We facilitate inclusive business relationships through a sustainable food systems approach
Description
Food systems are extremely complex. They encompass all the actors involved in the production, processing, distribution and consumption of our food, and are influenced by a myriad of factors. To understand the interactions within the system, to evaluate the potential impact of our interventions and to successfully manage trade-offs, we adopt a sustainable food system approach.
We combine activities targeting short-term needs with long-term investments and we develop and pilot innovative and scalable practices, joining forces with a broad network of partners from different backgrounds, sectors and territories. Next, we share the evidence we have gathered through strategic networks to promote scaling of our practices and to influence the international political agenda in favour of sustainable and inclusive food systems.
The food system is impacted by the inter-related challenges of climate change and inequality. Joining forces with different stakeholders is crucial to tackle some of the most pressing issues of our times.
Explore the critical challenges we tackleTo sustain healthier and more sustainable food systems in the long run, we need to provide incentives and/or compensations for all actors to change their behaviour. Creating these incentives is at the heart of our strategy.
Following the LINK methodology, inclusive business relationships show in:
Rikolto’s Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) system provides a framework for systematic data collection and documentation to ensure accountability and stimulate learning processes. It satisfies the data and information needs of all stakeholders involved in our programmes.
The beating heart of our Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) system are the programme teams. They make sure that all Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) activities are in line with 4 main guiding principles:
Transparency is key: we openly share our insights and evaluation results with partner organisations, stakeholders and the public at large
You can explore them in our:
Every three years, we evaluate whether our interventions have attained the desired results and impact, learn where we missed the mark and adapt our strategy. These impact assessments consist of an intensive process of data collection, interviews and collective sense-making with members of the farmers’ organisations, partners, and other stakeholders. We use the same participatory approach to agree on the next steps of our partnerships.
Our impact assessment framework covers all three levels at which the organisation strives for impact:
All Rikolto interventions have pathways of change along with relevant outcome indicators that are regularly updated. These indicators form the basis for (half-)yearly strategic reflections within each regional office and with partner organisations, which result in updates of the intervention strategies and target values.
The current impact framework covers the five-year period of our global 2022-2026 strategy:
The impact assessment framework has been certified by the Belgian Special Evaluation Service as “well developed” and “sustainable”. Additionally, each region complements this framework with donor-specific impact measurement requirements.
Complex environments require a mix of methods to capture both the visible changes as well as the emergent dynamics that play under the surfaces. We have developed a toolbox with various tools that support programme staff out of which they pick the most relevant ones for their local context, strategy and goals.
A learning organisation is an organisation skilled at creating, acquiring and transferring knowledge and at modifying its behaviour to reflect new knowledge and insights
The graphic below illustrates the interconnectivity between the tools and cluster them by purpose. The arrows illustrate the connections and data flow from one tool into the other.
For more information about Rikolto’s Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) system, you can contact our global advisor
Our new strategy charts a path towards sustainable food systems by focusing on interventions that can reshape the roles of multiple food system actors, from the global to local level.
Building on our expertise in creating inclusive business relationships, the strategy sets out our sustainable food system approach for working with diverse partners to strengthen selected commodity sectors - rice, cocoa and coffee - and to address the wider food system challenges of cities.
