UN agencies converge efforts and knowledge to develop and co- launch a Guide to help stakeholders rethink the food system through multistakeholder collaboration.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), announced today the launch of  "Rethinking food systems: a guide for multi-stakeholder collaboration."

Conceived to support national and international multi-stakeholder initiatives, the Guide contributes to the follow-up of the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit and has been developed for individuals, teams and organizations tasked with convening and facilitating multi-stakeholder initiatives of all scales and types related to the sustainable transformation of food systems.

Multistakeholder initiatives have become increasingly relevant given the growing realization that policies designed in isolation of one another are unlikely to deliver the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Food systems involve complex challenges, which call for a systemic, multi-level and multi-stakeholder participatory approach for addressing interrelated issues across economic, social, and environmental dimensions.  

The Guide is constructed around five Building Blocks:

• Block 1 emphasizes broad stakeholder representation, and capacities needed to engage in deliberations.
• Block 2 provides guidance on the nexus between qualitative discussions and the use of scientific evidence and data and local and Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge.
• Block 3 guides the “how” aspects of collaboration, and the importance of managing power asymmetries, and how to best engage with each stakeholder group, in particular empowering marginalized voices and the underrepresented.
• Block 4 guides the conversion of ideas generated during stakeholder discussions into plans and action underscoring financial, human resource, and monitoring and evaluation needs.
• Block 5 suggests ways that can contribute to the sustainability of an initiative.

The interdependence of the Building Blocks shows that success is not merely about bringing science-based evidence and other types of knowledge to the table but requires navigating complicated social and technical interactions between an array of vested agendas and constituents, so that deliberations are carefully guided. The task is not easy takes time and commitment.

In the run up to the UN Food Systems Summit +2 Stocktaking Moment, taking place in Rome, Italy from 24 to 26 July 2023, this Guide provides insights into how to achieve a successful and collaborative transition to sustainable food systems.

 “We must open our consultation processes and governance mechanisms to all relevant stakeholders if we wish to address the global food and environmental crises together. This joint Guide by UNEP, FAO, and UNDP, offers a clear methodology to make multistakeholder collaboration for sustainable food systems transformation a reality”, commented Sharon Gil, Acting Head, Cities Unit, Economy & Industry Division.

“This important guide brings together learnings from 3 UN agencies & explores multistakeholder collaboration which is meaningful and helps release blockages to change but is also really hard. The guide makes all this work easier”, Corinna Hawkes, Director of Food Safety and Food Systems Division at FAO, noted in her keynote speech during the recent 4th Global Conference of the One Planet network's Sustainable Food Systems Programme entitled “The Transformation We Need”, which took place in Hanoi, Vietnam from 24-27 April.

“UNDP’s food systems work has focused for over a decade on supporting governments to convene stakeholders in innovative and effective manners.  As such UNDP is very pleased to join forces with FAO and UNEP to bring cutting edge methodology to countries on how best to bring stakeholders into food system planning and reform. Genuine collaboration is complex to achieve as entrenched in multiple conflicts and economic and political interests.  So stronger focus on more effective collaboration is fundamental to changing business as usual towards a global food system we need”, said Andrew Bovarnick, head of Food and Agricultural Commodity systems. 

Download the publication here: https://doi.org/10.4060/cc6325en