transformation to move in a direction towards more sustainable healthy diets.  By integrating these perspectives, the session will provide a comprehensive roadmap, reassuring the audience of the thoroughness of the approach for achieving resilient, inclusive, and scalable food systems in Africa.