Rome’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) headquarters pulsed with energy this October when the 2025 World Food Forum (WFF) opened its doors. The electric atmosphere was part celebration and part call to action as leaders, scientists, youth activists, and innovators gathered under the theme ‘Hand in Hand for Better Foods and a Better Future’.
Rome’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) headquarters pulsed with energy this October when the 2025 World Food Forum (WFF) opened its doors. The electric atmosphere was part celebration and part call to action as leaders, scientists, youth activists, and innovators gathered under the theme ‘Hand in Hand for Better Foods and a Better Future’.
More than 25,000 participants, including ten heads of state, 115 ministers, and hundreds of young changemakers, joined in what has quickly become one of the world’s most dynamic spaces for agrifood transformation. This year’s forum held special meaning, coinciding with FAO’s 80th anniversary, a milestone that both honoured the organization’s legacy and invited the world to imagine what the next eighty years can look like.
The Mosaic of Transformation
In his opening remarks, FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu described food as “life, culture, and a basic human right,” reminding us that transformation is like a mosaic: “many pieces, many colours, many hands and a lot of creativity.” That metaphor resonated far beyond the walls of Plenary Hall.
King Letsie III of Lesotho, President Lula da Silva of Brazil, and Professor Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh all echoed a shared truth: that change is possible only when nations work together, when innovation is matched by accountability, and when ambition is grounded in equity.
It was a timely reminder that global challenges, such as hunger, inequality, climate shocks, and biodiversity loss are deeply interconnected; so too, then, should solutions be interconnected. This is precisely where evaluation comes in.
Where the Forum Meets Evaluation
WFF was built on three interlinked pillars:
- Global Youth Forum: mobilizing young leaders to shape solutions and advocate for a more sustainable and equitable food future.
- Science and Innovation Forum: advancing evidence-based research and innovative technologies to accelerate transformation.
- Hand-in-Hand Initiative Investment Forum: connecting countries, investors and development partners to foster impactful investments that support national priorities.
By bringing these pillars together, WFF unites youth, science, innovation, and investment under one collaborative framework, bridging generations, disciplines and sectors to generate real-world change.
Like WFF, evaluation connects people, evidence, and purpose. It transforms inspiration into insight and dialogue into data, making sure that global initiatives grow into lasting impact. As WFF calls on the world to reimagine agrifood systems, EvalforEarth responds by ensuring that these visions are measurable, adaptive, and accountable.
From WFF to EvalforEarth: Turning Dialogue into Data and Vision into Evidence
Both WFF and EvalforEarth speak the same language of partnership, inclusion, and transformation. WFF’s mosaic of youth, science, and investment is reflected in EvalforEarth’s triad of evidence, learning, and accountability. Their alignment is natural and almost inevitable.
Where WFF convenes ideas, EvalforEarth cultivates reflection.
Where WFF amplifies voices, EvalforEarth ensures that learning endures.
Where WFF inspires transformation, EvalforEarth helps measure and sustain it.
In this way, the two illustrate a cycle of change: inspiration → implementation → reflection → adaptation. One convenes and the other consolidates. One imagines and the other measures.
Together, they move hand-in-hand toward a food-secure, sustainable future.
The Evolution of EvalforEarth: What we Offer and Why it Matters
EvalforEarth is a global Community of Practice dedicated to advancing evaluation across Food Security, Environment, Agriculture, and Rural Development (FEARD), the very ecosystem WFF seeks to transform.
EvalforEarth believe that sustainable change begins with shared purpose, but is sustained through evidence, learning, and accountability.
The Road Ahead
As FAO celebrates eighty years of leadership, the 2025 WFF reminds us that the future of food is not only about what we grow, but also about how we learn, measure, and evolve.For EvalforEarth, the journey continues to ensure that every dialogue on transformation is matched by systems that learn, adapt, and remain accountable to people and the planet.When evidence feeds the future, hope becomes strategy and strategy becomes sustainable change.
A blog by Arwa Khalid & Clemencia Cosentino