TMG Think Tank for Sustainability
Urban Food Futures

With some of the fastest growing cities in the world, Africa faces multiple and interrelated challenges in achieving food and nutrition security, as well as decent livelihoods for all. These include an accelerated climate crisis, population growth, rising rural-urban migration, extensive and largely unregulated urbanization, deepening economic inequality, and the exclusion of large segments of the population from governance structures.

Urban Food Futures is a transdisciplinary action-research programme conducted in cooperation with TMG's partners from academia and civil society. With hubs in Nairobi and Cape Town, our research is focused on informal settlements and low-income urban neighbourhoods that are largely locked out of formal service provision and governance structures. With informality as the connecting thread, we explore pathways to transform food systems and achieve the right to food for all.  

Trading to eat

Trading to eat

Valorizing the contribution of informal livelihoods towards vibrant and food-secure cities

The informal economy is a powerful force shaping Africa’s rapidly expanding cities. Due to the scarcity of formal jobs and the systemic exclusion many poor people face, informal-economy livelihoods are an important safety net across most African cities. This is particularly true for women and youth. However, punitive policies towards informal trade and weak protective mechanisms against economic displacement by more powerful formal entities put livelihoods in the informal economy at risk, and represent an important causal driver of urban food insecurity. Yet it need not be this way. A food-sensitive approach to urban planning and design presents an opportunity to valorize informal traders as allies in cities’ efforts to eradicate hunger and malnutrition.

Coping with crises

Coping with crises

Learning together about how to institutionalize support for bottom-up coping strategies.

Low-income urban communities are largely left on their own to cope with chronic adversity and extreme shocks. Women play a critical role in such coping mechanisms, both at household and community level. However, as our research in Nairobi and Cape Town shows, successful bottom-up coping mechanisms such as community kitchens or savings groups, continue to rely heavily on women’s overstretched personal resources and unpaid work. Transitioning from such community driven solutions to systemic transformation therefore requires building an enabling environment that fosters both local agency as well as accountability by power holders.

Crowdsourcing data

Crowdsourcing data

Working with urban communities to strengthen informed decision making and accountability

In fragile settings, governments and civil society often lack information to adequately respond to multifaceted crises. This challenge is particularly acute in densely populated informal urban settlements. While some city-aggregated data on food security may be publicly available, this is often outdated and unlikely to offer localized and real-time insights on food and nutritional dynamics. As demonstrated by the Covid-19 crisis, this lack of place-specific information not only hinders emergency responses, but undermines critically needed strategic planning processes to create more inclusive and sustainable food systems. With targeted support, communities in low-income urban settings could provide much needed contextualized information to tackle this data gap.

Mutual accountability

Mutual accountability

With pens and pots to parliament: Bridging the gap between communities and governance processes

“Poverty and inequality are the underlying structural causes of food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms," (FAO, 2021). By focusing on pathways to progressively realize the right to food as a binding global agreement, TMG and its partners aim to get at the heart of such inequalities. Both South Africa and Kenya recognize the Right to Food in their constitutions and have subsequently developed supporting national policies on food security. However, this "food mandate" remains highly fragmented across departments and spheres of government, making it hard to operationalize, especially at the level of local governments that interface most directly with community organizations.

Controlled Environment Agriculture

Controlled Environment Agriculture

Rethinking urban farming for food and nutrition security and climate resilience

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2021), Africa's agricultural production growth has contracted by more than 30% over the past six decades due to climate change. Continued global warming will further impact African food systems by shortening growing seasons and increasing water stress. Despite accounting for a small fraction of the food needs of Africa's growing cities, urban and peri-urban agriculture can enhance local access to fresh vegetables, pulses, eggs, and other high nutritive value foods. Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) approaches such as hydroponic farming can be a cost-effective and eco-friendly alternative where farming space is limited or where land tenure systems are complex.

Kutathmini michango ya vibanda, vioski, na mikahawa midogo inayoendeshwa na wanawake katika biashara za chakula jijini Nairobi, Kenya

Article

Kutathmini michango ya vibanda, vioski, na mikahawa midogo inayoendeshwa na wanawake katika biashara za chakula jijini Nairobi, Kenya

Makala haya yanatoa wito wa kuzingatia zaidi hali ya kutengwa kwa wanawake na yanatoa mapendekezo ya sera kusaidia wauzaji wa sekta isiyo rasmi.

