Albania, Jordan, and Morocco: FAO project to accelerate food systems transformation pathways

26/01/2023

Support from Italy enables multi-stakeholder approaches to sustainable food systems in the Mediterranean

Amman/Rabat/Rome/Tirana – Food systems stakeholders in Albania, Jordan, and Morocco have gotten a boost from a project funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy and implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to operationalize their food systems transformation pathways. “SFS-MED: a multi-stakeholder initiative for Sustainable Food Systems in the Mediterranean” is an inter-regional project that reaffirms Italy’s continued commitment to supporting the follow-up to the UN Food Systems Summit which took place in September 2021.

This project aims at accelerating progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the Mediterranean region. Country and regional-level activities look to promote multi-stakeholder dialogues around key levers for food systems transformation, reinforcing cooperation across the Mediterranean.

“With sustainable food systems now integrated in the new national Strategy on Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries in Albania, the SFS-MED project will focus, inter alia, on the agro-tourism sector, which has the potential to be a lever for sustainable transformation of food systems, by advancing the country's green economy approach” said Raimund Jehle, FAO Representative in Albania.

According to Nabil Assaf, FAO Representative in Jordan, “the national UN Food Systems Summit dialogue is the pathway towards transforming Jordan’s food systems to more efficient and sustainable ones that contribute to improved availability and self-reliance, access to nutritious food and healthy diets for all Jordanians at all times by 2030, building on the high priority and momentum given to food security and food systems at national and international levels during the third decade of the 21^st century, and in line with the vision of His Majesty King Abdullah II Bin Al Hussein towards achieving food security”.

In the words of Jean Senahoun, FAO Representative in Morocco, “in Morocco, the SFS-MED project will support the implementation of the national strategy “Génération Green 2020-2030” with the aim to improve the resilience and sustainability of food systems through a focus on policy, institutional and governance framework, capacity development and scientific research”.

Country-level activities are set to build capacities of food systems actors to embrace a systemic approach to agrifood, as well as to leverage funds and mobilize investments for transformative actions and country projects. Project work will also reinforce the connections across Mediterranean countries, promoting country-to-country exchange building on common interests and shared priorities for food systems transformation in the region.

These activities are implemented within the framework of the “SFS-MED Platform”, an initiative co-developed by FAO, the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM), the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), and the Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area (PRIMA). As an affiliated project of the One Planet network’s Sustainable Food Systems Programme, the SFS-MED Platform is a forum for multi-stakeholder dialogue and collaboration, a network for strengthening knowledge sharing and capacity building, and a catalyst for regional cooperation on priority themes for sustainable food systems transformation in the Mediterranean.

This support also leverages previous activities of the platformt at a regional level, such as the organization of three UN Food Systems Summit Dialogues in partnership with CHEAM, UFM, and PRIMA The dialogues were instrumental in identifying some of the critical entry points for food systems transformation in the Mediterranean, which were reflected in a stocktaking exercise published in December 2021.

The dialogues have also inspired an ongoing series of technical webinars to exchange about food-systems-related themes such as food waste management, the Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystems (WEFE) nexus, the Role of Innovation for Small and Medium Enterprises, the role of consumers, etc.

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