Explore Official Dialogue Feedback

Policy and Governance can drive the transformation for a systemic change in food systems in the ECA region. Policy makers in the ECA region face challenges which may be common to many countries, such as the need to improve the nutritional status for all, and stem the tide of overweight and obesity; providing an equitable, sustainable food system, while minimizing negative effects on the environment and reducing the contribution to climate change and GHG emissions. Determining how to ensure a balanced, just, and fair food systems transition – economically, socially and environmentally - to pr... Read moreovide safe, nutritious food for all, protect the environment, support livelihoods, and address inequalities, requires policy-makers to foster multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder collaboration and cooperation. AS A RESULT OF THE DISCUSSIONS, KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCES WERE SHARED ON: - appropriate measures to address the specific nutritional challenges of the most vulnerable members of our society, focusing on children, youth and women; - means to shape food demand through actions of government and civil society, including consumers, to drive sustainability through their food choices and actions; - building equitable, inclusive food systems which allow small-holders and small and medium-sized enterprises to reach their maximum potential, and contribute to sustainable value chains; - drivers for adjusting food systems and incentivizing actors to adopt more sustainable models which meet food and nutrition security needs, with reduced depletion of natural resources and negative environmental impacts; - aligning policies with nature positive production, including financial support to incentivize a just transition to sustainable agriculture and greening of value chains. KEY PRIORITY POLICY/GOVERNANCE ISSUES ON NUTRITION AND FOOD VALUE CHAINS DISCUSSES: - Addressing nutritional needs and vulnerabilities of the most vulnerable in food systems both in urban and rural areas (including small-holders, children, youth, women) and how food systems can be more targeted to their nutritional needs - Providing the most vulnerable actors in food systems (focus on children and youth) with the tools and knowledge to access healthy diets, make healthy and sustainable food choices, and fulfill their aspirations and vision of sustainable food systems in the future - Improving value chains and market opportunity: supporting small-holders and SMEs – linking them to VCs, markets, improving the supply of nutritious, diverse foods - Ensuring smallholders, and SMEs have access to resources, finance, services, information, innovation, technologies, digital solutions ENVIRONMENT-RELATED POLICY ISSUES DISCUSSED: - Agri-food policy decisions and approaches to reverse and/or prevent biodiversity loss, manage natural resources, including water, for sustainable agri-food production. - Greening value chains, reducing environmental and climate impacts, climate smart agriculture, reducing food loss and waste, circular economy, technologies and innovation, reduce contribution to GHG emissions, public subsidies (more in the VCs, compared to previous point on policy) - Economic incentives and policies for SFS, greening VCs: Targeting finances, subsidies, grants, for agri-food sectors, for better nutrition, food safety, environmental outcomes. Responsible investment. Public and private financing options. Read less

Any divergences came from the different food system ecosystems different cities experience.

Schools: Schools connect people of many backgrounds. Cities can use that as an opportunity to build relationships between rural and urban children and residents. To strengthen children’s relationship with food, build in science and education about food systems and have school gardening projects and farm to school food procurement.

Rural-Urban Interface: Cities focus much of their effort and resources on urban agriculture projects. Greater connection between urban and peri-urban and nearby rural areas was discussed as a way to build resilience. Regional collaboration and resource distribution can strengthen both urban resilience and nearby rural agriculture economic sustainability.

Resilience and Emergency Planning: The pandemic showed cities that they weren’t prepared for the level of food insecurity posed by disasters. Cities must integrate food access and resilience into adaptation and emergency planning, develop relationships with stakeholders across the food system to build resilience, and ensure at least some local food production for emergencies. One city surveyed its residents and found that residents recommended prioritizing food in emergency planning.

Data: Data is important to mobilize action and engagement with key stakeholders and to effectively identify gaps and priority interventions. Food Asset mapping was discussed as a positive way to both collect data and mobilize action within communities. While collecting and sharing data is essential, it must not be seen as an end itself or as a substitute for action. Collecting data from more traditional sources (eg. Scientific peer reviewed studies) as well as non-traditional sources (“community intelligence” and experience) is key for promoting inclusive food systems.

