Disclaimer:
Please be aware that the content herein has not been peer reviewed. It consists of personal reflections, insights, and learnings of the contributor(s). It may not be exhaustive, nor does it aim to be authoritative knowledge.
Title
Please provide a name for your action learning plan.
Advancing Food System Resilience
Challenge statement
Challenge type: If you are working on multiple challenges, please indicate if this is your "big bet" or "exploratory" challenge.
Please note: we ask you to only submit a maximum of 3 challenges - 1x Big Bet, 2x Exploratory. Each challenge must be submitted individually.
BIG BET
Challenge statement: What is your challenge? (Please answer in specific terms: "Our challenge is that...”.)
Our challenge is to enhance the resilience and sustainability of food systems in Jordan by addressing the intertwined challenges of humanitarian needs, peacebuilding, and development.
Background: What is the history of your challenge? What is causing or driving it? Who is involved? How does the current situation look like? What undesired effects does it produce?
In Jordan, over 53% of the population faces food insecurity, exacerbated by climate change, droughts, and temperature fluctuations. The country’s dependence on food imports and resource scarcity, especially water, worsens the situation. The large refugee population also strains resources, with marginalized groups, such as women, youth, and refugees, disproportionately affected. These groups often play critical roles in food systems but face limited access to resources and opportunities, leading to poor nutrition, poverty, and environmental degradation. UNDP is working with the Food and Agriculture Commodity Systems (FACS) team, the Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery for Building Resilience (DRT) team, and the UNDP Resilience Hub for Africa in Nairobi to address these challenges.
Quantitative evidence: What (official) data sources do you have on this challenge that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge? You can add text, a link, or a picture.
Qualitative evidence: What weak signals have you recently spotted that characterizes its urgency? Please provide qualitative information that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge. You can add text, a link, or a picture.
Value proposition: What added value or unique value proposition is your Accelerator Lab bringing to solving this challenge? Why is it your Lab that needs to work on this challenge and not other actors within UNDP, other stakeholders in the country respectively? Why is it worth investing resources to this challenge?
The Accelerator Lab adds unique value by leveraging experimentation before scaling, reducing risks and optimizing resources. Our approach is grounded in extensive research, including deep listening, radio mining, literature review, and stakeholder mapping, ensuring we address challenges with evidence-based, context-specific solutions. Unlike other actors, we specialize in rapid testing, co-creation, and collective intelligence, making us uniquely positioned to design impactful, scalable interventions.
Short “tweet” summary: We would like to tweet what you are working on, can you summarize your challenge in a maximum of 280 characters?
We're working to enhance food system resilience in Jordan's Jordan Valley by addressing food insecurity through gender-responsive, sustainable solutions. The project empowers women, youth, and marginalized groups, fostering collaboration and building resilience to climate challenges.
Partners
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the partner:
UNDP Food and Agriculture Commodity Systems (FACS) team within BPPS and the CB Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery for Building Resilience (DRT)
What sector does our partner belong to?
United Nations
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
This partnership will combine FACS's expertise in sustainable food systems with DRT's experience in crisis management, creating a holistic, cross-disciplinary approach.
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
No
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the partner:
UNDP Resilience Hub for Africa in Nairobi
What sector does our partner belong to?
United Nations
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
The project is being implemented in Jordan and Kenya
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
No
Learning questions
Learning question: What is your learning question for this challenge? What do you need to know or understand to work on your challenge statement?
How can we design and implement gender-responsive, locally driven interventions that simultaneously address humanitarian needs, promote peacebuilding, and support sustainable development to enhance the resilience of Jordan's food systems?
To what stage(s) in the learning cycle does your learning question relate?
Test, Grow
Usage of methods: Relating to your choice above, how will you use your methods & tools for this learning question? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
To address our learning question, we will utilize design thinking to engage diverse stakeholders, including women, youth, and marginalized groups, in co-creating inclusive, context-specific solutions. Experimentation will allow us to pilot gender-responsive approaches in the Jordan Valley, refining interventions based on real-world feedback. Through prototyping, we will develop and test scalable models for sustainable food systems, incorporating innovations in governance, resource management, and community empowerment. Sensemaking will help us analyze data from pilots and prototypes to identify patterns, challenges, and opportunities, ensuring adaptive and evidence-based decision-making. Finally, partnerships with local stakeholders, NGOs, and UNDP teams will combine expertise and resources, creating a holistic and collaborative approach.
Existing data gaps: Relating to your choice above, what existing gaps in data or information do these new sources of data addressing? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
The methods we’ve chosen address several critical data gaps. Deep interviews and rapid listening capture nuanced, context-specific insights from local communities, particularly women, youth, and marginalized groups, whose voices are often underrepresented in existing data. Sensemaking helps identify patterns and connections in qualitative data, addressing the lack of integrated, actionable insights from diverse sources. Personas provide a clear understanding of stakeholder needs, motivations, and challenges, filling the gap in targeted, user-centered design approaches. Radio mining uncovers public discourse trends, revealing community concerns and sentiments not typically found in formal reports. Together, these methods address gaps in localized, qualitative, and actionable data, enabling the design of gender-responsive, sustainable interventions that align with the realities of Jordan’s food systems.
Closing
Early leads to grow: Think about the possible grow phase for this challenge - who might benefit from your work on this challenge or who might be the champions in your country that you should inform or collaborate with early on to help you grow this challenge?
To grow this challenge, we will engage early with key stakeholders who can benefit from or champion our work. Local communities in the Jordan Valley, including women, youth, and marginalized groups, will be central as both beneficiaries and co-creators of solutions. Collaboration with government agencies, such as the Ministry of Agriculture and the Jordan Valley Authority, will ensure alignment with national policies and institutional backing. Partnerships with civil society organizations and NGOs focused on food security, gender equality, and community development will help leverage their networks and expertise. We will also involve private sector actors in agriculture, water management, and technology to explore innovative and sustainable business models. Academia and research institutions will provide evidence-based insights and help monitor the impact of interventions, while international donors and development partners, including UNDP networks, will support funding and amplify the initiative’s reach.
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2Zero hunger
10Reduced innequalities
17Partnerships for the goals
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