Criteria to Assess High-Quality Food Systems Foresight in Africa is a practitioner-oriented guide developed to strengthen the design, commissioning, facilitation, and evaluation of foresight processes across African food systems.
Produced by Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa in partnership with University of Oxford – Environmental Change Institute and Foresight4Food, with support from International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the guide reflects African practitioner experience, continental policy priorities, and global foresight practice.
Rather than offering a step-by-step manual, this publication defines what high-quality foresight looks like in complex African food systems contexts.
Why This Guide Matters
Africa’s food systems are navigating a decisive period shaped by:
- Accelerating climate risks
- Demographic shifts and youth transitions
- Technological disruption
- Geopolitical uncertainty
- Persistent structural inequalities
Meeting these challenges requires moving beyond reactive planning toward anticipatory, systems-oriented, and evidence-driven decision-making.
Foresight—when done well—can help governments, regional bodies, research institutions, civil society, and private actors:
- Anticipate emerging risks
- Align innovation with long-term priorities
- Strengthen resilience
- Foster inclusive governance
- Guide transformation at scale
However, foresight varies widely in quality. Without clear standards, it can become a technical exercise with limited real-world impact. This guide addresses that gap.
What This Guide Offers
This guide provides a shared framework for quality built around nine interlinked criteria. These criteria ensure foresight processes are:
- Grounded in strong transformative pre-conditions
- Contextual and socially relevant
- Inclusive and empowering
- Transparent, accountable, and ethical
- Theoretically sound and methodologically robust
- Adequately resourced and strategically planned
- Effectively communicated
- Institutionally embedded
- Capable of shifting patterns of thought and behaviour
Together, these standards help ensure foresight moves beyond scenario reports to influence policy, strategy, institutions, and mindsets.
Who This Guide Is For
This guide is designed for:
Foresight Initiators and Facilitators
Those designing and leading foresight processes who want to ensure rigor, relevance, and impact.
Funders and Commissioners
Governments, development partners, and foundations seeking to commission high-quality foresight that delivers meaningful results.
Advocacy Groups and Stakeholders
Civil society actors, researchers, and private sector leaders who want to engage critically and constructively with foresight processes.
Evaluators and Quality Assessors
Professionals responsible for assessing foresight effectiveness, impact, and learning.
A Strategic Contribution to Africa’s Future
This guide is both a practical resource and a strategic statement. It supports efforts to embed foresight into:
- National development planning
- Investment frameworks
- Policy reform cycles
- Agricultural transformation agendas
- Continental platforms
By strengthening the credibility and quality of foresight practice, this publication contributes to Africa’s broader ambition to govern with the future in mind.
We invite governments, development partners, civil society, research institutions, and the private sector to use this guide as a reference point for designing, commissioning, and evaluating foresight that genuinely advances Africa’s food systems transformation.
Africa’s food futures must be imagined, owned, and shaped by Africans — in service of resilient, inclusive, and sustainable development for present and future generations.