Written by Christian Sonntag, Emmanuel Atamba, Nicole Paganini, William Onura, Maureen Musya, Evans Otibine, Omondi Okoyo, Patrick Njoroge, Jane Masta, Anthony Kwache

Published on Oct 21, 2024

Kwa nini mabadiliko ya mfumo wa chakula wa mijini yanahitaji mtazamo wa ufeministi

Article

Kwa nini mabadiliko ya mfumo wa chakula wa mijini yanahitaji mtazamo wa ufeministi

Makala haya yanatetea mabadiliko ya mifumo ya chakula mijini kwa kutambua jukumu muhimu la wanawake katika kuimarisha usalama wa chakula, hasa katika jamii zilizotengwa.

Written by Nicole Paganini, Zayaan Khan, Joanne Harding, Violet Shivutse, Nomonde Buthelezi, Lena Bassermann, Thembeka Sikobi, William Onura

Published on Oct 17, 2024

Why urban food system transformation requires a feminist approach

Article

Why urban food system transformation requires a feminist approach

This paper advocates for transforming urban food systems by recognising the crucial role of women in enhancing food security, particularly in marginalised communities.

Written by Nicole Paganini, Zayaan Khan, Joanne Harding, Violet Shivutse, Nomonde Buthelezi, Lena Bassermann, Thembeka Sikobi, William Onura

Published on Oct 17, 2024

Critical Perspectives on Governance and Social Security Systems. Feminist Lessons from Brazil’s Urban Food Systems

Article

Critical Perspectives on Governance and Social Security Systems. Feminist Lessons from Brazil’s Urban Food Systems

This piece explores whether food policies in Brazil focusing on urban and peri-urban areas reinforce patriarchal labour divisions, while proposing alternative policies grounded in feminist approaches. 

Written by Mónica Guerra da Rocha (University of Coimbra, Instituto Comida do Amanhã), Tárzia Medeiros (Instituto Comida do Amanhã), Matheus Alves Zanella (Global Alliance for the Future of Food)

Published on Oct 17, 2024

Evaluating the contributions of women-run market stalls, kiosks and eateries in Nairobi, Kenya

Article

Evaluating the contributions of women-run market stalls, kiosks and eateries in Nairobi, Kenya

This article calls for a stronger focus on women's marginalisation and provides policy recommendations to support informal vendors. 

Written by Christian Sonntag, Emmanuel Atamba, Nicole Paganini, Maureen Musya, Evans Otibine, Omondi Okoyo, Patrick Njoroge, Jane Masta, Anthony Kwache

Published on Oct 17, 2024

Kutheni utshintsho lwemisebenzi yokuveliswa kuye ekutyiweni kokutya ezidolophini kufuna indlela yabaxhasi nabaxhobisa abasetyhini

Article

Kutheni utshintsho lwemisebenzi yokuveliswa kuye ekutyiweni kokutya ezidolophini kufuna indlela yabaxhasi nabaxhobisa abasetyhini

Eli phepha likhuthaza ukuguqulwa kweenkqubo zokutya zasezidolophini ngokuqaphela indima ebalulekileyo yabasetyhini ekuphuculeni ukhuseleko lokutya, ngakumbi kwiindawo zoluntu ezihlelelekileyo.

Written by Nicole Paganini, Zayaan Khan, Joanne Harding, Violet Shivutse, Nomonde Buthelezi, Lena Bassermann, Thembeka Sikobi, William Onura

Published on Oct 17, 2024

  • The Face of Hunger

    The Face of Hunger was produced by TMG’s partner organization Food Agency Cape Town and featured during a panel discussion.

    Feb 16, 2023

23
October
2024
Uncovering the invisible – A feminist call to urban food system transformation
18
March
2024
UN Commission on the Status of Women: the Nexus of Food Security, GBV & Addiction
14
March
2024
Building Futures: Unraveling the Nexus of Food Security, GBV & Poverty in South Africa
12
March
2024
Institutions for Gender Equality: Addressing the Missing Middle between Women’s Grassroots Actions and Government Obligations
18 -20
February
2024
Regional Dialogue: From coping to transformation: Women’s perspectives on achieving food security in times of polycrises.
29 -30
March
2023
The informal sector as a lever for urban food system transformation

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