Emergence of Sustainability in a Complex System: Are Lessons From the Health Sector Applicable to Food Security?
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Eric Sarriot
CEDARS at ICF International
Click on the Event Resources button to view the presentation and other resources.
This presentation promotes a dialogue between the food security and health development sectors asking whether strategies and approaches can be applied to sustain positive development outcomes learned through the health sector to food security.
The presentation includes a brief overview of USAID history on “sustainability” in the health sector, the shift from linear models toward complex adaptive systems thinking, and the development of the Sustainability Framework. Multiple dimensions of evaluation, visioning, and system mapping, as well as understanding social capital, local learning systems, unpredictability, resiliency, and adaptation are reflected in this framework. Sarriot translates these concepts to the food security and agriculture sectors examining pertinent dimensions, processes, agents and ownership including some field-based examples for discussion.
Eric Sarriot was joined by colleagues Sudhir Wanmali, Sharon Arscott-Mills, and Owen Calvert for the Q&A session.
Please click on the links below in the "Related" box to view the following papers recommended by Sarriot:
- Black Swans, Gray Swans, Sustainability - A first foray into the linkages between complexity and sustainability planning, based on the NYT Best Seller The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable.
- Measuring Sustainability as a Programming Tool for Health Sector Investments - Describes a unique pilot of the systematic use of the Sustainability Framework in five districts of Nepal supported by USAID through different project partners. Describes how progress can be assessed at district level and monitored at a program level.
- The Adverse Effects of Rising Food Prices on Children and Women in MENA Region - This summary report documents some of the ways different countries have tried to mitigate the effects of the food crisis in the short term.
Greenroom Interview: Key Takeaways
Eric Sarriot
Presenter Bio:
Eric Sarriot graduated from the Paris VI Necker School of Medicine in 1989. After some experience in clinical practice, surveillance of infectious diseases, and communications projects, he was trained in Tropical Medicine then obtained a Masters in Public Health and Social Urban Development. That involved participatory qualitative research and work for World Vision in Mauritania. This is when he began to wrestle with the sustainability question. He obtained his PhD from Johns Hopkins while working with the USAID funded Child Survival Technical Support project and the CORE Group and conducted research which led to the development of the Sustainability Framework. He rejoined ICF International while living in Palestine/Israel. Sarriot currently leads different projects within ICF International Health and Development Division, and continues to wrestle with the tensions between the complexity inherent to sustainable social progress and the linear modalities of development implementation.
Response: Perhaps not quick—but maybe we can offer some insight... It’s somewhat of a “no brainer” that programs have more likelihood of sustaining outcomes (in our experience—health outcomes) where infrastructure (roads, electricity, telecommunications, water supply, public transportation systems etc.) are present and where political will and literacy levels of women are higher. The obvious premise is that if you are implementing in a more constraining environment that will impact what you can accomplish. We have found that the specific measures/indicators included in the enabling environment index will vary from country to country but should be composed of those indicators in the wider context that you consider providing the most constraint or the most essential elements for long term success. This could include anything from national policy formation and political will and national leadership to female literacy rates and human development index scores. Each indicator selected to be part of the index should be reviewed for its contribution to the enabling environment.
Thank you very much for the presentation! I plan to check out the information on the CEDARS website.
Operating with health outcomes in addition to general economic outcomes is an area that we as value chain professionals really need to start understanding better. Any quick, practical insights or tips from the health side?
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