Food systems policy coherence is the alignment of policies that affect the food system with the aim of achieving health, environmental, social, and economic goals, to ensure that policies designed to improve one food system outcome do not undermine others and, where possible, take advantage of synergies across policy areas to achieve better outcomes for all.

vendor in front of their fruits and vegetables stall

Policy coherence is fundamental for effective food systems transformation. Policy incoherence can lead to inefficiency and lower likelihood of achieving policy goals, as well as missed opportunities for leveraging synergies across policy areas where they exist. As governments worldwide increasingly recognise the interconnected nature of food systems issues, there is growing acknowledgment of the need for more coherent policies: policies designed to improve one food systems outcome must not inadvertently undermine others but instead reinforce them.

Despite this need, assessing the extent of coherence in a country’s food policy landscape is challenging. GAIN, in collaboration with AKADEMIYA2063, thus created a standardised, relatively easy-to-use tool for doing so.
This toolkit, which has been tested in multiple countries in Africa and Asia, offers a practical methodology to assess food systems policy coherence and provide actionable recommendations for enhancing it. 
The Food Systems Policy Coherence Diagnostic Tool consists of two modules:

  • Module 1 examines whether there are structures and mechanisms in place that would increase the likelihood of achieving policy coherence, such as whether a country has a cross-sectoral food systems policy or pathway and ongoing mechanisms for cross-sectoral coordination on food issues.
  • Module 2 considers the actual conflicts and synergies between existing policies, focusing on the achievement of six key goals of food system transformation, drawn from the UN Food Systems Summit process, as shown at left. 

The tool is completed by reviewing key policy documents and consulting with key informants, followed by stakeholder validation and ongoing engagement to craft locally relevant, actionable recommendations for improving policy coherence. 
Accompanied by a user’s manual, scoring guidelines, and examples, the toolkit aims to provide a ready-to-use, feasible, and actionable way to understand policy coherence.

While achieving perfect coherence among all food-related policies across all outcomes is unlikely—and potentially undesirable, given the costs associated with coordination and alignment—by identifying and managing critical synergies and trade-offs, governments can better align efforts towards achieving key goals.
 

 

Partners

The findings, ideas, and conclusions presented in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect positions or policies of any of the agencies mentioned below.

German Cooperation