Amman, 16 December 2024 – The Ministry of Agriculture in Jordan, in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), has launched a Joint SDG Fund-funded joint programme to transform Jordan's agrifood system towards greater sustainability and resilience. The Joint SDG Fund adopts a catalytic approach, aiming to drive systemic change through integrated economic, social, and environmental policies and strategic investments. This approach seeks to attract public and private financing to accelerate progress toward the SDGs.
The programme focuses on enhancing the capacity of the Government of Jordan to operationalize systems-based initiatives while improving the sustainability and resilience of the agrifood system. It addresses critical challenges, including the impacts of climate change, food insecurity, and the need to empower women, youth, and refugees.
The programme is closely aligned with Jordan's high-level national plans, particularly the National Food Security Strategy and Action Plan, as well as Jordan’s Food Systems Pathway and the forthcoming Food Systems Transformation Roadmap. These strategies serve as the foundation for the initiative, which aims to translate them into actionable implementation plans with measurable impacts.
Between now and August 2025, the programme will evaluate the current agrifood systems context and the implementation of the National Food Security Strategy Action Plan to identify promising entry points for transformation, such as value chains, business models, or market systems. It will also develop strategies for upgrading three selected entry points, each with a clear vision, action plan, investment plan, financing solution, and monitoring framework linked to a national system overseeing food systems transformation performance and impacts. A multi-stakeholder collaborative approach will be adopted throughout, including training and experiential learning, to build institutional capacity among key stakeholders in close partnership with the Food Security Council.
Minister of Agriculture Khaled Hneifat emphasized the importance of transitioning to a more sustainable and resilient agrifood system to ensure food security and address growing regional challenges, including limited natural resources—especially water—and the increasing impacts of climate change. He highlighted Jordan's efforts, including the launch of the National Food Security Strategy 2021–2030 and its action plan, as well as initiatives to transform food systems into more efficient and sustainable models.
“This joint programme builds on FAO’s efforts to strengthen stakeholder capacity, encourage knowledge and experience exchange, and promote policies and effective actions toward developing a sustainable, inclusive, and resilient agrifood system in Jordan,” explained Nabil Assaf, FAO Representative in Jordan.
“We are pleased to collaborate with UNIDO on this joint programme, alongside the Ministry of Agriculture, with full engagement from the Food Security Council.”
Sulafa Mdanat, UNIDO Country Representative in Jordan, added:
“UNIDO’s intervention will focus on leveraging the value addition brought by food processing to maximize the outcomes of food system transformation. We are committed to supporting the Government of Jordan in this journey, and FAO remains a natural partner in this effort.”
The programme incorporates the Agrifood Systems Transformation Accelerator (ASTA) methodology, a joint UNIDO-FAO global initiative designed to create self-sustaining, adaptive, and resilient system-based solutions within agrifood systems. This innovative approach reinforces the programme's goals of achieving long-term sustainability and resilience.
Through this collaboration, Jordan takes a significant step forward in addressing critical challenges while fostering sustainable development and resilience in its agrifood systems.
Note:
All joint programmes of the Joint SDG Fund are led by UN Resident Coordinators and implemented by the agencies, funds and programmes of the United Nations development system. With sincere appreciation for the contributions from the European Union and Governments of Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and our private sector funding partners, for a transformative movement towards achieving the SDGs by 2030.
