Project
E-course food systems
In this project WUR staff will design and develop a five module facilitated e-course on food systems. The online course will be facilitated in 2021 for selected staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, based in the Netherlands and abroad.
Recently, the food systems approach has proven to be a key concept to analyze, design and operationalize programmes and policies aiming at improving Food and Nutrition Security, as indicated by the prominence of food systems concept in the joint Letter to Parliament of Minster Schouten and Minister Kaag of May 2019 (Op weg naar een wereld zonder honger in 2030: de Nederlandse inzet). Food Systems frameworks are guiding the policy development and development programming of many international development and research organisations, as evidenced by many publications (by FAO, UNEP, WEF, IFPRI and WUR) and events (the current lead-up to the Food Systems Summit in 2021).
Food systems has become a central concept in discussions on agricultural innovation around the globe. A food systems perspective enables policy makers to go beyond mere value chain thinking, and include in particular the consumer aspects as central drivers and outcomes of a food system. Food Systems is also a complex concept and many Food Systems frameworks have been developed over the past five years.
The five module e-course for policy officers and other Ministry staff will aim at working with the concept of food systems based on current academic insights; understanding how food systems features in the current government BHOS policy and in international policy debates; applying food system analysis; and making programmes more relevant and effective to realize food & nutrition security results by using insights based on food system analysis.