Land Access and Urban Farming: Promoting urban agriculture can help residents, especially residents of color to build job skills, generate income, contribute to community development, increase food access and security, and foster connection to broader efforts that combat the root causes of structural inequities such a racial and economic justice. Actions: • Look at the open land from city operations, the military, utilities, schools, and universities. This land can be used for urban agriculture. • Invest in of testing soils, renovating, and putting in water infrastructure. From there, let ... Read morethe community take over. • Put grants in place to make properties available and accessible. • Provide urban agriculture training and work opportunities for inmates or recently incarcerated. • Support the creation of community land trusts as a way for the community to build wealth. Read less

Food Sovereignty: Structural racism limits access to healthcare, culturally appropriate nutrition, food preparation, retail food stores, and wellness programs. It causes disconnected BIPOC networks and high food insecurity. There are barriers to access infrastructure, food assets, community gardens, food programs, and community kitchens. Uneven access to funding to BIPOC organizations meant they were not able to respond quickly in times of crisis such as COVID-19. Additionally, land is prohibitively expensive for people to start new rural or urban farms. Racist policies took land from many far... Read moremers of color. Actions: • Place community leaders as experts, pay for participation, and create online opportunities to increases reach. • Declare anti-black racism as a public health crisis. • Advocate at the state level to improve land access for new farmers and farmers of color. • When non-Native communities and nations working with Native nations, approach as equals and ask “how can we support your solutions.” • Provide the resources, financial support, and information needed for communities to create their own thriving food systems. Read less

Community-led processes: Food systems outcomes are most successful when community led. Cities contribute to this success by facilitating community conversation, building networks and relationships, funding pilot projects, providing information, and codifying conclusions in plans and legislation. Actions: • Cities should facilitate and channel the voice of the community. Listen to, create relationships, and build trust with community groups. • Take on the expense of what the community wants/needs. For example, conduct soil tests on land that can go to the community for gardening. • Host d... Read moreemonstration projects, that train people how have a successful food endeavors followed by policy that enables these actions. • Have dialogues with the community and support what people are asking for through legislation. • Develop programs and structures that can be self-sustaining over time, since government resources shift. • Be transparent, report back to the community to hold government accountable. • Pay community members to be part of advisory boards. Include residents that aren’t usually involved in these processes and aren’t already affiliated with organizations that already have access to power in the city. • Use community engagement and ownership model of planning and action to alleviate disparities in actual representation and leadership. • Be flexible and humble. Always keep coming back and revisit the community and their recommendations. Read less

Many local governments throughout the U.S. have a wide array of disconnected food programs. There is a movement toward connecting these programs and developing overarching food systems visions and goals across local government departments and with local stakeholders. To start creating holistic food systems improvements, leadership must come together with the community to develop an overarching vision, develop a structure, and connect programs and people. These disconnected food programs have often focused on solving the symptoms of an unjust food system. For example, distributing food to those... Read more that cannot procure it themselves. To holistically improve local food system outcomes, cities and communities are starting to look at food sovereignty, land access, community-led processes, and improving city and community-wide communication and commitment. Local governments throughout the U.S. are diverse. The structure and focus of planning depend on local context. Even with this variation, or maybe because of it, the discussion focused on centering and giving power to community members to shape the food system. The issues of food justice, racial justice, food sovereignty, community involvement, and sustainable production are all connected. As one speaker said, “today, I heard agreement across all panels and breakouts in the belief that all people and all communities should have the right and the means to produce, procure, prepare, share, and eat food that's nutritionally and culturally affirming free from exploitation of themselves, other people and nonhuman animals, and also in harmony with the rest of the natural world.” Actions and commitments (10 year/2030 vision) This dialogue was between practitioners and stakeholders from across the U.S. No overarching actions and commitments were determined. A general agreement among participants was that multi-level governance mechanisms in the U.S. are not well aligned toward creating food systems grounded in place or equitable access—but that local governments are critical actors to move the food system in this direction. Actionable messages to UNFSS When including local government voices at the international level, include local voices from the beginning. Ensure they have input into the processes that inform the UNFSS. Focus on the experiences and needs of those not currently served by the food system. Hire them as consultants to your work. Provide a platform for those that don’t currently have avenues to power but that have lived experience and connections. Cities have to do what’s right for their constituents. Cities can do this by putting their constituents in positions of power and influence through mechanisms like local food councils, food positions at the city, community hearings, and funding community-led initiatives. Protect small land owners, small food businesses, and communities from the influence of big business interests and consolidation. Protect and promote grassroots advocacy. Provide nations and regions with guidance on how to set a flexible national and regional food systems visions that help local governments align their visions while also centering and empowering local communities. Read less

The discussion focused on ensuring food security, resilience, an equity in cities. It considered the methods, measurements, and goals necessary to increase cohesiveness and inclusivity in food systems planning and action. Speakers, panelists, and participants shared their community’s contexts, successes and visions. Food security, resilience, and equity are deeply intertwined. Food systems practitioners throughout the U.S. found that centering community voices and needs helped them do their job of ensuring food security, resilience, and equity.

