Jordan May 2023 – Foresight4Food FoSTr team organized a three-day workshop for a diverse range of food systems stakeholders in Jordan. The participants of the workshop ranged from the private sector, government agencies, international agencies, consumer representatives, civil society, and service providers.
Held at the Fairmont Hotel, in Amman, the workshop sought to introduce the approach that the FoSTr programme uses, applying foresight to the context of the Jordan food system. This entails harnessing futures thinking for Jordan, asking questions about how the future will look, what challenges lie ahead, how to anticipate and adapt to risks, and working towards real transformation.
The workshop was opened by Dr. Walid Abed Rabboh (FoSTr Jordan coordinator), who outlined the importance of understanding the current food system, where this food system is going, and how we make the link between these states. Mr. Pier de Vries, Deputy Ambassador from the Dutch embassy in Jordan, shared how important food systems thinking and foresight are as part of support from the Netherlands to Jordan. H.E. Eng. Khalid Al-Hnaifat, Minister of Agriculture of Jordan, presented the urgency of the topic of food system’s transformation as well as the strong efforts the government of Jordan has undertaken already. He urged stakeholders to, together, generate recommendations and pathways to achieve Jordan’s food system vision.
Throughout the three-day workshop, stakeholders together improved the understanding of the Jordan food system, learned about foresight and scenario building, and developed 4 long-term future scenarios that elaborated drivers, critical uncertainties, and key trade-offs that need to be explored to make the long-term plans stronger and more adaptive. The participants also showed a strong interest and commitment to apply food systems thinking, learning about foresight and scenario building, and engaging as we move forward.
In the next phase of implementation of the programme, the Foresight4Food FoSTr team and partner agencies aim to intensify their efforts during the upcoming year to support Jordan in building the institutional and human capacities related to food system transformation and develop and agree on one Food System Transformation Plan for Jordan. Moreover, the team will be looking into developing a multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional guiding team to provide technical advice and support to Jordan’s National Food Security Committee and the Ministry of Agriculture throughout the transformation process and establish a feedback mechanism from government, private sector representatives, donors, UN organizations and CSOs to ensure consistency and harmony among the stakeholders.