GAIN Briefing Paper n°17: Strengthening Traditional Food Markets for Inclusive Food Systems in Kenya

- 08/07/2026

Traditional food markets are central to Kenya’s food systems, providing fresh and affordable food to consumers as well as jobs, income, and livelihoods to farmers and traders. However, despite Kenya’s strong food policy environment, governance of traditional food markets is often weakly integrated and under-prioritised. This prevents unlocking the markets’ full potential for food security, nutrition, and inclusive growth. This briefing paper examines governance in three traditional food markets in Bungoma and Busia County, Western Kenya, using a mixed-methods approach combining key informant interviews, vendor surveys, direct market observations, participatory workshops, and a review of relevant policy and governance documents to assess how governance arrangements shape market performance.

Integrating Food Culture Into Indonesia’s Food System Agenda: The Case for a Cultural Dimensions Approach

- 06/07/2026

Despite decades of nutrition campaigns, more than 95% of Indonesians consume insufficient fruits and vegetables, and high-risk food consumption continues to rise. Current approaches (supply-side intervention, SBCC and other relevant health and nutrition campaigns) are insufficient because they overlook the cultural values, shared identities, and social norms that drive food preferences, not just individual knowledge or choice.

Accelerating Food Systems Transformation Across Asia

- 06/07/2026

Despite progress in reducing hunger and improving the affordability of healthy diets, the region’s food systems are not transforming quickly enough to deliver equitable nutrition, environmental sustainability, resilience and shared prosperity. This report presents eight practical tools covering food-systems monitoring, data visualisation, diet-quality measurement, policy coherence, climate nutrition integration, political-economy analysis, innovative financing and financial-flow tracking that governments and partners can use to identify gaps and opportunities, develop evidence-based plans, align policies across sectors, overcome implementation barriers and direct investment towards priority areas. Drawing on cases and data from across Asia, it highlights substantial differences between countries and subregions, alongside persistent challenges in food security, diet quality, emissions, water use, governance and financing. It concludes that accelerated, coordinated and government-led action supported by reliable data, coherent policies, inclusive decision-making and better-targeted finance is urgently needed to build healthier, fairer and more sustainable food systems and advance the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

GAIN Kenya to Showcase Leadership in Financing Nutrition-Sensitive Food Systems at FINAS 2026

30 June 2026- 02 July 2026Kenya

From 30 June to 2 July 2026, the Global Alliance for Improved Nutri9on (GAIN) Kenya will join policymakers, investors, development partners, financial ins9tu9ons, researchers, private sector leaders, and civil society at the Financing Agri-Food Systems Sustainably (FINAS) 2026 Summit at the KenyaCa Interna9onal Conven9on Centre (KICC), Nairobi.

The Momentum Behind Food Fortification Is Building. June 30 Is Proof

Something significant is happening in food fortification. Quietly, and across more countries than most people realize, the years following passage of a milestone resolution on food fortification at the World Health Assembly have delivered a meaningful acceleration in the scale, quality, and political visibility of large-scale food fortification programs worldwide.

Bridging the Gap: Integrating Nutrition into India’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda

India’s agricultural transformation is widely recognised as one of the most consequential development stories of the twentieth century. From chronic food shortages in the decades following independence to self-sufficiency in staple cereals like rice wheat and millets, India’s investments in irrigation, research, and price support fundamentally reshaped food availability. Public procurement and subsidised public distribution systems ensured that calories reached even the most vulnerable. And this culminated in the institutionalisation of food security through the National Food Security Act.

The backbone of Resilient Food Systems: Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

In the current global context of prolonged global conflicts, increasing severity of climate change and ever rising inflation, the need to make our food systems, resilient has never been more urgent than now. Resilient food systems feed and nourish people, create jobs, protect livelihoods and withstand shocks such as climate change, conflict, rising prices and supply disruptions. And the backbone of what makes food systems truly resilient are the Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). They are small individually, but together they form the everyday engine of our food systems.

Final Report I-CAN: Landscaping Analysis On Climate And Nutrition Policies In Uganda.

- 23/06/2026

Uganda is increasingly recognizing the importance of addressing the intersection of climate change and nutrition, with a growing number of policies and institutional actors engaging with the climate–nutrition nexus. Several policies and initiatives demonstrate that integrated action is both possible and already underway, particularly where explicit pathways, costed commitments, and system-level resilience investments are included. Institutions such as the Office of the Prime Minister, the National Planning Authority, and the Ministry of Health provide important entry points for strengthening coordination, while informal influence networks and policy windows offer additional opportunities to advance integration.