HASTEN Lecture: A systems approach to agrifood systems transformation. Practical applications - Case studies from Rwanda and Sierra Leone

18/09/2025

RWANDA, 2025. Activity at Farmer Field School at the Rice Plantation

©FAO /Jean Baptiste Nkurunziza

Background

In 2024, FAO launched the HASTEN project to empower the next-generation of agrifood leaders in Lesotho, Sierra Leone, and Rwanda to drive sustainable agrifood systems transformation. This lecture series is the second element of the project’s capacity-building component, designed in response to country-identified priorities and knowledge gaps. Targeting young professionals across public, private and academic sectors, the series emphasizes transdisciplinary systems thinking and SDG interlinkages. The sessions build on findings from inception missions and a capacity survey, as well as insights from a 2025 study visit to Ireland. The lectures aim to deepen understanding of systems transformation and inspire context-relevant leadership and innovation across sectors.

Lecture: 'A Systems Approach to Agrifood Systems Transformation. Practical Applications - Case Studies from Rwanda and Sierra Leone'

The first lecture combines conceptual framing with practical illustrations, drawing on the recent FAO publication Transforming Agriculture and Food through a Systems Approach. It presents six key components of a systems approach alongside real-world practices to equip young professionals with both theoretical and applied understanding. Examples focus on Africa and thematic areas identified by HASTEN participants, aligning with their expressed interests and capacity needs.

Specific objectives:

Help participants understand what a systems thinking approach is and why it matters.
Show real-world examples of how this approach works, who was involved, what was achieved, and the challenges faced.
Encourage participants to reflect on how this approach could apply to their own country and work.

Agenda

11:30	Opening and welcome Hajnalka Petrics, Lead Technical Officer for FAO HASTEN, FAO Office of Sustainable Development Goals
11:35	What taking a systems approach to agrifood systems transformation means in practice Dalia Mattioni, Agrifood Systems Specialist, FAO Agrifood Systems and Food Safety Division
12:10	Practical case studies from Sierra Leone and Rwanda Atisha Kumas, Economist, FAO Investment Centre Mehnaz Paracha, Senior Programme and Food Systems Policy Advisor, FAO Rwanda
12:30	Q&A
12:50	Reflection on discussion Dalia Mattioni, Agrifood Systems Specialist, FAO Agrifood Systems and Food Safety Division
12:55	Closing Hajnalka Petrics, Lead Technical Officer for FAO HASTEN, FAO Office of Sustainable Development Goals

Speakers

	Moderator Hajnalka Petrics Office of SDGs, FAO Hajnalka Petrics is a Programme Officer at FAO's Office of Sustainable Development Goals, where she leads the Prototyping and Acceleration Portfolio. She heads the FAO SDG Agrifood Accelerator Programme and the HASTEN FVC Project, which promote eco-inclusive and social agripreneurship. Previously, she was the Global Coordinator of the RBA-EU Joint Programme on Gender Transformative Approaches for Food Security and Nutrition. She also served as a Gender and Development Officer in FAO’s Gender Team, leading work on CEDAW implementation, gender-responsive policies, and rural advisory services. Earlier in her career, she was a Rural Development and Gender Technical Officer at FAO's Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia. Hajnalka holds a PhD in International Cooperation and Sustainable Development Policies, and an MA in Policies and Governance of European Integration from the University of Bologna.
	Dalia Mattioni Agrifood Systems and Food Safety Division, FAO Dr. Mattioni has collaborated with the Rome-based UN agencies for over 20 years on topics related to sustainable livelihoods, project impact assessments and gender. She is currently collaborating with the Food Systems and Food Safety Division. She is also as a researcher at the University of Pisa where she carries out research on food systems and the linkages between food environments and healthy diets, and she teaches at the American University of Rome. Dr. Mattioni holds an MSc in Food Policy from City University London and a PhD from the University of Pisa.
	Atisha Kumar Investment Centre, FAO Atisha Kumar is an Economist at FAO’s Investment Centre in Rome, where her work focuses on macroeconomics, trade, and access to finance in agrifood systems. Before joining FAO, she worked with the India’s Ministry of Planning in New Delhi, the World Bank, and Columbia University in New York, where she helped run an economic policy center. Atisha holds a Master’s in Public Administration in International Development from the Harvard Kennedy School.
	Mehnaz Paracha FAO Rwanda Mehnaz Ajmal Paracha is an accomplished policy advisor and development expert with over 20 years of experience in Food Systems and investments, Food Security and Nutrition, Trade and Agricultural, Resilient Livelihoods and Natural Resource Management both in fragile settings and long-term development programmes. She has led strategic policy initiatives in Rwanda, Liberia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, including Rwanda’s Strategic Plan of Agriculture Transformation - PSTA 5 and Afghanistan’s Food and Nutrition Security Agenda. Her work spans management, programme design and delivery, policy development and advocacy, resource mobilization, and strategic partnership development, with a strong focus on inclusive and resilient agri-food systems. Ms. Paracha holds an M. Phil in Agriculture and Diploma in Managing Global Governance. She has number of publications on her credit.