Final report on Virtual Institute for Systems Analysis (VISA): SI-MFS-WP5

Transforming Agri-food systems into more resilient, sustainable and climate smart systems in the global south requires to develop the capacities of actors in systems thinking, assessment and design. This implies to go beyond the current efforts of several universities in training and education of researchers and post graduate students in this domain3and to target all actors of the value chains (including farmers and advisors), regional development and policies with formats and contents adapted to each type of actor. For decades there has been a significant effort in research to develop concepts, methodologies and tools (models, indicators…) that allow to analyse, assess and design agrifood systems at various scales (farm, landscape, region), but there is a lack of operational tools and methods adapted to the needs and capacities of actors, which is a major limit to put systems thinking into action. The SI-MFS initiative of the One CGIAR4 aimed to bridge this gap for the global south in the specific case of Mixed Farming Systems and had dedicated a WP to «Capacity building for MFS design and analyses» (WP5) supported by a WP developing operational tools and methods (WP2) and a WP implementing them in a co-design process with stakeholders in selected countries (WP3). This initiative, as well as others from the One CGIAR, was a unique opportunity to develop south-south learning on agrifood systems design and scaling of innovation in a regional and cross-regional collaboration. While SI-MFS started to develop materials and approaches for capacity development of actors for its own needs it was important to discuss with other One CGIAR Initiatives, with other international projects and with universities around the world to set the scene for a global effort on systems science. Therefore, the objective of this activity was to conceptualize what could be a worldwide effort to develop an open virtual institute for Capacity Development of Actors in systems thinking, assessment and design for a sustainable transformation of agrifood systems (VISA) and start implementing a prototype serving the goals and domain of SI-MFS.