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CONSCIOUS FOOD SYSTEMS ALLIANCE
Launched in late 2022 after two years of incubation with partners, the Conscious Food Systems Alliance3(CoFSA), convened by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), supports the cultivation of inner capacities of food systems stakeholders as a key complementary approach for food systems transformation. CoFSA originates in a decade’s work by the UNDP’s Green Commodities Programme (GCP) that addresses the sustainability challenges of highly-traded agricultural commodities (such as coffee, cocoa, palm oil, etc.) through multi-stakeholder cooperation and dialogue. The challenges faced during this time led the team to understand that external solutions are not by themselves enough to bring about systemic change. Even where programmes seek to enable cooperation, the inner human aspects of food and agriculture systems (e.g. lack of trust, mindsets) are too often overlooked, with the result that appropriate structural and policy solutions are not sufficiently adopted, implemented and scaled. The team set out to address this blind spot in collective efforts to achieve sustainable food systems.
Global
VISION-MOTTO:
Cultivating Inner Capacities for Regenerative Food Systems
SHORT PROFILE:
CoFSA brings together an intentional community of peers, which fosters connections, knowledge exchange, and collaboration for building conscious food systems.
Offering CoFSA members a space to connect with each other, find peer support, as well as language, methodologies and tools to implement this agenda has proved instrumental, allowing to break the sense of isolation that they often feel. Today, CoFSA is a vibrant community of more than 350 members and a movement of over 2,000 professionals committed to leverage the power of inner change for food systems transformation.
CoFSA’s vision is to establish the cultivation of inner capacities as a key evidence-based approach to envision and create regenerative food systems and to build legitimacy for this agenda.
AREA OF WORK:
CoFSA approaches food systems transformation by working with all relevant stakeholder groups across food systems, including consumers, companies, governments, development agencies, academia, global and local NGOs, local communities, and farmers and food producers, at three interconnected levels:
Individual: through trainings, educational programmes, and retreats, as well as coaching activities,
Group (collective): by building safe, connecting, and transformative spaces and networks for conscious multi-stakeholder dialogues and platforms,
Institutional: by supporting the cultural transformation of organizations, as well as dedicated public and private policies.
VISION:
The Conscious Food Systems Alliance (CoFSA) builds on the understanding that an increased sense of connection to ourselves, others and nature as well as related cognitive, emotional and relational qualities such as self-awareness and presence, emotional awareness, capacity to listen deeply, empathy, openness, creativity, and resilience hold the key to deeper and more long-lasting change towards regenerative food systems.
CoFSA puts forward the cultivation of these inner capacities – our individual and collective mindsets, values, and skills – as a key approach, working alongside policy and technical solutions, to activate the adaptation, implementation, and sustained impact of transformative solutions.
INNOVATION (to Humanity in Unity with all life):
To transform food systems we need to look, beyond the problems’ symptoms, and even systems’ patterns and structures, at what fundamentally drives the systems. Consciousness and mental models are increasingly recognized as the key to unlock systems change, and regenerative agriculture calls for regenerative mindsets and cultures. The conscious food systems alliance challenges conventional approaches to food systems transformation which focus on external, often technocratic solutions – it advocates that to achieve real, long-lasting change in food systems we must activate one of the deepest levers of changes: our collective and individual mindsets, values and worldviews.
VISION FOR THE NEXT SEVEN GENERATIONS:
"At the Conscious Food Systems Alliance (CoFSA), we envision a world where food systems are consciously designed to nurture all forms of life for the next seven generations. Our vision is rooted in Indigenous wisdom and guided by principles of sustainability, equity, and regenerative practices. We aim to create food systems that honor the interconnectedness of people, culture, and the Earth, ensuring that the decisions we make today support the well-being of future generations. By integrating diverse knowledge systems, we seek to transform food systems into catalysts for ecological balance, social justice, and thriving communities."
WEBSITE:
https://consciousfoodsystems.org/