SEED FUNDING JOINT PROGRAMMES
Cambodia
Transforming Cambodia’s food systems to become more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient
PROJECT TITLE | Transforming Cambodia’s food systems to become more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient |
| Context | Cambodia’s National Pathway is the outcome of an extensive consultation process, involving more than 2,000 people throughout thirty dialogues, which identifies four priority areas, namely healthy diets for all, empowerment of youth, women and vulnerable groups, resilient livelihoods and food systems, inclusive governance. Acknowledging the risks posed by climate change to hard won development gains and as a co-founder of the Alliance of Champions for Food Systems Transformation, Cambodia is prioritizing the integration of climate change and food systems transformation, building coherence across the agendas. The Council for Agricultural and Rural Development, the government agency coordinating food security and nutrition initiatives in Cambodia, is leading collaborative efforts to translate national aspirations into concrete action. |
| PUNOs | FAO, WFP, UNICEF |
| Contribution to SDGs | SDG 2 Zero Hunger |
| Contribution to other SDG transitions | Climate, biodiversity, pollution |
| Duration | August 2024 – July 2025 |
| Expected financial leverage | $3 million |
| Alignment with SG Call to Action | Policy integration; Food systems governance; Inclusive and participatory design; Private sector engagement |
| Outcomes | The Joint Programme fosters an enabling environment for food systems transformation by enhancing national capacities and policy frameworks, identifying opportunities to unlock financial streams, and strengthening advocacy efforts for food systems transformation. The JP provides crucial support to the alignment of the climate and food agendas, accelerating progress towards resilient, sustainable and inclusive food systems. |
| Partners | Council for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) will be the main government counterpart and will coordinate the government activities in conjunction with other key Ministries, including:
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Operationalizing the Convergence Initiative
Following its launch at COP28, the Convergence Initiative gathers momentum as National Convenors and stakeholders contribute innovative ideas to drive forward the synergistic transformation of food systems and climate action.
©FAO/Victor Sokolowicz
Following the launch of the Convergence Initiative by the UN Deputy Secretary-General at COP28, the Hub has intensified consultations with Food Systems National Convenors and stakeholders to operationalize the work under this initiative. During all regional meetings with Convenors to review progress on food systems transformation, a distinctive agenda item of the meetings was dedicated to the Convergence Initiative.
National Convenors and stakeholders provided a wealth of inputs, innovative ideas, and specific suggestions towards the operationalization of the Initiative. Some of the highlights of these inputs include but are not limited to the following:
- There is a strong demand and appetite from the National Convenors to strengthen their engagement with national climate action processes and work towards synergetic activities between the teams implementing the national Food Systems Transformations (FST) and Climate Action (CA) agendas.
- Many countries have already established links and there are opportunities for greater convergence through the facilitation of dialogues and the establishment of joint working groups. It was emphasized that the Hub should use the expertise of FAO, WFP, IFAD as well as other UN Agencies that support countries in the areas of food systems transformations and climate action.
- Countries have highlighted that the implementation of the Initiative at the national level should respect national policies and operational modalities and will be based on a modular approach that will lead to bespoke and demand-driven support at the country level.
- Countries and stakeholder have emphasized the need to link also to the Convergence Initiative the biodiversity and nature conservation agenda and create complementarities.
- Countries have requested the Hub to continue supporting efforts that will increase their operational capacity to advance the alignment of FST and CA processes through multi-sectoral co-design processes and peer-learning.
- The importance of regional level coordination has also been highlighted alongside the benefits that can be derived from the participation of National Convenors to relevant regional or global climate action fora and peer-learning events to enhance their capacity and links with the climate action ecosystems.
- There is a benefit from establishing a voluntary monitoring framework to review work under the initiative, identify progress, bottlenecks and opportunities for further action. The 2025 UNFSS+4 could serve as a first milestone to review relevant progress.
Based on this and other ideas the Hub has developed an updated framework of the Convergence Initiative that can be downloaded here.
The Hub will continue to work the National Convenors, stakeholders and partners to continue fine-tuning the framework and start supporting country level work.
