In response to urgent environmental and social challenges, there is a growing recognition that food systems must undergo a transformation towards greater resilience, sustainability, and inclusivity. Agroecology has emerged as a key approach for enabling such transformation. However, a significant challenge to scaling agroecology lies in the difficulty of measuring its performance in ways that allow for fair comparisons with alternatives. Common approaches to evaluating agrifood systems often fail to account for the multifunctionality of agrifood systems, overlooking the environmental and social benefits of agroecology and the negative externalities of conventionally intensified systems. Given this context, a more holistic and inclusive approach to measurement is needed to ensure that policymakers, donors, development actors, and farmers can make informed decisions about investing in agroecology or alternative agricultural systems. To that end, this study draws on desk reviews, stakeholder interviews, and multistakeholder workshops in Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Tunisia to identify common barriers and opportunities for assessing agroecological performance. It explores how investing in more holistic assessment tools and approaches can help support agroecological transitions in West Africa and globally. Key findings include the need to harmonize metrics across organizations while allowing for contextspecific adaptations; the importance of embracing a plurality of definitions and frameworks for agroecology; and the necessity of strengthening capacity and developing practical guidance on developing and designing holistic metrics and assessments. The study also highlights significant gaps, particularly in assessing social dimensions such as equity and social values. Addressing such gaps is essential for making fair comparisons between agroecological and conventionally intensified systems. There is thus a need for robust tools and metrics, as well as for gender-sensitive approaches that go beyond simply measuring women’s participation in projects to track their agency in decision-making and economic activities. The study identified lack of coordination and collaboration among key actors – governments, businesses, researchers, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) – as a key challenge that hinders the full potential of agroecological transitions. Strengthening research-user linkages, promoting knowledge sharing, and fostering cross-sectoral collaboration are essential steps. Financial constraints were also frequently cited as a barrier to comprehensive assessment of agrifood systems. In Ghana and Burkina Faso, the study identified many stakeholders working on agroecology, but few funders identified focused on this area. In response, the study calls for greater collaboration among donors and more strategic investments to ensure agroecology’s role in transforming food systems. Overall, the study underscores the importance of a holistic, collaborative, and well-resourced approach to measuring the performance of agrifood systems. Addressing these gaps will enable stakeholders to make more informed decisions and support the transformation of food systems towards greater resilience, sustainability, and inclusivity