Food System Diplomacy Training: Transforming Youth Mindsets in Bandung

Bandung, February 19-23, 2025 — In a classroom filled with eager young faces, facilitator Angga Dwiartama posed a provocative question: "When you think about food, what comes to mind?" The answers ranged from "markets" to "hunger" to "my grandmother's cooking." But by the end of five intensive days, these 50 participants—25 youth with disabilities and 25 economically marginalized young people—had developed a radically different understanding of food systems.

The five-day Food System Diplomacy Training schedule, February 19-23, 2025

The Food System Diplomacy School (FOODS) wasn't just another training. It was a carefully designed intervention to shift mindsets—from viewing food as a commodity to understanding it as a site of power, justice, and transformation.

The Challenge: Disconnection from Food Systems

Bandung, a city of 2.5 million where more than one-third of residents are young people, faces a food paradox. While the city prides itself on innovation, its dependence on external food sources and processed foods has grown steadily. Initiatives like the Buruan Sae urban farming project show promise, but broader youth engagement remains limited.

The disconnect runs deep. Many urban young people see food issues as purely agricultural—something that happens in rural fields, far from their daily lives. They don't recognize the environmental, social, and economic dimensions of food systems or their own potential role in shaping them.

This gap is especially pronounced among marginalized groups. Youth with disabilities often face additional barriers to accessing information and participating in food-related initiatives. Economically vulnerable women and urban poor youth lack resources and networks to engage meaningfully in food system transformation.

Day 1: Opening Eyes to Complexity

February 19, 2025 began with an icebreaker that immediately broke down barriers. Participants from different backgrounds—wheelchair users, market vendors, university students, community organizers—shared their personal food stories using a "Two Facts and One Lie" game.

The first substantive session introduced the seven pillars of food sovereignty, a framework that resonated deeply with participants' lived experiences. When Mulia Nurhasan explained that food sovereignty "focuses on food for people, not profit," several participants nodded vigorously, recognizing their own struggles with food access.

Dr. Siscawati's presentation on gender and intersectionality revealed how food insecurity compounds across identity categories. Women with disabilities face triple marginalization—by gender, disability, and often economic status—in accessing nutritious food. The room buzzed with recognition as participants connected theory to their daily lives.

Filippo's session on food diplomacy introduced a new concept: that food systems are governed by complex negotiations between governments, corporations, NGOs, and communities. Understanding these power dynamics, participants learned, is the first step to changing them.

Day 2: From Understanding to Empowerment

By the second day, participants were ready to move from analysis to action. Nonie from Rikolto walked the group through the BATWOVE framework—Building Advocacy Through Working with Others on Values and Evidence. This practical tool gave participants a roadmap for organizing advocacy campaigns.

The afternoon field visit to Bandung's food markets transformed abstract concepts into tangible realities. Participants interviewed vendors, mapped supply chains, and observed price fluctuations. One participant with a visual impairment used audio recording to capture vendor stories, demonstrating that food systems research is accessible to all.

Angga Dwiartama's session on urban food sovereignty in Bandung brought the global local. Participants examined case studies of successful urban agriculture projects, food cooperatives, and community kitchens. "We can do this in our neighborhoods," one participant from Pakemitan exclaimed, already planning next steps.

Day 3: Designing Change

The final day focused on turning vision into action. Theresia's social business model canvas workshop had participants sketching out food enterprises—a disability-led catering service, a women's organic vegetable cooperative, a youth-run food waste composting initiative.

The Theory of Change session for Urban Futures helped participants map pathways from current challenges to desired futures. Using sticky notes and flip charts, small groups visualized how individual actions aggregate into community transformation, then into policy change.

The highlight was the diplomacy role-play. Participants were assigned roles—government officials, corporate executives, farmers' representatives, disability advocates—and tasked with negotiating a city food policy. The simulation revealed power imbalances, alliance-building strategies, and the importance of evidence-based advocacy.

The "Foods Buku" Reflection Project

Between sessions, participants worked on personal reflection projects called "Foods Buku" (Food Books). They documented their food system journeys through photos, essays, and visual art. These submissions reveal the training's deep impact.

Anindita, an environmental engineering student, wrote about her community service work in Pakemitan where she introduced maggot farming and ecoenzyme production to reduce food waste. The training deepened her understanding of how household-level food waste connects to city-wide sustainability challenges.

Windi Hefitriani reflected on how the training changed her perception of urban agriculture from a hobby to a climate adaptation strategy. Muhammad Azmi documented his neighborhood's traditional food markets, recognizing them as sites of food sovereignty worth preserving against supermarket encroachment.

Outcomes: Beyond Knowledge Transfer

The FOODS training wasn't measured in certificates distributed (though all 50 participants received them). The real outcomes emerged in outcome harvesting surveys conducted two weeks later.

Eleven participants reported concrete behavior changes: starting urban gardens, joining food cooperatives, advocating for accessible food retail spaces, and organizing mini-food sovereignty sessions in their communities. Several participants with disabilities noted increased confidence in speaking about food policy in public forums.

The training created a network. Participants exchanged phone numbers, formed WhatsApp groups, and planned collaborative projects. The social capital built over five days became infrastructure for ongoing food justice work.

The Pedagogy of Inclusion

What made FOODS distinctive was its commitment to accessibility. Sign language interpreters were present for all sessions. Visual presentations used large fonts and high contrast for participants with low vision. Tactile models demonstrated abstract concepts like supply chains and food cycles.

Facilitators were trained in participatory methods that center marginalized voices. Small group discussions were structured to ensure quieter participants had space to contribute. Role-plays incorporated diverse scenarios reflecting participants' varied lived experiences.

The training venue, carefully selected for wheelchair accessibility, included accessible bathrooms and wide doorways. Meals served were not only nutritious but culturally appropriate, demonstrating food sovereignty principles in practice.

What Participants Said

"Before FOODS, I thought food systems were just about farming. Now I see food everywhere—in policy, in power, in our relationships," shared a participant from the youth disability group.

Another reflected: "I never knew diplomacy could apply to food. But when we did the simulation, I realized every meal involves negotiation—between producers and sellers, between family members about what to cook, between communities and government about markets."

A woman from an economically vulnerable background noted: "This training treated us as experts of our own experience. We weren't just learning—we were teaching each other."

Looking Ahead

The Food System Diplomacy Training was the foundation for PESPA's broader work. Participants went on to join the five-workshop Food Sovereignty Campaign, apply for mini-grants to implement food projects, and serve as peer trainers in their communities.

CRPG is now finalizing the 60-page FOODS training module for publication, making the curriculum available to other organizations working on food justice. The model—intensive, participatory, and radically inclusive—offers a blueprint for transformative education.

In a city where food challenges multiply amid rapid urbanization, fifty young people now see themselves as agents of change. They understand the complexity of food systems and, more importantly, they believe in their power to transform them.

That shift in mindset, cultivated over five February days in Bandung, may prove to be the most nourishing outcome of all.

The Food System Diplomacy Training was designed and delivered by CRPG as part of the PESPA Consortium (led by Article33, funded by Yayasan Humanis dan Inovasi Sosial through the Urban Futures program).