A Framework for Assessing Food System Governance in Six Urban and Peri-Urban Regions in Sub-saharan Africa

Abstract

An important goal across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and globally, is to foster a healthy nutrition. A strengthening of the diversity, sustainability, resilience and connectivity of food systems is increasingly seen as a key leverage point. Governance arrangements play a central role in connecting sustainable, resilient farming with healthy nutrition. In this article, we elaborate a framework for assessing, monitoring and improving the governance of food systems. Our focus is on food chains in six peri-urban and urban regions in SSA. A literature review on food chain governance and a mapping of current agri-food chains in the six regions provide the basis for the elaboration of an indicator-based assessment framework. The framework is adapted to the specific conditions of SSA and related goals. The assessment framework is then used to identify the challenges and opportunities in food chain governance in the six regions. The first testing of the framework indicates that the approach can help to identify disconnects, conflicting goals and tensions in food systems, and to formulate strategies for empowering agri-food chain actors in transitioning toward more efficient, equitable and sustainable agri-food systems. The article is concluded with a brief reflection on the strengths and weaknesses of the framework and suggests further testing and refinement.

Food mapping approaches for understanding food system transformations in rapid-growth city regions in the Global South

“…In Bahir Dar, there have been value chain analyses that feature a food mapping component (Yigzaw et al, 2016;Desalegn, 2018;Chen et al, 2021;Mossie et al, 2021;Wosene and Gobie, 2022). Chen et al ( 2021) mapped the agri-food chains of legumes, vegetables, fruits, and fish through the collection of qualitative data from focus groups that were conducted by local partners.…”

New Challenges and Future Perspectives in Nutrition and Sustainable Diets in Africa

“…The study recommends further research on understanding consumers' receptiveness toward an increase in the diversity of foods provisioned by informal food vending. (Chen et al, 2021).…”

A Scoping Review of Food Systems Governance Frameworks and Models to Develop a Typology for Social Change Movements to Transform Food Systems for People and Planetary Health

“…Several models and frameworks were designed to identify and analyze actors involved in food systems governance interactions and processes [81,83,85,88,92,98,100,101]. Some were developed as tools to improve or enhance agri-food value chains [82,106], promote sustainable food enterprises and entrepreneurship [91,103,108], support food finance architecture that incorporates health, environmental, and societal concerns into financial decision-making; and strengthen economic development and stability for food systems governance [113,114] (Supplemental Table S1).…”

“…Multi-level (n = 28)[81][82][83][84][85][86]88,89,92,93,95,96,98,99,102,[104][105][106][107][108][109][110][111][112][113][114][115] Regional (n = 1)[100] National (n = 5)[87,91,101,103,116] Local (n = 2)[90,94] …”