The African Development Bank (AfDB) will convene a high-level side event at COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, on November 13th, 2026, to launch RESILAFRICA, a flagship initiative designed to connect partners and scale investments towards building the resilience of African food systems to climate shocks.
The event, titled “Towards Africa Food Systems Resilience Flagship (RESILAFRICA): An African Development Bank-led initiative to connect partners and scale investments towards building the resilience of African food systems to climate shocks”, will take place from 16:30 to 18:00 TRT at the Africa Pavilion in the Blue Zone, with the World Farmers’ Organisation (WFO) Secretary General Andrea Porro listed as a speaker. The initiative aims to build new partnerships to scale up climate finance through a coordinated platform for agriculture resilience and food security in Africa.
RESILAFRICA is designed to address the growing vulnerability of African food systems to climate shocks, including droughts, floods, pest outbreaks and extreme weather events that increasingly threaten food security, livelihoods and human security across the continent, with the initiative seeking to mobilise climate finance, strengthen partnerships and scale investments in climate-resilient agriculture and food systems. The African Development Bank’s leadership of the initiative reflects its broader commitment to supporting climate adaptation and resilience across Africa, with the bank having identified food systems resilience as a critical priority area in its climate strategy.
The launch comes at a time when African food systems face mounting pressure from climate change, with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) launching a joint flagship report at COP31 titled “Food Systems Under Stress: Building Resilience from the First Mile”, which provides evidence on how 2026 price volatility compounds with climate impacts to increase the vulnerability of rural populations, advocating for bundled packages that account for climate-resilient inputs, market access and finance. The report’s findings underscore the need for integrated approaches that address the multiple stressors facing African food systems, from climate shocks to market volatility and limited access to finance.
RESILAFRICA builds on a growing body of continental initiatives aimed at strengthening food systems resilience, including the African Union Commission and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) High-Level Convening on Advancing Durable Solutions Towards Zero Hunger in Africa, held in Addis Ababa in November 2026, which called for renewed country leadership on food and nutrition sovereignty and investment in durable solutions to achieving Zero Hunger in Africa. The AU–IFRC convening established the Food Security Resilience Platform (FSRP) as a framework for aligning country priorities, partners and resources, with its flagship Food and Nutrition Resilience Programme (FNRP) supporting integrated community resilience programming across Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan and Lesotho.
The AfDB’s initiative also aligns with broader efforts to strengthen climate resilience across African agriculture, with the Welthungerhilfe-hosted side event “Resilient Food Systems in a Changing Climate: From Local Adaptation to Systemic Transformation” at COP31 exploring how locally led and proven adaptation approaches can strengthen resilient food systems and how policy and finance can enable their implementation at scale, connecting local experience with National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA). The convergence of these initiatives reflects a growing recognition that building resilient food systems requires coordinated action across multiple levels, from local communities to national governments and international institutions.
The RESILAFRICA launch event is expected to bring together policymakers, development partners, financial institutions, farmers’ organisations and private sector stakeholders to discuss how to mobilise climate finance, strengthen partnerships and scale investments in climate-resilient agriculture and food systems across Africa, with the initiative’s success likely to depend on its ability to translate high-level commitments into concrete financing mechanisms and on-the-ground projects. The event’s timing at COP31, during the conference’s focus on turning the Paris Agreement’s commitments into practical outcomes, positions RESILAFRICA as a key platform for advancing Africa’s food systems resilience agenda on the global stage.
The challenge now is to ensure that RESILAFRICA moves beyond a launch event to become a functioning platform that connects African countries with the finance, technology and partnerships needed to build resilient food systems, with the African Development Bank’s track record in mobilising climate finance and supporting agricultural development likely to play a critical role in determining the initiative’s impact. The outcome of the COP31 side event will likely shape the direction of RESILAFRICA’s implementation, with the initiative’s ability to attract investment and build partnerships across the continent determining whether it can deliver on its promise of scaling climate finance for African food systems resilience.
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