A cybernetic framework for transformative food system change: sustainable landscape management in West and Central Africa

Abstract

The multiple socio-ecological dimensions of sustainable landscape management, along with potential cross-boundary effects and co-evolving societal conditions, require research evaluation approaches that consider complex projects as viable organizational systems rather than a collection of stand-alone workstreams. This study analyses the co-design phase of the Transforming Agri-Food Systems in West and Central Africa (TAFS-WCA) Initiative by applying the Viable System Model (VSM) as a cybernetic framework for organizational analysis. Using the Initiative’s proposal and Theory of Change as the reference structure, the analysis identifies three nested organizational levels: Initiative, Work Package and Output, and summarizes how the five VSM functions at each level interact to shape operational processes, coordination mechanisms, strategic foresight and governance. Moreover, an adapted Rummler-Brache Nine Box Model is applied to the VSM diagnosis to support streamlined examination of performance expectations, process design, and capability requirements across the nested levels. This dual framing supports a structured and systemic interrogation of the Initiative’s organizational design. It highlights how the Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning and Impact Assessment (MELIA) functions may act as potential feedback pathways linking operational performance (S1) with managerial oversight (S2, S3, S3*) and strategic adaptation (S4, S5). The cybernetic interpretation, therefore, positions MELIA as a visible mechanism through which reflective and accountability processes can filter, strengthen and redirect information flows across recursive levels. The analysis then focuses on Work Package (WP) 3, which synthesizes evidence from multiple WPs to develop sustainable landscape management plans and a Water Decision Support System. By matching WP3’s expected deliverables with the outputs and Activities from other WPs and interrogating these relationships through the VSM, the analysis clarifies how interdependencies across the nested organizational levels may influence WP3’s ability to mobilize evidence. This structured approach offers a clearer understanding of how WP3’s integrative role may contribute to system (Initiative)-wide adaptive capacity. This study provides a reproducible methodology for examining, during the co-design phase, how governance, coordination and performance dynamics can be aligned within sustainability initiatives operating under complex and evolving conditions.