• C3 builds on insights from over 150 international development practitioners

    From 2020 to 2022, UNDP conducted a series of "co-inquiry cycles" on the theme: How can we work more systemically to accelerate progress toward a more sustainable food system?

    More than 150 representatives from multilateral and bilateral donors, development agencies, academia, civil society, and the private sector contributed.

    The co-inquiry provided actionable recommendations for adopting more systemic, collaborative and adaptive approaches to development programming, with a particular focus on food systems, set out in the report Navigating Complexity in Food Systems: From Clockwork To Cloudwork.

    C3 builds on these findings and the wider expertise in collaboration and systems approaches of UNDP, Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation (WCDI), FAO and UNEP, particularly in relation to food-biodiversity-climate nexus issues

  • THE ADOPTION OF SYSTEM APPROACHES

    According to the co-inquiry findings, the successful adoption of systems approaches, multi-stakeholder collaboration and adaptive management requires:

    • Building capacity in methodologies for working with complex adaptive systems, as well as the ‘inner capacities’ for ‘systems leadership’
    • Accelerating organisational change, including: breaking down silos and taking more multi- disciplinary approaches; adjusting organisational policies and procedures to be more agile and adaptive; strengthening organisational learning
    • Adopting more collaborative and adaptive approaches to program design and implementation, including: using more inclusive, participatory processes; supporting champions of change; putting learning at the heart of programs; taking a more flexible approach to planning and budgeting; developing portfolios of interventions
    • Changing the wider system incentives, particularly changing the donor requirements for planning, accountability and reporting to support more participatory, collaborative and adaptive approaches to change, and moving to towards systems financing models

  • Explore the Findings

    The reports below build on captured conversations and insights from the past several years

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    Navigating Complexity in Food Systems: From Clockwork To Cloudwork

    Navigating Complexity in Food Systems: From Clockwork to Cloudwork is a call to action for international development organisations and all stakeholders committed to transform food systems, to shape a new vision that embraces complexity to deal with today’s growing challenges.

    As part of a three-year co-inquiry process convened by UNDP, food systems practitioners gathered to discuss how can we work more systemically to accelerate progress towards a more sustainable food system. This report brings together their perspectives, insights and recommendations to inspire a shift from "clockwork" or linear approaches, to "cloudwork", a systemic and holistic approach to complex problems.

    MARCH 25, 2024

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    Working with Power in Multi-Stakeholder Processes

    This report provides a synthesis of insights from the discussions, particularly with regard to large, donor-funded programmes that are delivered by UN agencies, other multi-laterals and large international NGOs.

    The insights and recommendations from the co-inquiry have application across donor funded projects in the food and agriculture sector but also have wider application across international development programmes that are seeking to catalyse systemic change to address a range of social and environmental challenges and therefore this report captures the lessons at this level.

    SEPTEMBER 1, 2022

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    Changing Food Systems: Co-inquiry Cycle Two

    This report provides a synthesis of insights from the discussions, particularly with regard to large, donor-funded programmes that are delivered by UN agencies, other multi-laterals and large international NGOs.

    The insights and recommendations from the co-inquiry have application across donor funded projects in the food and agriculture sector but also have wider application across international development programmes that are seeking to catalyse systemic change to address a range of social and environmental challenges and therefore this report captures the lessons at this level.

    SEPTEMBER 1, 2022

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    Rethinking our Food Systems: A Guide for Multi-stakeholder Collaboration

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    UNEP, FAO, and UNDP have come together to consolidate learnings and tools, gathered from within and beyond the three UN agencies in order to provide a practical guide for multi-stakeholder collaboration.

    This guide is intended for institutions and facilitators responsible for leading multi-stakeholder initiatives that are inclusive of government and essential non-governmental actors committed to contributing to the sustainable transformation of food systems.

    JUNE 21, 2023

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