Vision and mission
Sustainable, inclusive and more equitable food systems have the potential to deliver food and nutrition security and catalyse the achievement of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
SIANI’s overall vision is a future where “food systems are more sustainable, rights-based and inclusive of smallholder farmers and marginalised groups.” SIANI’s mission is to “support and promote multisector dialogue and action around food systems transformation”, in Sweden and globally, with participation from academia, the private sector, public authorities and civil society. Our network offers an open and interactive platform for exchange on global issues around food systems, agriculture and poverty reduction.
We seek to contribute to change through:
- Knowledge management and communication to identify knowledge gaps, filter and share evidence-based information.
- Amplification and awareness-raising of marginalised perspectives to extend the reach, uptake and influence of members, ideas and initiatives.
- Inclusive multi-stakeholder dialogues among key stakeholders and representatives to facilitate collective learning and action.
- Community-building among diverse members, followers and partners in the SIANI network.
Our diverse network of more than 4500 members represents a wide range of perspectives, ideas, insights and approaches. Since 2008, SIANI has become a hub for anyone who works with and is interested in sustainable agriculture, food security and nutrition, particularly in low-income contexts.
Programme document
SIANI’s fourth phase (2022-2027), SIANI 4, aims to transform food systems into more sustainable, rights-based, and inclusive of smallholder farmers, SMEs, and marginalised groups. SIANI 4 will leverage the established network platform to facilitate dialogue, knowledge management, awareness-raising, and community-building. It will focus on contributing to the recognition of the rights of rural youth, the prosperity of smallholders and SMEs, and the livelihoods of marginalized groups.
History
SIANI was founded in 2008 to increase the understanding of the pivotal role of agriculture for sustainable development. From the start, SIANI’s objectives were to lay the foundation for a networking platform for cross-sectoral knowledge exchange on agriculture and development between network members and partners.
Today, SIANI is recognised as an important actor with a rapidly growing membership in Sweden and internationally. SIANI has professionalised and expanded the dialogues, targeted communication activities and joint actions to influence global policy areas and engaged in low-income contexts. SIANI 2 (2013–2016) set out to expand the dialogues initiated in SIANI 1, with a more overarching and integrated vision: to address sustainable food and nutrition security for all. SIANI 2 developed from a loose network into a multi-sector network and platform for knowledge exchange. SIANI 3 (2016–2022) was developed in the context of the Swedish multidimensional poverty framework established with the adoption of the 2030 Agenda, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development, and the Paris Agreement on climate change. In this framework, poverty reduction efforts are explicitly linked to all three dimensions of sustainable development – economic, social, and environmental. The current phase of SIANI focuses on the transformation towards sustainable, rights-based and inclusive food systems.