This report evaluates how the Dutch Ministry’s focus on circular agriculture can support the SDG impact of Dutch international aid and investment programmes in less developed countries. Using examples of recently applied and planned interventions in a range of developing countries, the report illustrates the value of adopting a food system approach to find sustainable solutions to achieve asufficient, healthy and resource-efficient food supply. The report concludes by listing characteristics of circular agriculture that promote interventions to support improved food system outcomes.

System archetypes represent generic behavioural patterns – or system dynamics – in any system. The concept of archetypes is mostly applied in the context of business management and organizational life. The term archetype was first coined by Peter Senge (1990) in his seminal book ‘The Fifth Discipline’. He uses systems thinking to convert companies into learning organizations; understanding complexity and reflective conservation are some of the key competences required to address complex problems. But similar archetypes of system behaviour can be found in food systems. The use of archetypes assumes that, if the underlying systemic structure that results in specific behavioural patterns is understood, action can be taken to change the structure and thus systemic behaviour and consequently outcomes. Archetypes capture the ‘common stories’ in systems thinking; that is, dynamic phenomena that occur in diverse settings. The archetypes are used as templates for diagnosing complex problems (Kim, 2000). Below, eight archetypes are explained based on the work of Kim (2000). Based on our own expertise and the information collected during a stakeholder workshop with food systems and FNS experts, we have provided examples of these archetypes in food systems. For each archetype, a set of leverage points is identified, which can offer solutions for the problematic behaviour captured by the archetype (Nguyen and Bosch, 2013).