IIPP continues the collaboration with the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)

As part of a suite of collaborative initiatives, on 4 July 2024, an IIPP team travelled to the FAO in Rome for an internal seminar to discuss the design of more coherent policy frameworks and of institutional innovation for driving structural change in agrifood systems.

The IIPP team was led by Professor Rainer Kattel (IIPP Deputy Director) and included four IIPP students from the Master of Public Administration in Innovation, Public Policy and Public Value -Alice Nerurker, Juliette Parenty, Dana Khan and Odsuren Amarsaikhan.  The seminar was delivered by the FAO’s Agrifood Systems and Food Safety Division (ESF) and was supported by the government of Ireland. 

The seminar featured a guest lecture by Professor Kattel who provided an overview on the public sector capabilities needed to drive systemic change.  Professor Kattel emphasized that systems approaches to policymaking require both an upskilling of existing institutions and, in some circumstances, the creation of new ones, such as policy labs or units, that have the autonomy to test and experiment with new solutions.

Professor Kattel’s lecture was complemented by a presentation by the IIPP MPA students, who as part of the IIPP MOIN student placement programme, presented on two months of research they had carried out in collaboration with the FAO on improving policy coherence between different agrifood policy areas.  Discussions touched upon the need to engage with stakeholders who may be sceptical or resistant to new ideas  and ways of working; the importance of analysing the context to choose the right tools and mechanisms; and the need to invest in the education and training of future policymakers on systems approaches.

The seminar builds on cutting-edge training developed by IIPP and delivered in collaboration with the FAO earlier this year.

 “The findings shared were extremely pertinent to FAO’s work on how it supports countries design and implement policies on agrifood systems transformation.”  Corinne Hawkes, Director, FAO’s Agrifood Systems and Food Safety Division (ESF)

“It is great to see FAO paying so much attention to both policy design and implementation. The latter is often the hardest part in any system transformation, let alone in such challenging cases as agrifood systems. We are very much looking forward to deepening our collaboration this autumn” Professor Rainer Kattel, IIPP