Resilient Local Food Supply Chains Alliance

The goal of the Alliance is to contribute to transforming local food systems to withstand shocks and stresses emerging from climate, public health and socio-economic disruptions, including civil and political disruptions, and support inclusive economies and societies.

This should be achieved through an integrated approach, including funding and financing, to build resilience:

using targeted programmes and actions for inclusive implementation at community, local, national and regional levels
making horizontal linkages and building policy coherence between environmental, economic, agricultural and health challenges
ensuring food availability, affordability and accessibility by all.

The primary areas of focus, which include using public/private actions to support smallholder farmers, micro and SMEs, marginalised communities, address market inefficiencies and under-investment in infrastructure in the rural areas and agriculture are informed by (i) solutions from member states and stakeholders and (ii) national priorities from national dialogues.

The Alliance will be a platform for collaboration among members and partners for enhanced technical and human implementation capacities in national and sub-national systems through; facilitating access to peer knowledge, experiences and best practices; brokering collaborative engagements and partnerships along common issues; supporting joint negotiations for technical assistance and financial resources for programmes’ development and implementation; promoting blended public-private actions to support national programme development along identified national pathways to 2030 and beyond, including regional development priorities and supporting vulnerable and marginalised communities.

Science based evidence to prioritize this coalition

As well as using evidence from expressed needs and priorities from sub-national and national dialogues, the following selection of science-based evidence support the Alliance objectives.

The AT5 scientific paper (March 2021) ^[1] provides ample justifications for the need for this Alliance. As an example, the paper points out that during Covid 19 estimates of the increase in food insecurity range from 83-132 million, reflecting and exacerbating many of the existing inequities in the food system (Klassen and Murphy 2020; FAO 2020b). And this increase is not limited to developing countries
A large body of empirical research argues that smallholders are still key to global food security and nutrition. These farms account for only 12% of the world’s farmland but provide livelihoods for more than 2 billion people and produce about 80% of the food in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia (Paloma, Riesgo, and Louhichi 2020).
Studies show that improving the food security of poor households in rural areas through the promotion of local production can reduce dependence during high food price inflation (Oliver De Schutter 2011)
Modelling studies illustrate how strategies oriented towards increasing yields could lead to mixed effect as food security and environmental outcomes would come in direct trade-off (Hertel et al., 2014; Valin et al., 2013)
Improvements in agricultural productivity, in particular total factor productivity, offers an opportunity to simultaneously lower the pressure on the environment and increase farmer income by decreasing the input requirements. This would lead to adequate and innovative financing of and investments by Agric-SMEs in both developed and developing countries
Even if international trade could increase environmental pressure and production is relocated to less sustainable areas, research from Baldos and Hertel 2015; Gouel and Laborde 2018 shows that adopting an improved integration of local production into regional and global markets can ensure resilience to shocks, food security in the face of local droughts, flooding and other natural disasters

Mechanisms of implementation

Implementation will be based on country requirements and their national pathways and capacities. Where there are capacity gaps, the Alliance will support member states in advocacy and technical and financial resource mobilisation efforts to enhance implementation capacity as well as to identify solutions appropriate in their specific contexts and challenges. This could include

Regulations that promote market integration, linking global, regional and local supply chains to support inclusive exchanges leading to better food prices and availability
Balance local and regional trade policies and local production strategies by enhancing domestic financing mechanisms of local food production
Use public-private blended actions for context specific programmes – e.g. linking smallholders and supply chains to demands for home grown school meals programmes and for local production of nutritious and safe foods
At the systems level, improve policies to enhance public and private investment to support infrastructural development and value addition in logistics and supply chains systems
At the policy level, develop inclusive frameworks that encourage civil society and private sector support for smallholder farmers to invest in specific commodities
At the regional level use sub-regional and regional implementation and support mechanisms
Relevant decentralized structures, national and regional platforms and strategies, including national food security policies, agric-SMEs financing mechanism, for example, support the implementation of National Agriculture Investment Plan/ National Agriculture and Food Security Investment Plan
Using UN agencies, e.g WFP/UNCDF, other RBAs, and UN country teams, to support the design of country actionable plans, support local and national capacities, invest in convergent and integrated efforts at scale to restore the functioning of fragile or shock prone food systems, and monitor implementation
Play an advocacy role in networking with regional and national institutions to define common messages, encourage investments and operational partnerships (walking the talk), and promote enhanced governance and accountability mechanisms able to mobilize additional multi-year financing and build trust.

Strategic partners

Co-leadership: Committed co-leads before the Summit – (i) The African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) (2) Democratic Republic of Congo, current Chair of the African Union.

The co-leadership role will include (a) ensure the alliance is continually abreast on the needs of members (demand-driven actions); (b) stimulate and facilitate/broker trans-national and regional solutions (i.e. partnerships on trans-national initiatives); (c) facilitate and moderate sharing and building of socio-capital as well as (d) connecting with countries’ priorities, set goals and targets in light of accountability/good governance UN co-leadership/co-coordinator – WFP/UNCDF

Member states that sent in solutions; those that have participated in member states/stakeholders’ dialogues; and those that have been engaged in bilateral meetings: (Brazil, China, France, Japan, Korea, Turkey, USA and the EU) ^[2] , (Burundi, Canada, China, Comoros, Egypt, Ecuador, Fiji, Gambia, Germany, Ghana, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa Spain, Tanzania, Turkey, UAE, USA, Yemen, EU, AUDA-NEPAD) ^[3] , (China, DRC, Japan, Netherlands, Turkey, UAE, UK, USA, AUDA-NEPAD) ^[4]

CGIAR – AfricaRice, IWMI. Other UN Participation: FAO, UNDP, WIPO International

Organizations (NGOs, private sector, academia) that sent in solutions and/or participated in stakeholder meetings: World Farmers Organization, African Farmers Association, Minnesota Farmers Union, Farmers Forum India, RUAF, Rikolto, Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform & Rural Development (ANGOC), TetraPak Company, Smart AGHub, Annamrit Foundation India, UdyogYantra company India, North Carolina A&T State University, Pan African Agribusiness Agro-industry Consortium (PanAAC), Replenish Farms Nigeria, Rockefeller Foundation, GLOPAN UK, Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, Federation of Agricultural and Forestry Producers – MTK & Valio dairy company Finland, Kenya National Farmers’ Federation, SKYFARMS, Farm Africa – Ethiopia, IGAD, African Population and Health Research Centre, AfricaRice

Monitoring and Evaluation

Indicators and targets of the SDGs that are linked to the priority areas – SDGs 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10, 12 and 17 – will be adjusted to also measure, inter alia, country and regional priorities, national GDP growth forecasts, human development indices, poverty reduction and food and nutrition security goals – such as food safety, accessibility, affordability, pay and income disparity, vulnerability assessments.

Existing country level mechanisms e.g. national statistics offices, economic policy units, national and regional research centres, universities, supported by UN country teams will be expected to lead and/or support data collection, monitor progress, track and link public and private expenditure to the SDGs.

Express your interest in joining this coalition

Focal point contacts

Samira Hotobah-during
samira.hotobahduring@wfp.org
Katiella Mai Moussa
katiella.mai.moussa@uncdf.org