The UN Food Systems Coordination Hub (“the Hub”) will acts as the catalyst inside the UN system in relation to food systems and the 2030 Agenda. Following the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit (FSS), the Hub is taking on essential coordination functions to bring together food systems knowledge and expertise from diverse constituencies to support national progress on the SDGs in response to country priorities.

The Hub’s role is to support countries to further develop and/or implement their national food systems transformation pathways, relevant dialogues and other processes, through the coordination of technical and policy support as requested by countries. The Hub will:

• Ensure to connect the broader ecosystem of actors, including coalitions and other initiatives, as well as the science ecosystem.
• Promote alignment and integration of actors’ efforts with country demand.
• Elevate priority topics in the food systems transformation agenda for strategic thought leadership of UN Agencies, leading actors, and other supporting parties.
  

The Hub will focus on leveraging the broad range of assets of the UN system – particularly within the context of the repositioning of the UN development system – and existing SDG reporting structures to demonstrate progress. The Hub will act as a coordinator and connector among diverse constituencies to support national progress on the SDGs and will be responsive to country priorities.

While the Hub will facilitate the identification of support services and set up a system to coordinate support to countries, the actual implementation of these services will be done by the UN Agencies supporting the Hub and other actors. To this end, the Hub will prioritize six key functions:

1. Facilitate implementation of National Pathways.
2. Strengthen strategic thought leadership, in support of countries.
3. Engage the ecosystem of support across the UN system and more widely.
4. Leverage means of implementation.
5. Communicate and advocate for a Food Systems Approach.
6. Prepare for the 2023 Stocktaking Moment.

Following the 2021 Food Systems Summit, the Secretary-General committed the UN system to jointly lead a Coordination Hub that collaborates with and draws upon wider UN system capacities to support follow-up to the Food Systems Summit.

The UN Deputy Secretary-General and the Principals of FAO, IFAD, WFP, UNEP and the DCO agreed to establish the Hub and an information note was issued to inform Member States and key partners on the arrangements.

The UN Food Systems Coordination Hub became operational on 1 January 2022. FAO hosts the Hub on behalf of the UN system. In the initial three months of its operation, the Hub focused on ensuring a smooth transition of assets and processes from the time-bound Food Systems Summit Secretariat to the Hub, and developing a biennial workplan. The Hub began implementation of its workplan mid-2022.

The Hub is hosted by FAO on behalf of the UN system, within the Office of the FAO Director- General. It is managed under the operations of FAO’s Office of Sustainable Development Goals. The Hub is a hybrid structure when it comes to working space, with some of its members located at FAO headquarters and others working remotely from other UN Agencies, Funds and Programmes (AFPs). FAO provides overall administrative and programmatic support for the operations of the Hub.

The following AFPs have committed to provide human or/and financial resources to support initial operations of the Hub:

The UN Food Systems Coordination Hub is resourced by the AFPs listed above through the provision of staff and financial resources. The structure of the Hub, within the overall architecture of the FSS follow up, is presented below:

Oversight of the Hub is with a Steering Group comprised of the Principals of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the UN Development Coordination Office (UN DCO) and the UN Task Force Leads, with participation from the UN Deputy Secretary-General (DSG). The Oversight Group will engage with the Executive Office of the Secretary General (EOSG) and the United Nations Sustainable Development Group (UNSDG) on the Hub’s work. The Oversight Group will routinely brief and share information on progress with Members, the Informal Joint Meeting of RBA Governing Bodies, Chairs of the RBAs Governing Bodies, the Chair of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), and the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) through the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

The current team members of the Hub include:

• Mr. Stefanos Fotiou (FAO), Director of the Hub
• Ms. Sylvia Lopez-Ekra (DCO), Deputy Director designate of the Hub
• Ms. Nadine Gbossa (IFAD), Chief of Means of Implementation of the Hub
• Mr. Svante Helms (WFP), Pathways Manager designate
• Ms. Lina Mahy (WHO), Engagement Coordinator
• Ms. Cinar Yavuz (FAO), Programme Officer

The team members can represent the Hub, upon request from the Head of the Hub, and do not speak on behalf of or represent their respective UN organizations in conducting Hub functions. In order to realize objectives, each of the Hub’s team members can reach out to representatives from countries, the UN system, and actors of the Ecosystem of Support as per delegated authority. No one else can represent or speak on behalf of the Hub other than its team members and the members of the Oversight Steering Group.

