Solutions and coalitions

Coalitions in the context of the Food Systems Summit

Each programme of national dialogues has led to the identification of strengths and vulnerabilities in the national food system, often calling for further collaboration on specific issues involving multiple stakeholders and cutting across a range of sectors, often involving more than one country, within a defined region or internationally.

Over the past months, hundreds of individuals, governments, organizations and institutions are joining forces to support the transformation of food systems in line with the ambitions of the summit.

They have participated in the Summit’s Action Tracks, cross-cutting levers of change and Scientific group. They have coalesced around a number of issues that are high priority in national food systems transformation: they are proposing initiatives, alliances and coalitions to accelerate collective action. These emerging initiatives, alliances and coalitions have been inspired by the options explored during national dialogues. They are being designed to help nations and regions to advance the Summit’s vision of more inclusive, resilient, equitable, and sustainable food systems by 2030. They will do this in ways that are aligned with each country’s priorities and adapted to the local context.

Initiatives, alliances and coalitions are designed to offer tailored support to countries in response to their interests and priorities, on a strictly voluntary basis. Support from these initiatives, alliances and coalitions will help with the shift to future food systems by facilitating access to networks of experience and expertise, from local to global; by encouraging alignment and coherence; by catalyzing coordinated investment and collective action; by mobilizing resources, energy and political will; and by support for learning through the exchange knowledge, lessons, best practices and capacities.

You will find here a (non-exhaustive) list of emerging coalitions in the context of the Food Systems Summit, as well as an introductory word addressed to National Convenors. Should you have any general question around these coalitions, a Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) document has been put together as a living document to answer these as the process continues to offer more clarity. Finally, a number of briefs have been prepared for each coalition to give a more detailed and action-oriented overview of what is proposed.

These materials should also further encourage you to develop and register relevant commitments on the Commitment registry.

For any remaining question, please do not hesitate to reach out to: Foodsystemssummit@un.org.

Solution Clusters: Game Changing Propositions

Between December 2020 and May 2021, a number of public fora, online consultations and calls for submissions were organised by the 5 UN Food Systems Summit Action Tracks, that resulted in more than the 2,200 ideas and submissions. Inputs were shared by all Summit actors and constituencies, from representatives of national (and subnational) governments to civil society, youth, food producers, research and academia, indigenous peoples, the private sector, UN system organisations and other development partners. These were assessed and consolidated into a smaller number of game-changing propositions, integrated across 15 Action Areas with the participation of the Summit’s 4 cross-cutting levers of change (Gender, Human Rights and Law, Finance and Innovation), and clustered thematically into solution clusters.

These Solution Clusters bring together, under a vision and objectives to achieve specific SDG targets, a menu of possible actions, which, if undertaken by committed actors joining forces across sectors and stakeholder categories, can support countries make major strides in their national pathways towards more sustainable food systems.

These Solution Cluster pages present the work in progress, which has benefitted from the commitment of dedicated Solution Cluster Working Groups, under the guidance of Action Area leads and Action Track Chairs, and the individual and group feedback from various Summit workstreams. When reading these documents, the work might have already progressed onwards and thus not necessarily reflect the latest thinking.

These solution clusters are expected to form the basis of a repository of Game-changing solutions, to be presented during the Pre-Summit and Summit.

They will also support and inform the shaping of Coalitions of Actions, based on a wide range of actors and initiatives coming together, to be launched during the Pre-Summit and Summit in support of Summit priority areas of convergence.

Lastly, the solution clusters can inspire the identification and development of commitments by Summit actors, convinced that “business as usual” is no longer an option, and that we all need to be the change we want to see.

The Solution Cluster pages aim to reflect the inclusive and pragmatic approach chosen for a “Peoples’ and Solutions’ Summit”. Searchable by key word or action area, these pages are your pages!

Do not hesitate to express interest to be further involved through the available forms, share your thoughts, your contributions, your expectations and hopes, and learn from others thanks to the communities!

Disclaimer: the solution clusters are work in progress, and many have and will continue to develop their thinking and ideas. Content on this page might thus not display the latest, but does show the wealth of ideas that has emerged out of the UN Food Systems Summit process.

Democratise access to future technology, inputs, and finance: empowering smallholders as stewards of healthy and productive soils

Solution Cluster 1.1.1

Accelerate action for women’s nutrition, empowerment, and leadership through transformative entry points for gender-equitable food systems

Solution Cluster 1.2.3