An exploration of the different stages to understand how to enable the sustainability of Food Systems and access to nutritious food to the citizens has allowed us to discover the following findings:  Engaging different actors and citizens through workshops using a collective intelligence methodology was key to align the agencies and Ministries involved in the agenda for the National Dialogue on Food Systems.  / Digital literacy is lower in rural areas than urban areas, particularly in the agricultural sector there is a large number of farmers that are older and are not familiar with technologies or mobile devices. For instance, in one of our experiments in a rural area in Cajamarca, approx. 50%<3458 of the farmers own smartphones but they use them as analogue cell phones. Farmers don't know all the functionalities that the phone offers or they don't have access to data in their area or region.  We learned that to foster the digital transformation in the farmers there is a need to focus first on socio-technical aspects in order to understand what challenges they face in their context, their daily procedures and how they can expand their markets.  / Due to the pandemic context, youth are returning to the agricultural industry and are moving back from the city to the country. This is an opportunity to develop incentives and a digital ecosystem in the agricultural area. / Within the production stage of food systems, during the experiments we experienced more visibility of men leaders compared with women leaders. For instance, men were leading the coffee cooperatives and they were mainly the decision makers in the area explored in Cajamarca. Still, more research should be done along the different stages of food systems.  / Further opportunities for exploration are the understanding of ancestral knowledge related to water resources, agriculture, irrigation, soil protection and biodynamics. 

<span id="docs-internal-guid-bec94bc9-7fff-9cfc-f877-5f797ee5830e"><a href="https://www-author.undp.org/editor.html/content/peru/es/home/presscenter/blogs/2021/where-diverse-people-connect--solutions-blossom.html"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www-author.undp.org/editor.html/content/peru/es/home/presscenter/blogs/2021/where-diverse-people-connect--solutions-blossom.html</span></a></span>

Political context: National elections and the subsequent change in government created instability among governmental partners. / Lack of coordination among government partners: We relied on previous professional relationships to facilitate coordination between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Production and kick start planning of the National Dialogues on Food Systems. Trigger sessions or workshops as tools to align stakeholders (articulating ecosystems works better by using the Lab's power to achieve consensus among partners). / Coordination issues within the UN system: Joint work among UN agencies represented an additional layer of complexity which slowed down government processes even more.

Lack of an appropriate source of small farmers data.  / Lack of a country-wide debate on the sustainability of food systems and associated data on national priorities. / Track the conversation surrounding the National Dialogue on Food Systems, the Sabor del Futuro event (in which the Lab participated leading a workshop with young changemakers) and the public presentation of the Roadmap for the Sustainability of Peruvian Food systems and Gastronomy

The Lab applied these methods given the lack of updated and systematized information on the situation of food systems in Peru, lack of visibility of the latest innovations in food systems happening in the country, insufficient dialogue and confrontational positions among actors in the value chain, and the need to accelerate the engagement of these very diverse actors within the Peruvian food system in a national debate towards the 2021 Food Systems Summit. These methods were essential to design a more inclusive, incremental and open process with a very short timeline and a lot of organizations simultaneously involved.

Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru (PUCP, https://www.pucp.edu.pe/): The Lab was involved in the organization of the El Sabor del Futuro event, a weeklong virtual gathering to discuss the future of gastronomy in the country. The Lab also led a workshop with young changemakers which later fed into the Roadmap for the Sustainability of Peruvian Food Systems and Gastronomy.

AGROS (https://www.agros.tech/): Initially we planned to join AGROS in the piloting of their digital identity project for small farmers, which would allow farmers to engage with the value chain in better conditions by having a blockchain-based information system associated to their production and business identity. This pilot was going to take place outside of Lima, so due to travel restrictions in place by the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office we could join them in person; however, the Lab worked with AGROS in the development of the visual identity of the information material and ID card given to the farmers in the project. In the upcoming months the Lab will continue to work with AGROS in the implementation of another similar pilot in Lima to continue to gather insights and understand the challenges on the ground.

Peruvian Ministry of Production: Supported the development of the Roadmap for the Sustainability of Peruvian Food systems and Gastronomy through collective intelligence workshops. Peruvian Ministry of Agriculture: Supported the organization of the National Dialogues on Food Systems.

AGROS was a new partner for UNDP

UN Resident Coordinator’s Office / FAO / IFAD / WFP. All of these UN agencies, together with the Lab, were involved in organizing the National Dialogues on Food Systems jointly with the Peruvian Ministries of Agriculture and Production. The Lab also worked closely with FAO through their focal point to share information on projects related to digital transformation for small farmers.

The methods used in this process (a kick off meeting with government officials + 3 different kinds of workshops + National Dialogue on Food Systems event) to gather and understand data provided by academic, civil society, business and government partners fed into a national strategic document that outlines the national priorities on food systems and set the path for Peru’s participation in the Food Systems Summit next month.