Equity – Sustainability

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AUDA NEPAD Guidelines for the Design and Implementation of Home-Grown School Feeding Programmes in Africa (2022)

The Guidelines for the Design and Implementation of African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) Home Grown School Feeding Programmes in Africa is the result of a collaborative effort supported by the African Union Commission for Education, Science, Technology and Innovations (AUC-ESTI) and the World Food Programme (WFP).

Home Grown School Feeding has been recognized by African leaders for its contribution to human resources and capital development in the continent and for having an important role in inclusive development, health, rural development, gender equality and inclusive education, particularly for the poor and socially marginalised communities.

These HGSF guidelines are meant to provide general direction or guidance to African Union Member States who wish to establish HGSF programmes or review existing school feeding programmes to link them more directly with smallholder farmers and other role players in the school food value chain, while addressing the nutrition component more adequately.

The five school feeding quality standards form the organizational structure of these guidelines, namely,
i) policy and legal framework,
ii) financial capacity and stable funding,
iii) institutional capacity for implementation and coordination,
iv) design and implementation,
v) and community participation.

The mandate of AUDA-NEPAD is to:
a) Coordinate and Execute priority regional and continental projects to promote regional integration towards the accelerated realisation of Agenda 2063; and
b) Strengthen capacity of African Union Member States and regional bodies, advance knowledge-based advisory support, undertake the full range of resource mobilisation and serve as the continent’s technical interface with all Africa’s development stakeholders and development partners.

AUDA NEPAD Home Grown School Feeding Handbook (2020)

This African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) Home Grown School Feeding (HGSF) Handbook was prepared primarily based on the experience and lessons from Botswana, Ghana and Nigeria.

These three countries are among the most advanced countries in implementing HGSF which are supported and led by their national government.

The handbook is one of the tools to share an example of a multi-tiered approach to country level interventions for effective delivery on nutrition and food systems.

FAO Global Roadmap for Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG2) without Breaching the 1.5°C Threshold (2023 Dec)

Don’t have time for the whole report?
**Read the Brief!**

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) developed the Global Roadmap for Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG2) without Breaching the 1.5°C Threshold aimed at eliminating hunger and all forms of malnutrition without exceeding the 1.5°C threshold set by the Paris Agreement. The roadmap outlines a comprehensive strategy spanning the next three years that encompasses a diverse portfolio of solutions across ten distinct domains of action.

It challenges the prevailing narrative that increasing production is synonymous with higher emissions and environmental degradation. Instead, it emphasizes the opportunity within agrifood systems to enhance production efficiency while aligning with climate mitigation, adaptation, and resilience objectives.

The roadmap identifies 120 actions and key milestones within ten domains, supported by evidence gathered by FAO over several years. These domains include clean energy, crops, fisheries and aquaculture, food loss and waste, forests and wetlands, healthy diets, livestock, soil and water, and data and inclusive policies — the latter two identified as overall systemic enablers.

Concerning food and nutrition, it sets a path to eliminate chronic undernourishment by 2030 and ensure access to healthy diets for all by 2050. Additional milestones include halving per capita global food waste by 2030 and updating Food-based dietary guidelines (FBSG) by countries to provide context-appropriate quantitative recommendations on dietary patterns.

The roadmap also emphasizes the symbiotic relationship between agrifood systems transformation and climate actions, urging the mobilization of climate finance for implementation.

Highlighting a just transition at its core, the roadmap envisions transforming agrifood systems from a net emitter to a carbon sink. It calls for alternative production methods, adjusted consumption patterns, refined forestry management, and innovative technologies such as carbon capture.

Advocating for global resource optimization beyond crop production, the plan suggests rebalancing consumption patterns and promoting healthy diets for all. It stresses that adaptability to specific contexts is crucial, cautioning against one-size-fits-all solutions.

The process, unveiled at the United Nations Climate Conference COP28 as a concrete package of solutions, will undergo extensive fine-tuning and elaboration over the next three years. COP29 will delve into regional adaptation and financial options, while COP30 will outline concrete investment and policy packages at the country level.

The text above was extracted from an FAO press release.

Strengthening urban and peri-urban food systems to achieve food security and nutrition, in the context of urbanization and rural transformation (2024 July)

Citation: HLPE. 2024. Strengthening urban and peri‑urban food systems to achieve food security and nutrition, in the context of urbanization and rural transformation. Rome, CFS HLPE‑FSN. Retrieved from FAO CFS HLPE-FSN wesbiste.

In an era in which almost 80 percent of the global population resides in urban and peri‑urban (U‑PU) areas, understanding and addressing the complexities of U‑PU food systems is more critical than ever. This groundbreaking report by the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE‑FSN) challenges prevailing narratives, revealing that over three‑quarters of the world’s food‑insecure population lives in urban and peri‑urban regions, and that U‑PU areas are epicentres of multiple burdens of malnutrition.

The report provides an in‑depth analysis of the unique challenges and opportunities in these areas. It shows how U‑PU areas have a profound impact on food systems, influencing production, distribution and consumption patterns worldwide. The report emphasizes the need for equitable, accessible, sustainable and resilient food systems, for the realization of the right to food.

