Building a stronger movement: gearing up for the third Nyéléni Global Forum
Launched in 1996 at the World Food Summit, food sovereignty promotes a people-focused approach to food systems, prioritizing locally produced, stable, healthy, and affordable food over dependence on global markets and neoliberal policies. The Nyéléni Forum in Mali (2007) established this vision as a global standard, uniting movements and organizations dedicated to food sovereignty and social justice. In 2015, the Nyéléni International Forum on Agroecology reinforced this, placing peasant, indigenous, family agroecology at the centre of a strategy for addressing climate and biodiversity crises.
Despite these achievements, we now face interconnected crises — economic, social, political, environmental and health-related—which are rooted in the oppressive capitalist system. These crises require systemic, transformative change beyond what existing frameworks offer. To achieve this, a broader, stronger movement with a unified agenda and coordinated action is essential. Expanding the food sovereignty movement with new voices and perspectives can drive impactful change that addresses current global challenges.
In response, the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty (IPC) has initiated the “Nyéléni process,” a global mobilization that builds on the successes of the 2007 and 2015 forums. Named to honour the past gatherings, the Nyéléni process calls on social movements worldwide to unite in joint proposals for systemic transformation. The process will celebrate a key milestone in September 2025 at the third Nyéléni Global Forum in Karnataka, India, offering a unique chance to set the agenda for just, sustainable food systems and system change. By fostering an inclusive, intersectional movement, the Nyéléni process aims to inspire and direct coordinated global efforts towards a hopeful, just future.
Building momentum toward the third Nyéléni Global Forum, social movements advocating for transformative change are already shaping the agenda for September 2025. Central to the Nyéléni movement political goal is the development of a joint political action agenda – a pivotal step towards realizing the Nyéléni process’s main objectives. This joint political action agenda will focus on key aspects that have emerged from the Nyéléni regional consultations organised in 2024 to provide a unified direction for social movements in the years ahead.
On a more technical level, while the host organisation is finalising logistics to allow the forum to take place, the regions are already building the delegations that will attend the Global Forum, striving to have all sectors represented, including those organizations or groups outside the food sovereignty movement, and respecting intersectional criteria. Meanwhile, many working groups— composed of representatives of social movements and support organizations—have emerged and are developing the work towards the forum: methodology, communication, fundraising, logistics, involvement of researchers, care and respectful processes, interpretation, and political formation.