The prevalence of small producers in the informal economy is a big challenge. It is important to recognize the role and potential of the informal sector as a key player in local food systems. There are different perspectives on the formalization of the sector in a context such as COVID where informality is a vulnerability factor but, in some cases, can be a resilience factor for some of the producers. Participants raised questions about whether informal systems were more nimble than formal markets in times of crisis, and whether they might offer more environmentally sustainable approaches. T... Read morehe dialogue surfaced different perspectives on the scale at which action should be prioritized. Some participants pointed to the value in large scale responses for broad based universal (not means tested) social protection policies, noting that mobilisation of robust safety nets must by design be large. Others called for greater attention to local and mid-level government responses which play a key role in implementation. Overall, participants supported the need to work at multiple scales. While the need for greater collaboration between civil society actors and government was echoed by many, the impact of the pandemic on these linkages varied across contexts. Some noted that pandemic responses strengthened linkages between civil society and governments, particularly when it came to sensitization of COVID-19 information, while others pointed to increasingly fragmented food aid with civil society attempting to fill gaps in an uncoordinated way. Read less

Private sector must be part of recovery efforts, with a clear role to play in provision and distribution of nutritious and affordable food, in new modes of production that supports climate resilience. There is a huge opportunity to use climate change adaptation and ecosystem restoration as a source of jobs creation, and green growth could help to create and support essential livelihoods in the wake of the pandemic. More timely and disaggregated data is needed to inform planning, policy and practice that meets the needs of and can be accessed by policymakers and producers to react to potential ... Read morefuture shocks. Collecting, collating and analysing data, then preparing it for decision-makers, requires technical capacity. Governments must invest in gender-sensitive agricultural research (including scientific, technological capacity building and leadership for women and young agricultural researchers) and provide research grants to help develop technologies that respond to the needs of women, men, and disadvantaged populations. Efforts should be made to further investigate instances of resilience in the face of the pandemic and conditions that allowed actors to pivot quickly to establish different food supply systems, and how sustainable this is and what lessons this offers for building more resilient, equitable food systems moving forward. New ways of analysing data to generate predictions will be needed. Data and methods should be made open access so that other researchers can examine, analyse and interpret the information and provide peer review. Read less

What are the mechanisms through which civil society and governments can work together to identify what works to support more resilient, inclusive and healthy food systems, and to scale them to different agroecological and sociocultural contexts? Potential mechanisms could involve technical assistance, capacity-building in the use of bottom-up approaches, promoting public-private sector partnerships, income diversification, social protection for the poorest, conduct more research and strengthen food distribution to reach markets. There is a need to increase resilience at the local level and con... Read morecurrently capitalize on global food production resilience (global markets with transport and logistics systems which were considered essential). Each supply chain is going to have its own unique vulnerability and solution profile. At the local level, greater attention to strengthening food sovereignty based on traditional systems is needed, and this should be accompanied by support to more sustainable production at a global level. The pandemic and its effect on food systems highlighted the importance of social programs in response interventions, as well as the importance of supporting small businesses rather than only individuals. Community involvement in project cycle (design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation) is essential for the identification of responses adapted to ecological and socio-cultural contexts. Provision by governments of credit and guarantee funds to support the development of small agricultural enterprises among women and young people, combined to capacity building would create favorable conditions for agricultural development. Access to credit is essential to support the development of agricultural businesses by vulnerable populations. The agricultural sector has enormous potential in terms of job creation and wealth, and governments must support the transition of small producers into the formal economy. Only technologies that are resilient to climate change, gender sensitive (labor-saving) and nutritious (biofortification), will foster resilient and inclusive food systems especially in context of vulnerability aggravated by shocks such as pandemics. Digitization of agriculture is important but often women are the ones who do not have access to phones so it’s important to ensure women are included in solutions. Digital tools can help the implementation of agricultural insurance systems. Cell phones can help formal and informal small-scale producers document their practices and show that crop losses are due to due to climate extremes or infestation, therefore supporting farmers claims and reassuring insurers that claims are valid (could we do the same for pandemics?) Pandemic impacts reinforce the imperative to bridge humanitarian and development assistance. Food security shocks related to COVID have compounded food security shocks from drought, and those related to forced displacement and other climate shocks. Women, youth and other marginalized groups are most impacted. Relief efforts must be combined with long-term recovery efforts. Governments need to take advantage of mechanisms put in place by community and civil society organizations, especially in rural communities where they can leverage existing trust, networks and more nuanced understanding of community needs. Support to producer organizations that are already present in rural areas (cooperatives can disseminate information and reach their members) can increase resilience – coops are socially conscious economic entities that contribute to social cohesion. They provide access to technical, financial and information services so investment in coops benefits communities. Civil society groups in urban settings have also played a key role but are often under-funded and disconnected from both government responses and other community efforts. Without greater government support, it will be challenging to leverage the full potential of these organizations in long term recovery. Read less