The Hub will support the development and implementation of food systems transformation national pathways, which are country-owned and demand-driven.

Leveraging UN system capacities at country, regional and global levels, the Hub will provide support to national food systems dialogues and national pathways through the coordination of technical and policy support, upon request by countries. In both the short- and medium-terms, the Hub will work to analyse requests and match available solutions to country needs. Wherever relevant and applicable, these efforts would inform and align with the Common Country Analyses (CCAs) and the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks (UNSCDFs).

The Hub will also support the network of National Convenors to continue sharing experiences and knowledge in order to further enhance collaboration, foster cross-sectoral action and nurture global solidarity. Independent dialogues will also be encouraged as a means for complementary engagement of a range of communities and constituencies, to inform national pathway priorities and to accelerate action.

More information on country support can be found in the Hub's Biennial Workplan.

One of the Hub’s key functions is to increase awareness and drive collective mobilization around the role of food systems transformation to deliver the SDGs. Governments will be routinely informed about progress through:

• The Oversight Group;
• Updates via the Informal Joint Meeting of RBA Governing Bodies;
• Consultations with the Chairs of the RBAs Governing bodies;
• Reporting using existing intergovernmental structures and platforms of the UN Agencies, Funds and Programmes supporting the Hub;
• Leveraging opportunities to communicate on the work of the Hub in relevant sessions and events organized by the ecosystem of support members;
• A dedicated Hub website.

The Hub is committed to ensuring a country-owned and demand-driven approach. In countries with a UN presence, the Hub will support Resident Coordinators and UN Country Teams to continue to work with existing national platforms and government partners (e.g. National Convenors) for the development and implementation of their food systems transformation national pathways. The Hub will help in ensuring that the immense body of work at the country level is shared and reported on. The Hub will have a monitoring and evaluation plan, and will be reporting on progress using existing mechanisms and platforms at national, regional and global levels.

The term “Ecosystem of Support” is used to describe a large group of entities that supported the Food Systems Summit (FSS) process as well as entities that emerged from the Summit. It includes both UN and non-UN entities with demonstrated added value that will provide support to countries’ efforts to implement their pathways. The Ecosystem of Support includes, but is not limited to, the active coalitions and initiatives that emerged from the FSS, stakeholder groups, the UN Food Systems Task Force, science and knowledge communities, food systems think-tanks and others.

The Hub will connect coalitions by keeping a publicly available repository of up-to-date information on each of the coalitions. The Hub will be a client-oriented connector and credible source of information for the Ecosystem of Support and will help to identify overlaps, complementarities and opportunities for joint action.

The Hub will also connect coalitions with the countries for accelerating food systems transformative actions. Coalitions, commitments and all other initiatives emerging from the FSS, as well as those that will continue to emerge, will be invited to regularly report on their progress and to participate in a network of mutual learning and support. More information on engagement with coalitions will be provided in the upcoming biennial Hub workplan.

The Hub will engage widely with food systems stakeholders to ensure a robust follow-up to the FSS to support the 2030 Agenda through food systems transformation. It will establish a Stakeholder Engagement and Networking Advisory (SENA) Group to engage with and advise the Hub over time, with self-nominated focal points of constituencies as defined in the UN SG Statement of Action, particularly youth, Indigenous Peoples, producers, women, the scientific and technological community, and the private sector.

The SENA Group should ensure that the national pathways and other national, regional, and global platforms (e.g., dialogues, coalitions, initiatives, etc.) are informed by, and consider the perspectives and views of, these constituencies to enhance effectiveness, transparency, and inclusiveness. Members of the SENA Group are expected to activate and harness the power of their existing networks and communities, promoting and building additional networks of support where needed within and across constituencies, generating action in support of and aligned with countries’ food systems transformations.

The Hub draws on the collective assets and expertise of the UN Agencies, Funds and Programmes that support its operation. The Hub works directly with the UN Resident Coordinators and UN Country Teams to ensure that the delivery of support services to the countries will happen through existing UN structures. While the leadership of the Hub has initiated informal contacts with many actors that have expressed interest to engage with the Hub, no contractual partnership between the Hub and non-UN entities has been established so far.

If you are a National Convenor and you would like to request support from the Hub, the first level of contact would be the UN Resident Coordinator in your country. You can always copy the [email protected] in your communication with the UNRCs.

If you are part of the Ecosystem of Support and you would like to contact the Hub in this initial phase of the Hub’s operation, please address your inquiries to [email protected].