Empowering UN teams to transform food systems
The Food Systems Thinking Guide for UN Resident Coordinators and UN Country Teams is now available online. Developed under the UN Food Systems Task Force, this guide offers a digital tool with practical examples to advance food systems transformation through a systems approach. The guide aims at supporting UN coordination on food systems transformation efforts at country level and integrating food systems into strategic planning, advocacy and policy work.
Given its potential impact on agriculture, health, economies and the environment, food systems transformation is one of the key transitions (or transformative entry points) that can have catalytic and multiplier effects across the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Harnessing the transformative potential of sustainable food systems is essential to achieving food security and nutrition for present and future generations, while concurrently addressing critical global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity and natural resource degradation, rural poverty and economic shocks. Transforming food systems, therefore, requires a systems approach that connects components and outcomes of agrifood systems and interrelated systems to achieve sustained change across multiple sustainability dimensions, transforming the way people interact with each other and with the planet.
This guide was created as a concerted effort of the UN Food Systems Task Force’s Working Group on Supporting UN Country Team Coordination and Joint Programming and reflects inputs from 13 UN agencies and bodies, highlighting the power of collaboration.
UN Resident Coordinators and UN Country Teams are encouraged to pilot the food systems thinking guide in their day-to-day work on food systems transformation and provide feedback through this survey to ensure it evolves effectively to meet their needs. This first release of the thinking guide is intended as a working draft that will be piloted in 2025, with future updates based on feedback gathered from the experiences at country level.
Access the Food Systems Thinking Guide