The report also stresses the importance of multilevel, multilateral and multi‑actor governance and highlights the intricate linkages between food systems and other critical systems related to water, energy and mobility. With action‑oriented policy recommendations, this report is an essential tool for policymakers, researchers and stakeholders dedicated to ensuring food security and nutrition in the context of rapid urbanization.

For a longer, more descriptive summary of the report, see the FAO news about the launch of the report on 2 July 2024.

#Dietitians & #Nutritionists are ideally placed to complement these efforts!

Regenerative Aquatic Foods (RAF) Roadmap (2023)

Citation: Food + Planet, CGIAR & GAIN. Regenerative Aquatic Foods Roadmap (Rockefeller Foundation, 2023); https://go.nature.com/3T9Tx7a

During a convening at the Bellagio Center in July 2023, a group of experts co-created the RAF Roadmap, aligning closely with the SDGs. The experts, with backgrounds in nutrition, environmental conservation, aquaculture, policy development economics and community practices, recognized the need for a universal cross-organizational effort to advance regenerative aquatic foods, emphasizing sustainability and equitable food systems.

It was agreed that RAFs are aquatic foods from systems that enhance ecosystems, rather than deplete, and also offer restorative benefits, fostering positive relationships between people and nature. A four-dimensional (4D) framework of sustainable food systems (Fig. 1) was employed to identify the diverse benefits of RAF across nutrition, planetary, socio-cultural, and economic dimensions.

This roadmap identifies strategic areas essential for upscaling RAF production sustainably:

Consumption:
- integrate RAFs into diets by creating appealing products, gaining endorsements from food champions, including RAFs in dietary guidelines and food composition tables, and supporting efforts in consumer education.
Community-based practices:
- enable local and Indigenous communities to steward and benefit from RAF resources, enhanc-ing food sovereignty and sustainable management.
Ecosystem services:
- monetize services such as carbon cycling, species recov-ery and nutrient reduction to promote economic systems that value ecological restoration and conservation.
Capital investment:
- encourage innova-tive, environmentally friendly production methods through sufficient funding and effective financial mechanisms.
Technology and innovation:
- utilize advanced technologies (for example, environmental monitoring and forecast-ing technology, and native species breed-ing programs) to optimize production and participatory incentive structures designed by local communities to ensure sustainability.

The Rockefeller Foundation and the Bellagio Center provided the facilities and funding to host this historic convening. Support (monetary and in-kind) were also provide by GAIN, The Nature Conservancy, Builders Initiative, and Food + Planet.

This text was adpated from: Vogliano, C., Kennedy, G., Thilsted, S., Mbuya, M. N. N., Battista, W., Sadoff, C., White, G., Kim, J. K., Pucher, J., Koome, K., D’Cruz, G., Geagan, K., Chang, K., Sumaila, U. R., Palmer, S., & Alleway, H. (2024). Regenerative aquatic foods can be a win–win for human and planetary health. Nature Food, 5, 718–719. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-024-01043-5.

Austrian Dietary Guidelines (2024)

The 2024 Austrian Dietary guidelines were developed by the Competence Center for Climate and Health of Austria GmbH (GÖG) together with the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) and the Austrian Society for Nutrition (ÖGE). Both health and climate aspects were taken into account.

Visit the link to also download the brochure “Healthy eating, good for the climate” (in German) or it can be accessed or ordered via the brochure service of the Ministry of Social Affairs. The brochure contains healthy and climate-friendly recipes based on the plate model. It was developed by three universities of applied sciences for dietology on behalf of the Ministry of Health.

TABLE (website)

TABLE’s mission: ingredients for better dialogue. TABLE is a food systems platform that sets out the evidence, assumptions and values that people bring to debates about resilient and sustainable food futures. They explore the data, the biases and the beliefs behind those debates in order to support better dialogue, decision making and action.

TABLE is for everyone with an interest in food. Acting as an interface between the worlds of research and practice, our work reflects and interrogates real and relevant food system debates. We are in constant dialogue with people working within the food system, including civil society, policy makers, advocates and practitioners.

TABLE puts together many resources such as explainers, blog posts, podcasts, letterbox series, other publications in their resource library, and a list of events and job opportunities. They have a page in Spanish as well. TABLE es MESA en América Latina.

A useful resource for busy people is their summary series which break down some of their explainers into a brief format. Short summaries are now available for the following explainers:

What is regenerative agriculture?
What is ecomodernism?
What is feed food competition?
What is the land sparing-land sharing continuum?
What is agroecology?
What is food sovereignty?
Soy: food, feed and land use change
Rewilding and its implications for agriculture
Agricultural methane
What is malnutrition?
What is the nutrition transition?
What is ultra-processed food? And why do people disagree about its utility as a concept?

TABLE was created in collaboration with the University of Oxford, building on the work of the Food Climate Research Network; the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), via the SLU Future Food platform; and Wageningen University & Research, and then expanded to include la Universidad de los Andes (Colombia), la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, and Cornell CALS (USA).

