Training and empowering frontline food systems experts

Global Alliance for the Future of Food

As an alliance of philanthropic foundations, the Global Alliance for the Future of Food was set up to maximise the resources and networks of its partners to ensure that sustainable food systems are on the political, economic, and social agenda.

Results and Impact

Amplifying the voices of frontline food systems experts

Challenge – empower and upskill a cohort of 42 frontline experts from the food systems community

We were tasked with developing a media training programme to empower and upskill a cohort of 42 frontline experts from the food systems community ahead of COP28 in Dubai – including regenerative farmers, social enterprise leaders and climate resilience experts – many of whom had never attended a COP or spoken to the media before.

Solution – A three-part, comprehensive media training course

A three-part, comprehensive media training course was heavily informed by the initial challenges and goals shared by the participants in our pre-training survey. After laying the foundations and helping the trainees to build their narratives and key messages, we focused heavily on media interview practice, staging mock interviews with freelance journalists based across the world who have written for the BBC, New York Times and more.

Results – participants grew in confidence and took part in live interviews

Our post training survey revealed that the participants grew in confidence in all the original training outcomes, including understanding how the media operates at COP, and taking part in a live interview.

Impact – 14 interviews with members of the cohort, resulting in 27 pieces of coverage

Upskilling the cohort enabled us to put them forward for media opportunities at COP, which we did so through our on-the-ground press office for the Food Systems Pavilion (of which the Global Alliance was a partner).

We coordinated 14 interviews with members of the cohort, resulting in 27 pieces of coverage and 57 individual quotes, including BBC, The Guardian, Sky News Arabia and Radio France Internationale.

What we did

Broadcast and social coverage

Interview highlights included…

• Sky News Arabia – Instagram: Monica Yator featured as one of several Indigenous experts.

• Sky News Arabia: Monicah Yator interviewed.

• UN Climate Change – Instagram: Evans Muswahili, Kenya, featured in the ‘Food Day’ round-up video.

Compendium

We developed a Compendium for external media and event organisers at COP28, which housed profiles and biographies for each of the 42 frontline experts.

This involved copy-editing the information submitted by each spokesperson and designing the full Compendium using Global Alliance’s existing brand guidelines.

Media coverage

Top stories included:

• BBC News: Karina Gonçalves David quoted and pictured; Esther Penunia quoted

• BBC News: Pavel Partha quoted and pictured

• The Guardian: Three members of the frontline cohort quoted

What our clients say

“At COP28, we partnered with Greenhouse Communications to deliver media and strategic communications training to over 40 frontline food systems leaders from different parts of the world. From conception to content and delivery, they were highly responsive to the needs of a diverse group. Feedback from the delegates confirmed a significant improvement in their media awareness and public speaking skills post-training. Additionally, Greenhouse provided valuable on-the-ground support at COP28, assisting with media placements and briefings. Overall, their adaptability and responsiveness were commendable.”

Vivian Maduekeh, Climate, Health and Food Justice Programmes Lead, Global Alliance for the Future of Food