Blended
Resilient and Sustainable Food Systems for a Food Secure Future
Are you eager to delve into the world of food systems, and passionate about making a positive impact on the way we produce and consume food for a more resilient and sustainable future?
In this course you will gain a deeper understanding of the future challenges of food production, apply a systems thinking approach to analyse and address the complexities of food systems, and explore the impacts on various scales and outcomes. You will be provided with various valuable insights, tools and approaches to analyse food systems, identify interventions and design strategies to build resilience and sustainability within your local context, for ultimately enabling you to contribute to the transformation of food systems.
Join us on this transformative journey, and be part of the movement for a resilient and sustainable future of food!
Course dates are subject to change. This course will be taught in blended format. Which means, partially online and partially in an OKP country, not The Netherlands.
What will you learn?
In this course, your knowledge and skills will be strengthened. After this course, you will:
- Gain deeper insights into global future challenges of food production and the impacts on different scales and outcomes of the food system;
- Apply a systems thinking approach to analyse food systems in order to find new balances between food production, livelihoods, natural resource management, and coping with uncertainties and change;
- Apply various insights, tools and approaches to analyse food systems and identify critical areas for change and intervention;
- Design innovative and practical interventions and strategies to build resilience and sustainability of food systems, balancing social, economic and environmental impacts;
- Recognize the significance of the role of stakeholders and how to actively involve them in fostering resilient and sustainable of food systems.
For who is this course?
We invite technical staff, policymakers, scientists, private sector professionals and programme/project managers who want to build resilient and sustainable food systems in their home countries, to enrol. Participants should be proficient in English, and have at least a BSc degree or an equivalent academic qualification and preferably several years of work experience in the agricultural domain.
Course programme in more detail
Insecure food systems
The world is changing and is becoming more unpredictable and uncontrollable. This holds for both social and natural conditions, with climate change and globalisation being major drivers of change in the world. People around the world are increasingly exposed to extreme weather events, economic crises, food crises, disease epidemics, social instability, and political conflicts.
The resulting insecurity not only affects the global social and economic systems, but also (local) food systems and their farmers who stand at the basis of food production.
Farming & food security in a changing world
Insecurity is inherently linked to farming. Increasingly farmers and other food chain actors are dealing in many ways with multiple and simultaneous shocks and changes affecting food systems. While coping with increased insecurity, the agricultural sector also needs to face future challenges of feeding a growing and urbanising population with changing dietary demands and at the same time reduce the environmental impact of agricultural activities.
This requires sustainable intensification (getting more from less), with reduced vulnerability to perturbations and reduced impact on the environment. With these increasing uncertainties and future challenges in prospect, there is the need for development of resilient and sustainable food systems that can cope with unexpected shocks, preserving the environment and natural resources for future generations and ensuring future food security.
Food systems approach
This course aims to offer a systems thinking approach on agriculture as well as skills and tools to design innovative, resilient and sustainable food systems. The focus is on balancing between producing food, providing livelihoods, sustainably managing natural resources, and dealing with uncertainty and change. It will move beyond the technical realm looking also at the role and involvement of public, private and civil stakeholders for inclusion of social, economic, and environmental aspects.
Course setting
The training is job-oriented and experience-based, therefore it is highly interactive: it provides participants with the opportunity to learn from a wealth of international experience available among themselves, the course facilitators and lecturers.
This course is taught in blended format
Our courses are offered in two formats: online or blended. A course taught in a blended format is taught partially online and partially in person. Check the course details for more information about whether it is taught in online or blended format.
Application for this course
On top of this page you can apply for the course Resilient and Sustainable Food Systems for a Food Secure Future. Depending on your nationality, your organisation and the type of course you wish to join, your eligibility and the application procedures may differ. Find out more about the requirements and the application process.