Governance

Governance interventions play a vital role in tackling food injustice by fostering collaboration, ensuring policy and programmatic coherence, engaging stakeholders, and enabling effective implementation. Ingredients of good governance include committed and accountable leadership, active municipal interdepartmental government bodies, food policy and planning structures with authority, capacity and sufficient funding, updated inventories of local food initiatives and municipal/urban food policies or strategies, and mechanisms for assembling and analysing urban food system data. 106 interventions were identified (64 national, 27 local, 13 partnership and 3 advocacy). The effectiveness of these interventions varied depending on the type of intervention, the target population, and the specific context in which they are applied. The interventions tend to be targeted to low or no income households and vulnerable and marginalised populations but their impacts span from grassroots communities in rural landscapes to policy-making bodies in urban centres, making them essential across all income levels and geographies.

Settings

Governance interventions have been applied in diverse settings including urban, rural and indigenous communities across both lower and middle income and high-income countries demonstrating the increase in municipal and national level action and policy development in tackling food insecurity especially following COVID-19 pandemic. In low-income countries, these interventions can play a pivotal role in strengthening recently formed institutions, fostering collaborations, and ensuring equitable access to resources. For middle-income nations, they serve as a bridge, harmonizing traditional and modern food systems and mitigating potential conflicts of interest. High-income countries, while often having robust infrastructure, still face issues of food justice and equity; governance interventions here can ensure that these issues are voiced through multi-actor food policy and partnerships.

Facilitators and barriers to successful interventions

The effectiveness of governance interventions in addressing food injustice is influenced by various facilitators and barriers, which can either support or hinder the implementation and impact of these interventions.

Facilitators

• Committed and empowered leadership with strategic capacity – including individuals and teams with the shared vision of improving food insecurity and promoting food justice.
• Multi-actor food policy and planning structures: Food policy councils, partnerships and coalitions can foster cooperation, pool resources, and ensure the inclusion of diverse perspectives in food policy decision-making processes. Attention is needed to avoid conflicts of interest with large transnational corporations (‘Big Food’) whose primary incentive is to maximise profit from the sale of unhealthy, ultra-processed foods.
• Interdepartmental collaboration: Cooperation among government agencies and departments can lead to more effective policy design and implementation by ensuring food security initiatives are well-coordinated and integrated across different sectors.
• Stakeholder engagement: Involving diverse stakeholders, including non-governmental organisations, community groups, and companies producing healthy food, can promote a more inclusive and responsive approach to food security, ensuring that policies and programmes address the needs of all members of the community.
• Local and grassroots initiatives: Supporting grassroots efforts can help to identify and address food insecurity challenges at the community level, allowing for more targeted and context-specific interventions.
• Food and nutrition information and monitoring systems with high-quality actionable data.
• Clear, transparent systems of developing and revising urban food policies on the basis of new data on problem outcomes and intervention implementation and effectiveness.
• Sufficient and appropriate capacity (human, economic and organisational) to design and implement relevant food justice interventions.
• Sufficient funding and an adequate, flexible and stable financing system.

Barriers

• Lack of interdepartmental collaboration: Poor coordination among government agencies and departments can lead to fragmented and inefficient policies, hindering efforts to address food insecurity.
• Limited stakeholder engagement: Failure to involve diverse stakeholders in the policy-making process can result in policies that do not adequately address the needs and perspectives of all members of the community.
• Failure to address power imbalances, especially with regard to corporations who prioritise profit, not justice. Inability to avoid corporate capture of food policy and programming.
• Insufficient resources: Limited funding, personnel, and organisational resources can constrain the implementation and effectiveness of food security interventions.
• Socio-economic factors: Income inequality, unemployment, and other socio-economic factors can contribute to food insecurity and pose challenges for the implementation of food security interventions.
• Cultural differences: Interventions may not be equally effective across different cultural contexts, and may need to be adapted to local customs, beliefs, and preferences.
• Political resistance and policy inertia: Opposition from political actors or vested interests can impede the adoption or implementation of food security policies and programmes.

Systematic review

Evidence for the effectiveness of policies that encompass targeted food security interventions (for example, unconditional cash transfers for income-poor marginalised groups and universal free school meals for children in disadvantaged areas) is well documented. In general, it appears harder for such policies to improve diet diversity and the quality of food (including fruits and vegetables) than it is to improve access to staple foods.

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National food policy

At the national level, governance interventions aim to create a comprehensive policy framework that sets the direction for food security initiatives across the country. These interventions can involve the development and implementation of national food and nutrition security policies and routine monitoring of food insecurity through governments’ annual citizen surveys. By establishing a standardised approach to food security, national-level policies can also have a positive impact on food insecurity by setting the direction for local governments and stakeholders to develop and implement their own strategies, leading to a more cohesive and coordinated effort in promoting food justice.

Local food policy

Local interventions are often tailored to the specific needs and characteristics of a city or region. These interventions may include developing strategic plans for food security in indigenous communities, initiating food justice movements in cities where citizens are experiencing discrimination and development of localised monitoring of food insecurity rates. Local interventions often involve a more targeted approach, addressing unique challenges and opportunities in each area and actively involving citizens directly affected by food insecurity. While focusing on the local, they can also generate important lessons for national level change.

Food system partnerships

Food partnership models, which emphasise collaboration among various stakeholders in the food system – with due attention to power imbalances and conflicts of interest – have been found to be effective in pooling resources, fostering cooperation, and ensuring diverse perspectives are included in food policy decision-making processes. These models can create a more inclusive and responsive environment for addressing food insecurity, promoting equity and access to affordable, nutritious food for all.

Page last updated: 18 September 2023