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From farm to table, let’s talk food (systems)
The food we eat brings us together as families, communities, and nations. It underpins our cultures, our economies, and our relationship with the natural world. The world’s food systems touch every aspect of human existence, which makes them valuable instruments of change.
In light of this year's UN Food Systems Summit, which will bring together voices from every sector of society including civil society, nonprofits and NGOs, government, research organizations, and private organizations to drive impactful, meaningful change for food systems everywhere.
We at UNDP Accelerator Labs are working to better understand the various challenges of our world's food supply chain. From designing a portfolio of experiments to shorten food supply chains and provide local, nutritious, and affordable food to the most vulnerable to finding local solutions to address the growing issue of food waste, food affordability, and its impact on the climate. In addition, our Labs are using new data and new mental models to deeply understand the complexity of food systems while using collective intelligence to design a national dialogue where the voiceless and vulnerable communities finally have a seat at the table.
Listen in to two of our Twitter Spaces on food (systems) below:
Read our global blog on strengthening food systems:
Seeding collective solutions: working with grassroots communities to build better food systems for everyone
The UNDP Accelerator Labs are holding conversations around food security in order to work out loud and share our learning as we go. This is part of our philosophy. We use a learning cycle model where we sense, explore, test and grow to understand complex problems within the food systems. Then we are able to close this cycle and share what we learn with the world. This time, we literally shared out loud, since we tested Twitter Spaces conversations for the first time and brought two deep discussion sessions with Labs and solutions holders to a wider audience. This blog is the result of those conversations.
From fighting food waste to transitioning the food systems, find out how our Labs are working and learning by:
Sparking digital transformation for small-scale fisherfolks in the Blue Economy of Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean.
BlueDIGITAL is a pilot experiment from the UNDP Barbados Accelerator Lab that applies digital tools and solutions to improve segments of the Blue Economy ecosystem and value chains. This pilot is aimed primarily at fisherfolk, but also will involve the government, tourism industry partners and the public as consumers. The goal is to reduce the digital divides exposed by COVID-19 by introducing innovative, online measures within sectors of the Blue Economy in the Eastern Caribbean. Once the app-based network is established, it can improve the value chain for fish by introducing greater sustainability measures, providing accurate traceability, gathering, and sharing data, and more responsible and regenerative seafood purchasing. Learn more here.
Utilizing collective intelligence to combat food loss and food waste in Sarajevo
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, estimates show that about 500 tons of food per day ends up in landfills. This has multiple consequences, from financial losses of food producers to serious environmental problems. The UNDP Bosnia and Herzegovina Accelerator Lab is experimenting on and exploring ways to address food waste and find sustainable solutions that can strengthen the food systems in the country. In 2019, the Lab, together with the City of Sarajevo, conducted a series of sessions at the Regional Innovation Forum focused on mapping the food waste issue in the country with a range of food industry professionals. In 2020, the Lab also initiated the establishment of the Sarajevo Food Lab – an informal network of food enthusiasts, food regulatory bodies, legislators, restaurants and food outlets to reduce waste and loss and to design and implement good practices and innovative solutions. This year, the Lab launched an innovation challenge inviting innovative solutions to reduce waste and make communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina cleaner.
Community innovation at the intersection of gender equality and food security in Paraguay.
UNDP Paraguay powered by its Accelerator Lab is facilitating community innovation by bringing local groups and unusual partners together, to better understand the food security challenges in the country and co-create a sustainable model for a community-led agri-food system. In addition, the Labs identified that the ancient practice of the conservation of native seed varieties passed down from one generation of women to another, is fundamental to ensuring sustainable agriculture practices and healthy diets in communities. To support this, the Lab provides technical assistance and certification programs in organic production techniques for the women of Semillas Nativas in San Ignacio, Misiones. This way, they have the best seed production to grow plants that will ensure more bountiful harvests. Learn more about how women preserve this ancient practice here.
Working with local communities in Hushe Valley in Pakistan to improve their food system.
The UNDP Pakistan Accelerator Lab is working on a social innovation platform approach for the socio-economic development of Hushe Valley, focusing on the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic. Working with local communities and through the Lab’s research and activities, the food economy emerged as a focus. The Lab identified how the food system in Hushe Valley overlaps with other thematic areas such as reverse migration, women's health, education, accessibility, connectivity, and availability of clean drinking water (which is ironic considering the landscape is full of rivers, streams, and lakes). The Lab is working on two opportunities: the abundance of apricots and herbs, and tunnel farming through hybrid seeds. The Lab supports building prototypes to derive sustainable products from apricots such as oil and seeds, and herbs while finding ways to reduce food waste. Stay tuned for more.
Working with local communities in Hushe Valley in Pakistan to improve their food system.
The UNDP Pakistan Accelerator Lab is working on a social innovation platform approach for the socio-economic development of Hushe Valley, focusing on the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic. Working with local communities and through the Lab’s research and activities, the food economy emerged as a focus. The Lab identified how the food system in Hushe Valley overlaps with other thematic areas such as reverse migration, women's health, education, accessibility, connectivity, and availability of clean drinking water (which is ironic considering the landscape is full of rivers, streams, and lakes). The Lab is working on two opportunities: the abundance of apricots and herbs, and tunnel farming through hybrid seeds. The Lab supports building prototypes to derive sustainable products from apricots such as oil and seeds, and herbs while finding ways to reduce food waste. Stay tuned for more.
Supporting local innovators and their solutions to address the growing issue of food waste, food affordability, and its impact on the climate in South Africa.
By launching a food waste innovation challenge together with the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship in South Africa, the UNDP Accelerator Lab in South Africa has identified and is supporting local entrepreneurs to build businesses with food waste solutions. These innovative solutions range from using solar powered dehydration for preservation, to forcefully inducted air to produce fertiliser; from small biogas digesters for home use, to industrial sized worm farms; from tech to get sell-by food to students, to producing insect protein for livestock feed. 💡Learn more about these local entrepreneurs and their solutions to address the growing issue of food waste & affordability here.
Using new data and new mental models to deeply understand the complexity of food systems in Zimbabwe
In Zimbabwe, hunger is one of the major drivers of urban poverty. To better understand the challenges and complexity of the food systems in the country, the UNDP Zimbabwe Accelerator Lab team partnered with private sector companies to study how informal workers sell produce and correlate these insights with 2.5 years’ worth of volume and pricing data. Results of this experiment have led the team to deeply understand the informal market and how the food supply chain works. 💡Find out more about the experiment here and watch their youtube playlist to learn more about their portfolio of activities addressing the complex and flawed urban food system in the country.
Using collective intelligence to design a national dialogue where the voiceless and vulnerable communities finally have a seat at the table in Peru
The UNDP Peru Accelerator Lab conducted a series of workshops as part of the Peruvian National Dialogues on Sustainable Food Systems, which took place on June 30th and July 1st 2021 and had over 350 attendees. The Lab designed a toolkit enabling all actors in the Peruvian food system including national and local government, academia, small and large business associations, UN agencies and civil society groups to come together for an honest and open conversation around the five action tracks of the UN Food Systems Summit 2021. As a result, insights from the national dialogues were integrated to Peru’s National Roadmap on Sustainable Food Systems and Gastronomy, and has informed Peruvian’s position at the UN Food Summit .
💡Here's a sneak peek of the Lab's Toolkit used in action using Mural.