Seeding equity in African Food Systems
This working group emerged from a recognition that mainstream practices based on dominant paradigms are unlikely to foster the changes required for more equitable systems. Using a food systems lens, the working group investigated the role of marginal, experimental, or bottom-up initiatives in fostering equity. The group focused on how these innovative initiatives, referred to as “seeds,” could enhance different dimensions of equity: procedural, recognitional, and distributional. To this end, the working group identified and studied seed-initiatives aimed at transforming food systems from multiple countries across Africa. The study sheds insight into the diversity of activities undertaken by these initiatives, and how these activities interact with various dimensions of equity. The study also highlights the barriers these initiatives face in achieving their combined equity and sustainability goals, and the strategies they employ to overcome those barriers. Drawing from these outcomes, the working group offers suggestions on how development funders and investors can better support seed initiatives in achieving impact and creating more equitable systems.
Working group members
- Julia van Velden, Centre for Sustainability Transitions, Stellenbosch University
- Nyasha Magadzire, Centre for Sustainability Transitions, Stellenbosch University
- Reinette (Oonsie) Biggs, Centre for Sustainability Transitions, Stellenbosch University and Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University
- Laura Pereira, Global Change Institute, Wits University and Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University
- Joyce Ojino, Global Change Institute, Wits University
- Willem Malherbe, Centre for Sustainability Transitions, Stellenbosch University