What does the evidence on impacts of COVID on food security and livelihoods suggest governments and communities need to do to reduce the vulnerability of women and other marginalized people? Livelihood impacts along the value chain and increasing food insecurity among the broader population due to disruptions to food systems highlights the need to balance containment measures and public health concerns with food systems impacts, ensuring access to both inputs for production and markets. Moving goods between countries became challenging due to containment measures in place (food security was mo... Read morere impacted in countries that adopted more drastic health measures), and uncertainty around border closures impacted millions of animals ready to be slaughtered that could no longer cross borders due to border restrictions. Food distribution was particularly a challenge for communities with limited capacity to transport food. Mobility constraints were an aggravating factor for large facilities which depended on workforce and labour coming from abroad which was restrained, but also affected small scale producers relying on external labour at critical moment in the farming season. Lack of access to food and inputs because of the public health measures meant that people had to use strategies to adapt that were increasingly severe and harsh such as having to skip meals (especially women), selling land, and other various mitigation measures. Market closures and suspension of cross border trade as containment measures were particularly detrimental to those in the informal sector, small producers, and migrant farm workers – many of whom are women or youth – and relief measures such as social protection programs should be more targeted in addressing the impacts to these specific groups. When considering how vulnerability has increased during the pandemic, it is essential to also recognize the ways that confinement, restrictions on mobility and loss of livelihoods impacted social dynamics, including increased violence at a household level. Differential impacts of reopening may hold insights for how long-term recovery should be approached. In many instances, men are quicker to get back into the workforce than women. Emergency response systems were insufficient to respond to pandemics. Sectoral, segmental approaches didn’t work well during COVID. The pandemic highlighted the need to integrate responses from different sectors (health, agriculture, trade, etc). Across contexts, increasing food prices reinforced the need for greater action by governments and the private sector to ensure affordability and access to nutritious food. Fixed price schemes and school feeding programs were highlighted as one step towards addressing affordability issues, but these must ensure greater access to nutritious food. Limited access to quality food during the pandemic has been the result of challenges in production, transport, affordability of food, and compounded by food safety considerations. Civil society and non-governmental organizations offer important links between government responses and the most impacted. Front line non-governmental organizations and social support organizations such as food banks are essential for government responses to be able to reach the most vulnerable and less accessible populations. Cooperatives can play an important role in crisis situations because they are already embedded in the communities and are setting up production diversification systems, to support communications on COVID, protection measures, etc. More active and dynamic cooperatives set up awareness-raising activities, sought seeds to diversify people's diets and kept the commercial channels open to sell production. Their members were less impacted by public health measures than those from less dynamic ones. Greater coordination between governments and civil society responses should be established to ensure that policies better reflect differentiated needs, and those most impacted can access relief and recovery programs. Read less

