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Persistent gender and social inequities undermine agri-food systems’ potential to contribute to inclusive and sustainable development. Systems thinking recognizes the interconnectedness and complexity of agri-food systems, emphasizing the need to consider various interrelated components and their dynamic interactions and highlights the need for integrated and transformative strategies that target multiple levels of the agri-food systems, from local to global. This session discusses four conceptual approaches that address gender equality and social inclusion in agri-food system development through the lens of systems thinking. The four approaches have each been developed in the framework of a different CGIAR research initiative: 1) Developed by the Mitigate+ Initiative on Low-emission Food System Development, the conceptual basis of a Living Lab for People is detailed as an inclusive and diverse space for people to design, test and advance their socio-technical innovations and modes of governance within a facilitated organizational structure. The Agroecology Initiative offers a framework for analyzing behavior change in agri-food systems by integrating behavioral concepts into the socialecological systems framework. Critical is the concept of opportunity space. 3) From the HER+ initiative on Gender Equality, theoretical work on how women within agri-food systems can move towards improved resilience in a climate change world is highlighted. Five elements—gender norms, intersectionality, power and agency, personality and lifecycle—help to understand how women achieve resilience. 4) Building on participatory and feminist-ecological approaches, the Aquatic Food Initiative sets out five impact pathways to address gender and social equity in aquatic food systems.
