As part of the Nourishing Food Pathways (NFP) programme, GAIN is working to strengthen efforts to understand and measure progress on food system transformation. Clear progress measures can provide decision-makers with the visibility and the flexibility to course-correct as needed to realise the desired impact, and can help to ensure accountability for action. To this end, one of the workstreams under NFP aims to develop, test, and validate novel methods and metrics for assessing food systems transformation. To ensure that this work is grounded in local food system stakeholders’ needs and preferences, GAIN worked with Food Systems Foresight to solicit input from national stakeholders across five African countries (Ethiopia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Kenya) on priority indicator gaps for monitoring food systems transformation. This paper reports on the outcomes of that work.
The PSWG fosters an open dialogue between public and private sector actors on selected priority areas in addressing all forms of malnutrition. It recognizes that many of the root causes of malnutrition cannot be solved without the involvement of those who grow, produce, and market food. These commitments, while important, are part of a larger goal to catalyse sustained private sector action, complementing efforts by other N4G stakeholders.
As part of a team that has been working on nutrition-focused investing for several years, sometimes feeling like we were the only ones at the table, it’s been an exciting few months! Nutrition as an investment theme really seems to be resonating more widely and gaining traction in diverse places.
Political economy dynamics—that is, conflicts and trade-offs across different interest groups that play an important role in the food system—permeate many decisions about food systems policy and implementation. Development practitioners working in the food systems space—inclusive of agriculture, nutrition, and environment—need to be aware of these dynamics to be able to support policy advocacy, development, and implementation.
To assist in anticipating policy bottlenecks to food systems transformation, a toolkit was developed to examine six main domains within national policy systems. The six domains are: policy stability and inclusionary decision-making, stakeholder preferences, multi-sectoral coordination, multi-level coordination, financing, and administrative capacities.
Food system transformation requires long-term commitment, but we live in a world of short-term political cycles and unforeseen crises that can deter momentum and reset policy priorities. Given that political economy dynamics can stymie efforts to implement food systems transformation agendas, GAIN has partnered with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) to develop a Political Economy Decision Toolkit that identifies possible bottlenecks ex-ante and utilizes different sets of strategies to overcome them. The Toolkit was informed by discussions with GAIN’s policy advisors across Africa and Asia and revolves around six main domains that can be applied to either a narrow food policy issue, such as expanding school meals programmes, or to a broader topic, such as implementing national food system pathways.
DELIVER Nigeria is a transformative three-year project (July 2024 - June 2027) designed to enhance the livelihoods of smallholder vegetable farmers in Kaduna and Kano states. This initiative, led by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) in partnership with East-West Seed Knowledge Transfer Foundation (EWS-KT) and Wageningen University and Research (WUR), addresses key challenges such as low yields, limited market access, high postharvest losses, and inadequate finance.
School Meal Programs in an Era of Food Systems Transformation- 4 days of peer-to-peer exchange and technical workshops bringing together school meal program leaders from around the world.
Good nutrition is vital for planetary and human health. Nutrition action complements measures across food systems and health systems to support both mitigation and adaptation and increase community resilience. Unhealthy foods are more greenhouse gas intensive. Food and nutrition security is threatened by climate-related impacts on migration, conflict and livelihoods. Climate change exacerbates malnutrition in all its forms.
