The Circular Food Systems for Rwanda (CIRF) project convened its annual learning event in October 2025 to reflect on achievements and chart next steps as the initiative approaches its conclusion in December 2026. Partners and SMEs highlighted successes such as increased revenues, new jobs created through circular products, and significant policy influence, including Rwanda’s adoption of two ISO standards on circularity and the integration of circular economy principles into key government strategic documents. Building on these achievements, CIRF’s follow-up initiative, Accelerating the Circular Economy for Food (ACE4Food), aims to scale impact across Africa by engaging governments, shaping policies, and influencing markets and value chains, which underscores the need for systems-level measurement of transformation.
A central challenge discussed during the event was how to capture and assess systemic impact, beyond individual business metrics, to track reductions in waste and emissions, policy change, improved nutrition, and more resilient communities. Experts explored approaches such as outcomes harvesting, contribution analysis, and market systems frameworks to detect early signals of circularity, including shifts in behaviors and norms, adoption of environmental practices, market evolution, and incremental policy alignment. These methods emphasize the importance of capturing subtle, multidimensional changes across social, environmental, and economic dimensions to understand whether circular practices are taking root.
While CIRF has made progress at the SME and policy levels, the event highlighted that shared tools and frameworks for measuring systems-level circularity are still in development. The discussions underscored that meaningful evaluation will require collaboration, shared learning, and a shift from tracking individual outcomes to understanding the broader transformation of food systems.
