From silos to systems: Rethinking governance for food security
Starting with cases from Argentina, Brazil and Ethiopia, a new FAO learning series unveils real-world lessons about connecting people, policies and practice to transform agrifood systems’ decision-making processes for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals
Street market in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
©FAO/Giuseppe Bizzarri
As over 700 million people go without enough to eat, rethinking how decisions are made in agrifood systems has become increasingly urgent. But alongside this challenge lies an enormous opportunity. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has launched a new learning series to explore exactly that—how novel ways of governance can unlock these systems’ full potential and accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Governance Learning Series Exploring Innovative Pathways for Agrifood Systems Transformation to Advance the Sustainable Development Goals spotlights innovative governance models at multiple levels, based on collaboration and co-design by various actors. It delves into how these models are driving tangible change for food security, improved nutrition, a healthier environment and territorial development.
“Governance is often the missing link in agrifood systems work,” said Corinna Hawkes, Director of FAO’s Agrifood Systems and Food Safety Division, at the launch of the Series. “It’s about strengthening the relationships and processes that help align priorities, connect policies to real needs, and build trust across sectors.”
To foster peer learning and share actionable insights, this three-fold virtual series features participatory dialogues led by a selected number of case proponents who responded to FAO’s Call for Submissions on governance in agrifood systems launched in 2024. Their lived experiences offer grounded perspectives on how to make policy more adaptive and responsive – from various geographical and economic contexts at different levels.
The first session, held on 15 April under the theme Governance Mechanisms for Transformative Impact in Agrifood Systems, presented lessons from Argentina, Brazil, and Ethiopia, gathering over 120 participants, including other case proponents who will feature their own cases in the next sessions. What unites the three anchor cases is a deliberate shift away from siloed, sector-specific interventions towards integrated, systems-based approaches that value collaboration, adaptability, local ownership and knowledge, and long-term resilience.
An agroecological turnaround: Zavalla’s story
In the Argentine town of Zavalla, tensions once arose over the use of agrochemicals near residential areas. But rather than escalating conflict, the community chose dialogue. Farmers, residents, academics, and public institutions came together to reimagine their agrifood system—and launched a local agroecological transformation.
Going beyond national buffer zone regulations, this 6,000-inhabitant town adopted municipal ordinances to promote sustainable farming, introduced a certification scheme for agroecological producers, and created an environmental tax to fund initiatives like composting, bio-input production and an organic-certified flour mill. With more than 200 hectares now under chemical-free cultivation, Zavalla is forging local agroecology-based food chains that connect growers with markets in nearby cities and public food programmes, including farm-to-school supply chains.
“Today, the Zavalla community is proud of these achievements,” said Mayor Guillermo Rajmil, who has spearheaded this transformation since his first term in 2015. “Through dialogue, we transformed a peri-urban area into a source of healthy food purchased at reasonable prices, social harmony, and local identity.”
Echoed his words Griselda Muñoz, an Agricultural Sciences Professor and Director for Gender and Human Rights at the National University of Rosario, which partnered with the Zavalla community. She emphasized the human values to sustain the transition: “Respect, solidarity, patience, understanding, and kindness… these are fundamental to building the fabric, the social network, that is needed to achieve a profound and sustainable transformation over time.”
Brazil’s Alimenta Cidades: building on local strengths and specificities
In Brazil, the Alimenta Cidades national strategy, launched in 2023, offers another lesson: start with what’s working and focus on local needs. Rather than designing a top-down policy, this city-oriented national initiative undertakes consultations and diagnostics at the municipal level to identify effective local programmes already improving food security and nutrition. National efforts then focus on scaling and supporting these grassroots successes while developing capacities, proposing policy and institutional linkages, and prioritizing people living in poverty or severe food insecurity across urban peripheries.
Coordinated by Brazil’s Ministry of Social Development and Assistance, Family and Fight Against Hunger (MDS), this non-binding policy is currently targeting food security improvements for more than 60 million people–over one-fourth of the country’s population–across 60 selected cities. The emphasis on local engagement and ownership proves that governance can drive scale without sacrificing local relevance. Considering the wide socioeconomic differences between participating cities, the strategy promotes tailored solutions that emerge from the needs, priorities and actions defined by the local assessments.
Following mayoral elections in late 2024, some participating cities underwent administrative changes, requiring fresh negotiations with the MDS-hosted National Food and Nutritional Security System (SISAN)—which manages the strategy. Still, technical teams have been pivotal in giving continuity and maintaining momentum, and all cities but one have reaffirmed their commitment to Alimenta Cidades.
