Independent Summit Dialogues

It's your time to contribute!

The success of the 2021 Food Systems Summit depends on the engagement of citizens all over the world. By convening or joining an Independent Dialogue, you can have a seat at the table and contribute directly to the Summit’s ambitious vision and objectives. But that’s not all: Dialogues also give you the chance to learn from others in your community, form new partnerships, and explore important challenges facing your local food system.

How to host your own Independent Dialogue

Anyone with an interest in food systems is invited to convene an Independent Dialogue.

Independent Dialogues can take many forms — from a webinar to a town-hall meeting to an informal gathering of community members. A diverse range of stakeholders — including youth activists and indigenous leaders, smallholder farmers, fishers, scientists and CEOs — help to ensure that your Dialogue identifies the most powerful ways to make your food system stronger and more equitable.

Dialogue participants might include people who work to feed a population (including farmers, supermarket managers, and food marketers); people who work in sectors that shape food systems (such as transport, logistics and financial services); and people whose work affects other facets of food systems (including natural resources, the environment, culture, indigenous knowledge, trade, and more).

The Summit’s only request is that three key features guide the Dialogues:

• Respect the Summit’s Principles of engagement
• Feature structured conversations among groups with different perspectives; and
• Report back to the Summit process through an official feedback form. 

By submitting the feedback form, you ensure that the outcome of your Dialogue will inform the Summit process and help to guide individual and collective action towards a future of food that is sustainable, equitable and secure. Don’t miss this chance for you and members of your community to sit at the table at the milestone UN Food Systems Summit!

Ready to sign up?

If you’re interested in convening an Independent Dialogue, please follow these steps:

1. Register as a Convenor
2. Download and read the Convenors Reference Manual as well as the Summit’s vision and principles of engagement.
3. From there, follow the process outlined in our Step-by-Step Guide to make your Dialogue dreams a reality.

Thanks so much for adding your voice to this milestone Summit. Best of luck with your Dialogue. We’re eager to hear how it goes!

Analysis and Reporting

All reports from Independent Dialogues will be publicly available. In addition, the Food Systems Summit Secretariat has formed a strategic partnership with the Blue Marble Evaluation global network to professionally synthesize and analyse all reports submitted by conveners of the Independent Dialogues. The synthesis will identify common themes, important insights, proposed actions, and potential solutions that cut across the Dialogues, as well as informing locally-owned actions after the Summit is over.

Synthesis Report 1: Based on the initial 17 feedback forms, presents a generative and illustrative set of emerging themes. Available here.

Synthesis Report 2: More than 100 Independent Dialogues have produced 10 guiding themes. Available here.

Synthesis Report 3: More than 400 Independent Dialogues have produced 22 guiding themes. Available here.

Synthesis Deep Dive Reports: Perspectives of key stakeholder groups: Indigenous Peoples, smallholder farmers and other small-scale producers, youth, and women. Available here.