Responses from the political sector and civil society emphasized the immediate response to the immediate effects of the pandemic such as providing access to food to alleviate the impact on populations (social protection). In most instances these social protection responses need to be expanded to reach the most vulnerable – including women, youth, people with disabilities, displaced persons, and informal sector actors – but there is evidence across contexts that rapid large scale universally targeted social protection policies can reduce the impacts of shocks. There is also a need to ensure... Read more that the immediate responses include supporting the food systems to ensure they remain functional, for example through supporting access to markets. Although essential, we also need to develop longer-term strategies (based on access to gender-specific technologies, access to credit and guarantee funds, particularly for women and young people) if we are to develop food production systems that are more resilient (less vulnerable to pandemics) and equitable. Food Systems are complex; we need more complex approaches that recognize intersectoral linkages for the development of risk assessment systems for more effective response. Comprehensive policy responses must consider environmental, social protection, health and food security factors in a contextual, evidence-informed way. The precarity of the informal sector has deepened and addressing this will be key to fostering more resilient food systems. Key to design and delivery of comprehensive policy responses should be the inclusion of local voices in decision making and strategy design as well as indigenous knowledge and food production practices. Civil society can be a link to understanding the needs of the most impacted (we define this to include women, youth, people with disabilities, displaced persons and those working in the informal sector), and there is a need to strengthen coordination between formal government responses and community level responses (through networks, community organizations, civil society). It was suggested that greater collaboration with civil society may help foster trust in government responses in contexts where trust is weak. The dialogue also highlighted importance of strengthening the resilience of local food production systems (essential for reducing vulnerability) while strengthening global systems to enable a global response to local crises. The coexistence of local systems/strengthening of local production systems while strengthening global production is an important challenge that we face in reforming and transforming food systems. In the past, changes were made to the benefit of some, and to the detriment of others. Dealing with these issues will take political power and financial resources. For example, very few farmers have access to finance, much less so in developing countries. But adaptation to climate change and other shocks requires financial input from farmers. There is a gap in the ambition of the narrative (transform food systems, adapt to climate change, build resilience and confront COVID) versus the reality (inadequate provision of finance for farmers). Where are the resources that would make this agenda feasible? How can access to funding for adaptation resilience be facilitated? There is a huge opportunity to use climate change adaptation and ecosystem restoration as a source of jobs creation. It is far more economical to create a job in ecosystem restoration, than to create one in construction, which is the typical recovery program. This approach to green growth could help to create and support essential livelihoods in the wake of the pandemic. Read less

Event title: Building resilient and sustainable food systems: How can emerging lessons from communities affected by Covid-19 shape the way forward? COVID-19 is having a major impact on households’ production and access to good quality, nutritious food, due to losses of income, combined with increasing food prices, and restrictions to movements of people, inputs and products. The hardest hit in both rural and urban areas are frequently women and those who work in informal economies. This dialogue focused on drawing out the lessons and priority actions that need to be taken to respond to food ... Read moresecurity challenges in a way that addresses informality and gender dynamics, for food systems to become resilient, equitable and sustainable into the next decade. In particular the discussion generated lessons and ideas around advancing equitable livelihoods, building resilience to vulnerabilities, shocks and stress and to ensuring access to safe and nutritious food for all. The design of the dialogue was informed, in part, by ongoing research supported by IDRC, IDS and by ACIAR to understand the impacts of COVID-19 on food systems and livelihoods in different regions and contexts, helping the convenors to frame the entry points for discussion and identify actors to be part of the process. Please see relevant links section below. The dialogue brought together a range of stakeholders and perspectives on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on food systems and livelihoods, focusing on the evidence and experience generated from the most affected communities in low- income countries to generate ideas for action. The participants brought together knowledge and experience from across Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Pacific and represented a wide range of thematic areas and sectors. Special attention was given to bring a southern voice and perspective into the discussion. The key discussion topics were: What does the evidence on impacts of COVID on food security and livelihoods suggest governments and communities need to do to reduce the vulnerability of women and other marginalized people? What are the mechanisms through which civil society and governments can work together to identify what works to support more resilient, inclusive and healthy food systems, and to scale them to different agroecological and sociocultural contexts? The event curator, opened the event and welcomed participants. To set the scene we invited 3 keynote speakers from a range of geographic locations and perspectives to share insights from their work and reflect on the ways forward to support sustainable food systems for all, with particular focus on the most vulnerable groups. These speakers were: ● Julio Berdegue (FAO) - FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean. ● Dicta Ogisi (CPED) – Professor of Agricultural Economics, Delta State University, and Senior Researcher at the Centre for Population and Environmental Development (CPED), Benin City, Nigeria. an independent Think Tank based in Benin City dedicated to promoting sustainable development and reducing poverty and inequality through policy oriented research and active engagement on development issues. ● Mariame Maiga (CORAF) - Regional Gender and Social Development Adviser for the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF) based in Dakar, Senegal. Read less