Changing Course in Global Agriculture (CCGA)

The general objective of the initiative is to improve food security, rural welfare and the sustainable use of natural resources through the implementation of sustainable agriculture and food system policies Specific project goals: Goal 1: The CFS contributes to the progress monitoring (follow-up and review) of the Agenda 2030, including by promoting its multi-stakeholder mechanism Goal 2: Strengthen the link and exchange between the CFS in Rome and the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) in New York (in support of Goal 1) Goal 3: In at least two pilot countries (Kenya and Senegal), improved policy dialogue and integrated policy planning contribute to the formulation of national policies and agricultural strategies that support sustainable agricultural development with a long-term perspective. The CCGA programme operates at both international and national levels to initiate transformative action and a shift towards sustainable agriculture and food systems. Our approach is based on the assumption that national strategies, policies and projects in agriculture and food security are not only developed and implemented in isolation, but are strongly influenced by global policy processes and decisions. In return, global policy is often influenced by governments and other influential stakeholders, and what they consider being their interests and priorities. At the national level, a participatory multi-stakeholder process combined with the integration of a system-dynamic planning tool, the iSDG model , was established by CCGA, basically following the four key actions of the 10 YFP SFS framework: 1. Establish a group of food system champions within government and build political momentum: CCGA was embedded in the Direction Générale de la Planification et des Politiques Économiques (DGPPE) of the ministry of Economics and planning (MEFP), who was also addressing the goal of in-creasing coherence between policies with a focus on the agricultural sector. As a first step, a joint technical advisory committee (TAC) of model experts was established. Other consultation fora be-tween CSO, farmer’s organizations, private sector within MEFP were also included in the pro-gramme’s multi-stakeholder approach. 2. Conduct a holistic food systems assessment: T21 was adapted to the Senegalese context through participatory workshops with the national statistics agency. This process of participatory data collec-tion and modelling built a common understanding of the complexity and interlinkages of the food sys-tem and enabled the comparison and evaluation of different scenarios. 3. Initiate a multi-stakeholder process for dialogue and action: Numerous meetings and workshops took place allowing unprecedented policy dialogues to be established between different levels and among policy makers, governmental officials, technicians, scientists, academia and others. The main ques-tions and mid-term policy scenarios analyzed by the tool as well as the results thereof where dis-cussed in these platforms. 4. Improve food systems governance: The CCGA project sensitized and capacitated stakeholders and ministries for a more integrated, evidence-based approach in policy making as a key requirement to improve food systems governance. The main achievements of CCGA Senegal to date include: • Building of a national Senegalese iSDG model including an easy to use modelling interface for the MEFP. • Institutionalization of the approach by training national experts and the development of a permanent curriculum on system-dynamic modelling at the national statistics school (ENSAE in Dakar). • Utilization of the model by the planning, as well as by the agricultural ministry for various policy anal-yses. One main impact was that policy outputs of the model were included in a strategic policy docu-ment of the government, the “Stratégie Nationale Faim Zéro Sénégal”. Others where a comparison of high and low external inputs agriculture scenarios and an analysis of the of the latest national agricul-tural policy plan 2014-2017 (PRACAS). • The results from this national process were been brought to international level by the national gov-ernment stakeholders, e.g. to the CFS in Rome or the HLPF of the UN in New York. • Lastly, a regional iSDG pilot model was built for the county of Diourbel to test the model for sub-national use and strengthen the capacities of the local county governments as potential role models.