The International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (iPES-Food) yesterday released a superb report What Makes Urban Food Policy Happen: Insights from Five Case Studies. You can access the reports here.
The five cities are Belo Horizonte, (Brazil) Nairobi (Kenya), Amsterdam (The Netherlands), The Golden Horseshoe (Toronto and neighbouring districts) and Detroit (U.S.A). Each city had its own recipe of successful initiatives to transform the food system. This diagram is from Belo Horizonte’s “Municipal Secretariat for Food and Nutritional Security” (SMASAN) summarises their main strategies.
Enablers
The report gleaned “enablers” of effective food system action from the 5 cities (pages 74 – 75).
1: Background and base-line research has been carried out to inform the policy.
2: Impacts are monitored and new data are collected throughout implementation.
3: Policy is continually or regularly reviewed and renewed.
4: The necessary policy powers and responsibilities exist at the local city government level.
5: Policy at the national level is supportive.
6: The ‘institutional home’ of the policy lends it strategic importance and/or provides channels of influence.
7: A governance body has been established to oversee the policy, that promotes accountability and efficiency.
8: Multiple city govern- ment departments are engaged with and committed to the policy.
9: Policy is developed through participatory process, involving both communities and city government (regardless of top-down or bottom-up origins) and actors across the food system.
10: Conflicts and ideological differences between actors are acknowledged and managed.
11: Part-funding is provi- ded by city government.
12: Overall funds obtained are su cient for implementation.
13: There are no restrictive conditions attached to funding.
14: High-level political commitment from city government is secured and leveraged.
15: Political commitment transcends electoral cycles.
I am grateful that we have international organisations like this to research food systems initiatives across the planet and shine the light on successful models of change.
Aotearoa Food Policy Network 