In Bhutan, connecting leadership and policy with the human side of food systems transformation

Paro, Bhutan | 31 August–4 September 2026 – Policies can align sectors on paper. Investment plans can identify priorities. New governance structures can bring institutions around the same table. But whether these mechanisms work in practice and produce an outcome which is greater than the sum of its parts, often comes down to something less visible: the people working within them, the relationships they build and the vision and values that guide their decisions.

The first Global Conscious Food Systems Summit in Paro, Bhutan, brought this dimension of food systems transformation into discussions on policy, governance and investment. The UN Food Systems Coordination Hub joined nearly 400 participants from around 65 countries, including governments, Indigenous Peoples, farmers, scientists, young people, businesses and development practitioners. The Summit was convened by the Royal Government of Bhutan, the Conscious Food Systems Alliance (CoFSA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The Summit provided an opportunity to connect these discussions with the country-led processes that have developed since the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit and the practical challenges countries face in sustaining a whole-of-government, whole-of-society approach to food systems.

Today, 158 countries have appointed National Food Systems Convenors and 130 have national food systems pathways, developed through consultative processes involving ministries, local administrations and other food systems actors. Bringing priorities across agriculture, nutrition, health, climate, livelihoods and economic development together into a coherent picture, ultimately aiming for people and planetary wellbeing, requires a common vision of the common good, coordination across institutions with different mandates, budgets and priorities, and solid trust-building.

Since 2021 and the submission of its national pathway "Food Systems for Gross National Happiness", including eight priorities, Bhutan has regularly reviewed progress through inclusive dialogues. It is also in the process of incubating a blended financing mechanism with the support of FAO, the Bhutan Agri-Sustain Fund, aimed at leveraging USD 80 million from different sources to support systemic priorities, from food security and rural development to climate action, biodiversity, inclusive growth and resilience. In its effort to steer sustainable food systems efforts in in integrated way, Bhutan is supported by a number of development partners coordinated through the Food Systems Working Group (chaired by WFP).

The work behind the policy

A national pathway can set out a coherent vision on paper while ministries continue to compete for resources to implement relevant sectoral priorities. Communities can participate in consultations but lack ownership of the outcome and see limited follow-up. Coordination mechanisms can lose momentum following political or institutional change. These are practical challenges that policy design alone cannot resolve.

At a Hub-led session on leadership for policy coherence and transformative governance, organised together with the Food Safety and Food Systems Division of FAO, National Convenors from Lebanon, Bhutan and Switzerland, and actors working at regional and local levels examined what helps institutions work across these boundaries.

Panel on creating an enabling environment for conscious policy, governance and finance, bringing together global, national, subnational, community and scientific perspectives from the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub, Mongolia, Medellín, Indigenous communities in North Eastern India and the Hub’s Scientific Advisory Committee.

“Behind every pathway that has genuinely moved there is a second story, and it almost never appears in the strategy document,” said Hub Director a.i. Carlos Watson, describing how people with different mandates, interests and incentives learn to work together, build trust and sustain cooperation over time.

For National Convenors, these demands are particularly relevant. Appointed by their Heads of State and/or Government to develop and implement an integrated approach to national food sytsem transformations, National Convenors are expected to bring ministries and partners around common national priorities, often without dedicated budgets or formal authority over the institutions they coordinate. This requires a strategic vision and technical knowledge, but also the ability to build credibility, manage competing interests and maintain cooperation, and manage resistance to change

“Since 2021, we have seen that the ingredients of success behind some of the most transformative and long-lasting outcomes lspearheaded by National Convenors happen behind the scenes: developing a thorough and dynamic understanding of food systems‘ strengths and challenges in the country, building in long-term visions practitioners‘ knowledge and priorities, building trust across ministries, keeping different actors engaged and finding ways forward when priorities compete,” said Ophélie Hemonin, Policy Officer at the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub. “This long-term vision and these relationships are often what allow coordination to hold and national pathways to  move forward while adapting to moments of crises or shifting political priorities.”

The session presented examples of different approaches, from citizens’ assemblies and consent circles to efforts to institutionalize coordination (not merely convening) spaces. It also highlighted some of the resulting paradigm-shifting outcomes, including the adoption of Gross National Happiness and its 33 indicators in Bhutan, and draft Right to Food legislation in Lebanon amid compounded crises. Participants also highlighted listening, resilience and the ability to address difficult trade-offs as important for strengthening collaboration and building greater ownership of shared priorities.

Connecting people with policy

These questions extend beyond coordination to how policies are developed, financed and applied. In an exchange with grassroot representatives across regions, National Convenors emphasized the importance for citizens to claim and keep ownership of the policies and have their voices heard, maintaining the ambition, direction and momentum, as well as for ”development partners” to walk their talk when in comes to institutionalising integrated approaches, including revisiting how interventions are programmed and funded.

During a plenary session on policy, governance and investment, Mr. Watson cautioned against treating food systems primarily as a technical or technocratic issue. Despite progress in developing national pathways, governance mechanisms and financing approaches, their ultimate effectiveness depends on the institutions and people responsible for applying them.

“This Summit, by emphasizing values, inner capacities and principles, shed light on the invisible part of the iceberg: it always starts, and ends with people,” he said.

The implications are practical. Participatory processes can bring different experiences and forms of knowledge into policymaking, starting with that of practitioners, the food producers. Financing decisions reflect which priorities institutions value and measure. At the local level, decisions on procurement, school meals, markets and land use influence how national food systems priorities are carried out.

“It is through a shared vision and a common sense of purpose across people that policies will align,” Mr. Watson said.

The UN Food Systems Coordination Hub delegation, accompanied by the Chair of the Bhutan Development Partners Food Systems Working Group (WFP Country Director) and the FAO Country Office, during bilateral meetings with Bhutanese government counterparts, including representatives from the Office of the Prime Minister, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, Ministry of Education and Skills Development and Ministry of Health, as well as the FAO Country Office in Bhutan.

On the sidelines of the Summit, the Hub also met with Bhutanese government counterparts, the FAO Country Office and the Chair of the Development Partners Working Group on Food Systems, WFP Country Director Peter Rodrigues. Discussions explored how Bhutan's Gross National Happiness Index can support greater integration across national priorities, alongside food systems financing and the incubation of the Bhutan Agri-Sustain Fund, research and innovation, youth, health and the country’s Five-Year Plan. They also considered opportunities for UN support and stronger coordination across government.

The Summit concluded with the launch of the Conscious Food Systems Framework, which draws on more than five years of work and over 50 examples examining how values, mindsets and relationships influence food systems. The next phase will focus on practical application at country and local levels by members of the Alliance

The Hub will bring relevant lessons and recommendations from Bhutan into its continued support to country-led food systems transformation, including through the National Food Systems Convenors network, while creating greater space for the voices of non-institutional actors to contribute to shifting the global food systems narrative and bringing institutional actors closer to food producers and their lived realities.