Where food systems transformation in Ethiopia stands today: Report back from SHiFT stocktaking session

The 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) in Rome generated new attention to sustainable food systems and triggered national actions around the world. Since the 2021 UNFSS, 126 countries have adopted national pathways and 155 have appointed food systems national convenors. Countries are now preparing voluntary progress updates for the next global convening, UNFSS+4.  

While countries were gathering for the 2021 UNFSS, a group of researchers from across CGIAR, other academic institutions, NGOs, and donors were preparing a proposal for a new research program that would generate evidence designed to support countries in their ambitions to transform food systems in a healthier, sustainable direction. The CGIAR Research Initiative on Sustainable Healthy Diets through Food Systems Transformation (SHiFT) was launched in January 2022. Quickly, SHiFT formalized partnerships with the food systems national convenors in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Viet Nam – known as SHiFT Strategic Partners – and SHiFT’s Country Coordinators were mobilized to provide technical support into their individual national food systems transformation processes to ensure there would be sufficient attention to sustainable healthy diets. 

As SHiFT wrapped up its initial phase at the end of 2024, a series of stocktaking workshops were held with the Strategic Partners in each focus country to review and assess each country’s unique food systems transformation process and discuss priorities moving forward. 

Insights from Ethiopia 

The SHiFT stocktaking workshop in Ethiopia was held October 7-9, 2024, with representatives from all three Strategic Partners, the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Health, and Ethiopia Public Health Institute. In the opening session of the workshop, Dr. Mulugeta Teamir, Ministry of Agriculture, re-capped the food systems transformation process and recent milestones. Ethiopia’s Food System Transformation Pathway, built around 24 game-changing solutions grouped into six clusters aligned with the UNFSS global action tracks, is led by an inter-ministerial steering committee chaired by the Ministry of Agriculture.  

In 2024, a new initiative was launched, led by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the Ministry of Agriculture, to develop a monitoring & evaluation (M&E) framework for Ethiopia’s Food Systems Transformation Pathway. In addition, a recently completed Food Systems Training Manual and facilitators guide will serve as the basis of any future training on food systems offered in Ethiopia by government and non-government partners. This includes the food systems training of trainers (ToT) program co-designed by SHiFT and Strategic Partners. The Manual will be published in early-2025 and the rollout of the ToT program is expected to accelerate and efforts to finalize the framework, indicators, and targets will continue, all in close collaboration with in-country experts from SHiFT and CGIAR more broadly. 

During the stocktaking workshop, grantees from a 2024 MSc small grant scheme from SHiFT presented their master’s level research. The purpose of the grant scheme was to enrich master’s-level research projects on topics related to sustainable healthy diets, the food environment, and/or food systems. In Ethiopia, synergies between the small grant scheme and the ToT program have opened new partnership opportunities with local universities. Looking ahead, CGIAR researchers will be keen to facilitate linkages between this emerging community of academic experts to the national food systems transformation process. 

Dr. Teamir acknowledged SHiFT’s contributions. Specifically, SHiFT has facilitated technical and financial support in the development of the Manual and technical support to the M&E initiative. Consistently, SHiFT has advocated for sustainable healthy diets to remain a priority outcome of Ethiopia’s food systems transformation. SHiFT’s research on the food environment fills a key knowledge gap and the data will be particularly relevant for two game-changing solutions on dietary diversity and consumption of safe and healthy foods.  

Currently, there are no government resources allocated for implementation of the food systems transformation plan. More innovative financing models will need to be identified to realize their ambitions. Creating awareness of the Plan itself – to build political and operational buy-in – and of food systems concepts and approaches generally remains one of the committee’s highest priorities.  

As SHiFT moves forward into a new phase in 2025, the Strategic Partners suggested that more partners, specifically the Ministry of Education and the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Institute, be engaged.  On the capacity sharing side, more activities to build skills in advocacy and approaches and methodologies to create consumer awareness of healthy diets were requested. The data SHiFT has generated on the food environment needs to include data from the supply side.  The Strategic Partners were clear that the links between supply and the consumer need to be visible. By incorporating supply side issues and concerns, policy recommendations will be stronger and more convincing. In Strategic Partners’ own words, they need data on the “source of healthy diets.” 

Read about SHiFT’s other stocktaking meetings in Bangladesh and Viet Nam.

Header image: Stocktaking meeting in Ethiopia / SHiFT Initiative. 

The International Food Policy Research Institute and the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT lead SHiFT in close collaboration with Wageningen University and Research and with contributions from the International Potato Center. SHiFT combines high-quality nutritional and social science research capacity with development partnerships to generate innovative, robust solutions that contribute to healthier, more sustainable dietary choices and consumption of sustainable healthy diets. It builds on CGIAR’s unparalleled track record of agricultural research for development, including ten years of work on food systems and nutrition under the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health.