Determining Health: Food systems issue brief (2024)

This issue brief explores the connections between food systems and human health and well-being in the Canadian context, as part of the Determining Health series of the National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health. It is also available in French. This issue brief is intended for public health practitioners, decision-makers, researchers, and students looking to learn about the public health relevance of (industrial) food systems and the urgent need for their transformation.

The resource is divided into four sections:

Section 1 introduces food systems and their major components, defining food systems as the “webs of activities, people, institutions and processes that bring food from the fields, forests and waters to our plates, and beyond”.
Section 2 explains why food systems matter for public health policy and practice. It describes their importance for meeting populations’ nutritional needs and highlights key issues with Canada’s industrial food systems, the dominant type of food system in the country.
Section 3 draws on peer-reviewed and grey literature from 42 sources to explain five pathways linking industrial food systems to health inequities.
Section 4 concludes the document and underscores that all public health practitioners and organizations have a role in helping build healthier, more sustainable and just food systems.

Use this resource to

Build understanding of food systems and their major components
Facilitate discussion on how industrial food systems contribute to health inequities in the Canadian context
Support food system-related public health interventions

African Women’s Collaborative for Healthy Food Systems (2017)

The African Women’s Collaborative for Healthy Food Systems was launched in 2017 at the instigation of Elizabeth Mpofu, organic farmer, activist and leader, who felt compelled to address the continuing marginalization of peasant and indigenous women in Africa. Elizabeth was soon joined by peasant and indigenous women leaders from six African countries who, together, forged the Collaborative’s Statement of Intent.

We wish to highlight the significant role and rights of African women in producing, processing and preparing good food for people in homes and neighbourhoods across the continent, both rural and urban. We are committed to ensuring that the food we eat is nutritious and healthy and is part of a way of life that respects and takes care of Mother Earth. Two key initiatives include:

Women’s Seeds – The Collaborative highlights the role and contribution of peasant and indigenous women in community food systems. Women have a special relationship with seeds as sorters, savers, and sharers. We recognize the importance of healthy seeds as the source and strength of plants and animals that are central to our food systems. We share our knowledge and experience about women’s seeds and invite others to share their perspectives and actions.

Women & Agroecology – The Collaborative has a deep understanding of and respect for agroecology through the daily practice of peasant and indigenous women and girls in different parts of Africa. At the same time, we are aware of the widescale marginalisation and minimal participation of peasant and indigenous women in decision-making processes and the lack of respect for their knowledge and expertise as practitioners in all aspects of the food system. We recognize the need for a shared conceptual framework that can be used by individuals, organizations and networks to counter discrimination, inequity, and ill-health while promoting healthy, sustainable systems in policy and practice. We are carrying out a one-year learning project to identify our own path and priorities for women and agroecology, while at the same time building connections with broad-based feminist and agroecological movements campaigning for women’s rights and environmental justice. This is an important undertaking for the Collaborative, given the growing pressures on rural women as food producers and processors due to climate change, natural resource exploitation, and the escalation of industrial agriculture.

The African Women’s Collaborative for Healthy Food Systems is growing rapidly and welcomes your interest and support. If you’d like to volunteer, please let us know what your skills are, what country you are based in, what languages you speak, and how much available time you have. We also welcome donations to support our work. info@africanfoodsystems.org

Recipes for success: Working together for healthy and sustainable diets in Europe (2022)

Excerpts from the introduction to the guide by Marinke van Riet, Chief Weaver, Healthy Food Healthy Planet:

In September 2022, 25 change-makers from across eight European countries convened for three days on a farm outside of Berlin. The reason? To brew on where Healthy Food Healthy Planet as an emerging Pan-European movement needs to go next.
It was our first in-person event, having worked online for over two years, co-creating a strategy reflecting the voices and perspectives of over 120 different organisations. In our midst in Berlin were dietitians, doctors, policy-makers, climate change campaigners, animal welfare and food equity activists, funders, farmers, and artivists, united by a single demand: healthy, just and sustainable food environments, starting with rebalancing animal-sourced foods.
This guide, championed by Eating Better, showcases national and local level examples – where the ingredients for a successful recipe starts. Because together our impact is more powerful and inevitable is part of our newly found purpose. We can only address this enormous challenge together, civil society and funders alike – locally, nationally, regionally and globally.

From the Executive Summary:

Our food system is unsustainable. It’s pushing our warming planet way beyond its limits and driving obesity, preventable disease and food scarcity. Thankfully, adopting healthier, sustainable diets on a wide scale is a main priority for civil society. There’s no clear solution; complicated problems require a vast range of groups and people sharing their knowledge.
Many organisations across Europe have realised it’s more effective to tackle complex problems together to pool resources and expertise and make sustainable dietary change. We’ve spoken to a diverse range of organisations and individuals working on healthy and sustainable diets, across Europe about collaborations. In the spirit of collaboration, we want to share with you what we’ve found. We hope those involved and interested in collaborating for dietary change will find it useful and inspiring.

‘We started this project to bring together our learning from the past 9 years of Eating Better. But in doing so, we found that there is much to learn from collaborations elsewhere in Europe. It proved again to us that working across silos and within national food cultures is critical for making progress towards more healthy and sustainable eating.’
– Simon Billing Executive Director Eating Better