Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation is organizing the conference “Monitoring & Evaluation for inclusive and sustainable food systems” on April 3 and 4, to clarify the role that monitoring and evaluation should and can play to support the transition towards inclusive and sustainable food systems.

In order to deliver on the 2030 SDG- Agenda, we need to improve on the performance of food systems. “Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals cannot happen without ending hunger and malnutrition and without having sustainable and resilient, climate-compatible agriculture and food systems that deliver for people and planet.” (Source: UN Zero Hunger Challenge).

Better understanding of and support for inclusive and sustainable food systems is needed for improved food systems. What effective role should monitoring and evaluation play in this? New evaluation approaches need to be developed to cope with the dynamic and complex nature of food systems, which feature multiple perspectives, multiple levels, multiple actors with multiple goals operating in multiple sectors.

Key conference question

The main question of our conference is: “How should and can monitoring and evaluation support the transition towards inclusive and sustainable food systems?”

Sub-questions:

• What should be the consequences of monitoring and evaluation of food systems?
• How should M&E support food system change, in all its multiple levels, with actors in multiple sectors with multiple incentives and goals?
• How should M&E also engage with and assist the inevitable trade-offs between competing and perhaps contradictory consequences?

A working conference

The conference will be a working conference, where space is created to share, dialogue and co-create, so as to connect different perspectives, models and experiences on M&E that support inclusive and sustainable food systems. We will use a systems perspective and methods for pulling together ideas generated in the conference. This conference builds on the WUR SDG conference focusing on SDG2 and SDG17, building alliances between different partners that work towards inclusive and sustainable food systems, where M&E can and should play a crucial supportive role.

The conference aims to generate practical ideas and partnerships for monitoring and evaluation based on principles that support of transition towards inclusive and sustainable food systems.

Those involved in (sustainable) development initiatives, from government, national and international organisations, civil society, private sector, knowledge development institutes, funding agencies, M&E and programme management, are invited to participate and engage in interactive and reflective sessions, join in the discussions during the workshops, and share ideas and insights!