By Charlotte Dufour, CoFSA Practice Advisor; Nadene Canning, Coordinator of the IDG Global Practitioner Network; and Ignacio Packer, Executive Director Caux Foundation (Initiatives of Change) 

The Inner Development Goals (IDGs) and the notion of Conscious Food Systems are closely aligned in that they both position inner change as indispensable for accelerating the achievement of the SDGs. But how can the synergies between IDGs and conscious food systems work in practice? What is the role of IDGs (skills associated with being, thinking, relating, collaborating and acting) in transforming food systems?

The Caux Initiatives of Change Foundation and IDGs Foundation provided the opportunity to address these questions by convening the Caux IDG Forum from July 9-13 th 2024. The Conscious Food Systems Alliance had the privilege of joining the 225 passionate IDG practitioners from around the world who gathered in the Caux Palace, on a mountain side above the Léman Geneva Lake, whose shining silver waters spread into the horizon. CoFSA teamed up with Ignacio Packer from IoFC Caux and Nadene Canning, Coordinator of the IDG Global Practitioner Network, to facilitate the workstream on “SDG2: Conscious Food Systems”, which ran alongside 3 other workstreams on climate, peace and partnerships.

Framing the challenge: a story of disconnection

The journey started in the opening plenary with a disheartening picture of the weaknesses and wounds of our current food systems: the persisting malnutrition in all its forms; the depletion of soils, deforestation, waste production, carbon emissions; the perpetual inequities. All these elements tell the story of broken relationships – with our bodies, with Nature, and between all those who produce, transform, cook, and consume food. The relationship to the other workstreams was also made clear: food systems as victims and causes of climate change; lack of food and resources as a cause and consequence of war; and the fact that partnerships are essential for all we do in food systems.

Voices of hope entered the space with the testimonials from Khulan Berger from My Blue Planet and Etienne Candaux, a local farmer, who demonstrated that transformation is possible, whether it be through the alchemy of communities coming together to reduce food waste, or a farmer embracing a personally transformative path of change in his relationship to Nature through more sustainable farming practices. The plenary ended with all participants sharing their concerns and ideas, generating a rich harvest of questions that guided the conversations to follow in community groups¹ and workshops.

¹ Participants were assigned to a community group of about 10 people who met each day for 2 hours to share their insights and experiences throughout the forum.

Threads of opportunity

Six workshops, taking place over the forum’s 3 afternoons, provided the space to explore more deeply the inter-connections between IDGs and food. Two central threads emerged as essential for weaving conscious food systems from within:

• The importance of healing relationships – with Nature, with our self, and between all those who compose the food systems. The IDGs of being, relating and collaborating were very present as participants explored how healing can occur.
• The need to build new narratives about food systems and, through them, cultivate a new identity for our food systems. In this process, we drew upon capacities for thinking – individually and collectively – as a basis for collaborative action. In doing so, we found this called upon new ways of being and relating…

We describe here the journey of this workstream to illustrate how a collective exploration of “inner to outer change” applied to food systems can manifest.

Healing relationships, nourishing connections

In the first workshop, Manuela Pagani and Dalila Hernandez invited us to connect deeply with our senses and with a food many of us love: cacao. Their introduction to the delicious cacao-based beverage “Duduum” (the sound of the beating heart) was an invitation to explore the decolonization of our minds, the healing of our body from addictions (such as for sugar) and the interdependence that unites us as humanity (Ubuntu). In a ritual-like fashion, we drank a cup of Duduum cacao mindfully and with gratitude. We could literally taste the love of the Earth embodied in the cacao plant and the care of those who farm and prepare the food she gives us.

The second workshop built on the harvest of questions generated by the 225 plenary participants, which could be summarised through the question “what does conscious action for healthy and regenerative food systems look like for consumers, producers, policy-makers, the food industry?”. Through generative conversations, workshop participants found a key element of conscious action is working in ways that build and heal relationships – with the land, with food, with each other. Holding safe and transformative spaces for these connections to be build is essential. IDG practitioners and facilitators play a key role in such space-holding.

In the third workshop on “Deep roots for deep collaboration”, Sarah Queblatin, a regenerative development specialist from the Philippines and Malte Reshöft, an international food systems advisor, invited participants to explore how to heal the narrative of development between the global North and South. Using empathetic listening, storytelling and drawing, participants worked to transform their stories of disconnection within themselves, with the land, and with their ancestors and wisdom traditions, into stories of restoration. The intention of this process is to empower us to be part of the change we want to see in food systems and beyond.

Building new narratives for healed food systems

As we journeyed on and deepened our relationships, we found that the healing and reconnecting we were experiencing could be anchored and sustained through building new narratives for our food systems. In the fourth workshop, Annick Wagner and Chantal Peyer from the Hub des Possibles introduced us to the “Three Horizons” methodology: we characterised the present of our food systems and its challenges; we then journeyed into our imagination to describe the future food systems we dream of and, finally, identified the seeds that presently exist which we can water to make this imagined future a reality. A narrative of hope and possibility emerged.

This sense of possibility was strengthened with the inspiring testimonials of Muna Ismail and Claudia Santos from the IoFC Refugees as Rebuilders programme. Muna, a Somali refugee living in the UK, is reintroducing Yeheb – a highly nutritious and drought resistant indigenous plant – in the Somali desert in Ethiopia, demonstrating how global connections can support to reintroduction of indigenous plants and knowledge in a process of multi- dimensional healing. Claudia shared inspiring stories of resilience made possible through local and multi-generational collaboration on the coast of Guinea-Bissau.

The various threads of the journey were woven together in the final workshop where participants engaged in private writing followed by a circle in which we co-created a story, each member speaking a sentence which added to others’. We drew inspiration from the guide “Eating and Shaping the World”, created by CoFSA member OpEPA, and the concept of “ecologies of food”, i.e. “the set of beings (human and other) and relationships that make it possible for food to exist in a material form and nourish us.” In this concept, “resources” are “gifts”. From this moment of heart and mind connection emerged a vision for healing, abundance and reciprocity.

At the heart of conscious food systems: love

As we left the Caux IDG Forum, we had no illusion that we had found the perfect definition of conscious food systems, nor that the solutions to the woes of our food systems were clear and straightforward.

But we had experienced key ingredients for making the journey of facing these challenges together an expansive one: connection to self, others and Nature; vision, creativity and hope; deep listening, humility and co-creation; reciprocity, friendship and love.

We personally experienced how practicing the IDGs can feed the achievement of SDG2, as well as all the other inter-related SDGs. And we found that SDG 0 – the SDG of Love and Joy is at the heart of the journey – a journey which is not only about nourishing our bodies, but also nourishing our hearts and souls.

Interested to continue this exploration?

• Find out more about the Inner Development Goals and join the IDG Summit 2024 on “The Space in Between”
• Are you an IDG practitioner interested to contribute to building conscious food systems? Join CoFSA here!
• Curious to know more about the Initiatives of Change Caux Foundation? Click here.