“When you have a strong technical team, they become the guardians of the agenda and help guide the transition,” highlighted Kelliane Fuscaldi, General Coordinator for Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture at the MDS/SISAN.
One of the main challenges now is to sensitize other cities across the country to adopt and help expand the strategy, ensuring that successful models aren’t limited to early adopters but become a foundation for national food and nutrition policy.
Ethiopia’s Seqota Declaration: innovative governance structures for nutrition
In Ethiopia, the Seqota Declaration (SD) demonstrates how coordinated, multi-level governance structures can improve nutrition outcomes. Launched in 2015 to end stunting in children under two by 2030, the national initiative brings together stakeholders across ministries, regional governments, and communities to improve multisectoral coordination and advance nutrition outcomes. It is now in its second phase of “expansion,” building on the experiences of the first phase of “innovation.”
Early implementation was challenged by overlapping mandates between the Ministry of Health and other actors. However, distributed leadership, multidisciplinary teams on the ground and persistent awareness-raising have helped clarify roles and foster cooperation, showing promising results.
The governance structure—ranging from federal and regional programme delivery units to woreda (district) coordinators and community leaders—has created an enabling environment for progress and accountability. Stunting among children under five has declined 2.5 percent in Amhara and 2.6 percent in Tigray during the innovation phase, according to studies by the Ethiopian Public Health Institute and Johns Hopkins University—reaching 3.4 percent of reduction in some areas during the expansion phase.
Similarly to Brazil’s Alimenta Cidades case, the SD has also put local solutions at the centre. For instance, it has developed costed woreda-based plans that outline specific interventions and their associated costs, aiming to address the unique challenges at the woreda level. “We have also created Community Labs through which communities identify and prioritize their problems and co-create solutions,” Fesseha Tekele, Assistant Senior Programme Manager for the SD at Ethiopia’s Ministry of Health. Meanwhile, the Declaration team has also worked together with priests and godfathers to ensure continuous children’s nutrition during the long periods of traditional fasting, thereby promoting positive behaviour change.
The Declaration’s innovative spirit also shines through in its approach to resource mobilization. As the team prepares for the third and final “scale-up” phase, they are looking beyond traditional funding sources—working to embed nutrition goals into existing government programmes with funds already secured. “If a programme focuses on producing specific crops, we then encourage making it nutrition-sensitive,” explained Tekele. “That could mean adding elements like promoting healthy consumption or organizing cooking demonstrations.”
‘Planting seeds of humanity’: the face of governance
Rather than treating food, health, environment, and economy as separate policy areas, the featured cases integrate priorities across sectors. This is made possible through skillful leadership that navigates divergent interests, partnerships that create ownership of communities and local actors and promoting learning, flexibility and adaptation.
“These examples remind us that governance is about finding common ground, negotiating differences, and approaching collaboration with humility,” commented Milagros de Hoz, Deputy Director of Strategy and Policy at the New York City Mayor's Office of Food Policy, and a case discussant for the upcoming third session.
Her message resonated across participants and led the way to a powerful reflection by the session's moderator Laura De Matteis, FAO Agrifood Systems Expert: “Let’s continue these conversations, as someone said in the chat, ‘planting seeds of humanity’ and giving a human face to governance processes that often feel intangible.”
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What’s next?
The FAO Governance Learning Series continues with Sessions 2 and 3 as follows:
28 May – Shifting the Balance: Empowering Voices in Agrifood Decision-Making
24 June – Harnessing Data for More Sustainable Agrifood Policies
Governance Mechanisms for Transformative Impact in Agrifood Systems
This was the first session of the Governance Learning Series: Exploring innovative pathways for agrifood systems transformation to advance the Sustainable Development Goals. This three-fold virtual series features participatory dialogues led by a selected number of case proponents who responded to FAO’s Call for Submissions on governance in agrifood systems, launched in 2024.
- Series webpage: Exploring Innovative Pathways for Agrifood Systems Transformation to Advance the Sustainable Development Goals
- Call for Submissions: How can FAO better support countries in addressing governance of agrifood systems transformation to make them more sustainable, inclusive and resilient?
- Argentina – Agroecology transition in Zavalla (in Spanish)
- Brazil – National Strategy for Food and Nutrition Security in Cities - Alimenta Cidades
- Ethiopia – Seqota Declaration