Chapter Three: Initiation  

Every story has a chapter where the protagonist goes through a particular experience; an initiation into something for which previous experience had not prepared them. In this story, UNDP Jordan intended to make assumptions and test them, knowingly accepting that these assumptions could be wrong.  

From the surface, as an organization that does not work on food, it appeared that we did not have a role to play in a system where others have a seemingly higher stake, but where no one has yet put a finger on the pulse of the system as a whole. Our starting point was the work of UN food agencies. We did not want to change the definition of food security, we simply wanted to first understand what our role could be in the bigger picture, and whether looking at food systems from an angle of people and communities’ resilience (with enablers such as livelihoods, climate action and policy reform) could result in a transformative shift affecting development in the whole of Jordan.  

A plan was at hand, to collect information and accumulate knowledge to understand who is in the system, what they do, and where and how they connect and align intents for change (if any!). But the skeptics were many. The laugh of an advisor to the government on food security is still ringing in my ears when I talked to him about UNDP’s plan: “So, UNDP wants to work with food now, eh?” (Ridiculing laugh in the background) The same came from within UNDP. ” Why food? And is it really an area for UNDP? and what is this new portfolio approach? We already have portfolios!” And as Robert De Niro in Ronin rightly said, “Whenever there is any doubt, there is no doubt!” And doubt was the starting point, and what followed was built on the assumption that while we might be seeing a combination of things and events that don’t fit well together, they could still result in a series of unexpected results -in both the negative and positive sense.  

We started with a review of food systems in Jordan to determine the opportunities for the Jordan Office.  We needed a better understanding of the boundaries of the system we are exploring including its existing interrelationships. The mere definition of a system implies the existence of actors whose interactions shape the overall system, and the system shapes the interactions. Parallel to this,  an intersectional deep listening and sensemaking exercises were conducted in partnership with the Agirre Lehendakaria Center (ALC) Social Innovation Laboratory to better understand the real concerns and needs of food system actors and entities across Jordan. Different actors “view the system” differently, and no one correct view of the food system exists. All depends on who and where you are in the system and what your values, and interests are. Understanding the relationships and recognizing the different existing perspectives related to food systems were visually reflected in five system maps to better identify the critical connections and interrelations that could help us understand it and react to it. A series of insights emerged around the connections, narratives and perceptions around food systems from a diverse range of people and entities in Jordan, but most importantly from within UNDP itself.  

 And just like that, the “why food and UNDP?” was transformed into an “oh, I see a connection there”. Eureka! A link was made, and our strategic programming document can apparently justify a seemingly improbable engagement in a new sector if we get out of our comfort zone. Faith was restored! What’s next?