What does agriculture have to do with children’s health? How can we make healthy eating more appealing to young people? And how can we turn conversations about healthier food systems into meaningful action?
These were some of the questions at the heart of our participation in the 20th Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA), held in Jamaica from 27 September to 2 October 2026.
Caribbean Week of Agriculture is a major regional gathering that brings together policymakers, farmers, entrepreneurs, researchers, young people and development partners to explore the future of agriculture and food systems. This year’s theme, The New F.A.C.E. of Caribbean Food Systems, focused on Food Security, Agri-Business, Climate-Smart Technologies and Export Expansion.
Although agriculture is at the centre of the event, the conversations extend beyond food production. How food is grown, processed, marketed and made available has important implications for nutrition, public health and the wellbeing of our communities.
For us, this made CWA an exciting opportunity to showcase our EU-CaN-supported My Healthy Heroes project, connect with others working to improve Caribbean food systems and explore opportunities for collaboration.
My Healthy Heroes at the Innovation Village
On 30 September, we hosted a booth at the Innovation Village, introducing visitors to My Healthy Heroes and sharing our vision for making nutrition education engaging and accessible to children.
My Healthy Heroes aims to use a creative and engaging educational approach to help children understand the importance of healthy eating and making positive lifestyle choices. Through the project, we are developing a variety of educational resources for children and advocating for policymakers to develop and implement a collection of healthy food policies to ensure that children have easy access to affordable, nutritious food.
At the Innovation Village, we were particularly excited to demonstrate the concept for our computer game and give visitors a glimpse of how we hope to bring health education to life in a fun and memorable way.
Throughout the morning, we had some lovely conversations with visitors about the project, its goals and the importance of helping children develop healthy habits from an early age. Visitors spent time engaging with us at the booth, showing genuine interest in what we are working to achieve.
We also shared My Healthy Heroes tote bags, badges and other small giveaways, helping us spread the word about the project and create opportunities for future conversations.
Thank you to everyone who stopped by to learn more about our work. We enjoyed meeting you and sharing our ideas.
Taking the Conversation to the Youth Forum
Our participation continued on 1 October, when we delivered a presentation at the CWA Youth Forum.
Engaging young people is a particularly important part of our work. They are not simply the recipients of health education; they can also be powerful advocates for healthier communities and contributors to the decisions that shape their future.
The Youth Forum provided another opportunity to share our work and connect with an audience interested in the future of Caribbean agriculture, health and food systems.
Learning from Others and Exploring Opportunities for Collaboration
One of the most valuable aspects of attending a regional event like CWA is the opportunity to meet people working towards similar goals from different perspectives.
During the week, we connected with several stakeholders whose work intersects with our own, including our fellow grantees, the Zero Hunger Trust Fund, Helen’s Daughters, GRENROP, Dominica Livestock Cooperative and the Grenada Cooperative League Limited.
One highlight was meeting Alpha Sennon, founder of WhyFarm and creator of AgriMan. Through a superhero character, AgriMan, his work uses creative approaches to engage young people in agriculture, food and nutrition.
We were delighted to learn more about this initiative because of the shared interest in using imaginative, youth-friendly approaches to communicate important messages about food. It was encouraging to see how creative storytelling can connect young people with issues that affect both their health and their communities.
These conversations reinforced the value of bringing people and organisations together across sectors. While our projects may have different starting points, we share an interest in creating food systems that better serve our communities.
Why Health, Education and Agriculture Must Work Together
A key reflection from CWA was the close relationship between agriculture, nutrition and public health.
Agriculture helps determine what food is available, how accessible it is and the opportunities for local production and livelihoods. Education can help people understand nutrition and develop the knowledge and skills to make informed choices. Public health initiatives and policies can help create environments in which healthier choices are easier to make.
These areas are interconnected, yet opportunities to work together more closely remain.
For the Caribbean, strengthening food security is not only about producing more food. It is also important to consider the nutritional quality of the food available, how food environments influence what people eat and how we can make healthy, locally produced foods more accessible.
This is particularly relevant to our work in St Kitts and Nevis, where non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some cancers remain important public health concerns.
We need stronger connections between agricultural development, nutrition education and public health policy. This means creating more opportunities for the agricultural, health and education sectors to share knowledge, develop joint initiatives and work towards common goals.
My Healthy Heroes is one small contribution to this wider effort. By helping children engage with healthy eating in a fun and accessible way, we hope to support healthier habits while contributing to broader conversations about the future of food and nutrition in the Caribbean.
From Conversations to Action
Another important takeaway from the week was the need to move beyond discussions and commitments towards implementation.
Regional events such as CWA provide valuable spaces to exchange ideas, identify challenges and build relationships. However, lasting progress depends on what happens afterwards.
We need policies that are not only developed but implemented, supported by appropriate resources, collaboration and accountability. We also need to ensure that the connections made at events like CWA lead to practical opportunities to work together.
For us, this means following up on the conversations we had, exploring potential partnerships and continuing to advocate for approaches that recognise the links between health, nutrition, agriculture and education.
We left CWA encouraged by the interest in our work and the opportunities to learn from others. We are looking forward to seeing where these conversations lead and how we can build on the relationships established during the week.
Thank you
We are grateful for the opportunity to showcase My Healthy Heroes at Caribbean Week of Agriculture and to meet so many people working to strengthen the region’s food systems.
Thank you to everyone who visited our Innovation Village booth, attended our Youth Forum presentation or took the time to learn about our work. We also appreciate the conversations, encouragement and invitations that have opened the door to potential future collaborations.
A special thank you to the European Union through its EU-CaN programme, CPVA and FIAP for the opportunity to participate in CWA.
As we continue developing the project, we remain committed to making health education engaging for children and contributing to a Caribbean where healthier food choices are adequately supported by the environments in which we live, learn and grow.
Building healthier communities takes more than one sector working alone. It takes all of us working together.
Our participation in the Caribbean Week of Agriculture was supported by the European Union under the EU-CaN programme, implemented by Foundation for the Internationalisation of Public Administrations (FIAP) and Central Project Management Agency (CPVA). This initiative has been developed by CPVA.
Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CPVA. Neither the EU nor the contracting authority can be held responsible for them.
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