This guide focuses on Sustainable food value chain (SFVC) development in conflict-prone and conflict-affected contexts, observing that even in complex contexts, value chains directly impact the ability of communities to safeguard their livelihoods and contribute to their resilience in the face of all forms of shocks and stressors. It provides guidance to practitioners on how to select, analyse and design sustainable and resilient agrifood valuechains in a conflict-sensitive manner.

The SFVC framework (FAO, 2014) purports to design more value-generating, inclusive, green and resilient agrifood value chains as part of FAO’s work to support the 2030 Agenda (FAO, 2021a). The design of value chain upgrading strategies is evidence-based and relies on an in-depth value chain analysis combined with extensive value chain stakeholder interaction. The analysis uncovers the inefficiencies and root causes that hold back the value chain actors from taking advantage of existing opportunities (functional analysis). It also provides an assessment of a particular value chain’s current economic, social, and environmental performance, as well as its coping capacity in the face of shocks and stressors (sustainability and resilience assessment).

Agrifood value chains are faced with a number of disturbances, such as “climate and market volatility, pests and diseases, extreme weather events, and an ever-increasing number of protracted crises and conflicts” (FAO, 2018a). It is therefore crucial to increase their resilience while addressing potential trade-offs with their economic, social, and environmental performance.