Abstract
Food systems governance for healthy and sustainable diets remains a challenge. New structures are needed to better connect food systems actors. This paper argues that existing multi-stakeholder platforms (MSPs) have the potential to contribute to food systems governance by facilitating linkages between actors and scales. In a non-experimental study existing MSPs (n = 89) were explored in four countries addressing food and nutrition security. A diagnostic framework was used to identify MSP's capacities to address governance principles like system-based problem framing, boundary spanning, adaptability, inclusiveness, and transformative capacity. Existing MSPs can play a role in spanning boundaries, thereby increasing adaptability and learning, but seem less promising in shifting to systems-based narratives and thus may have limited capacity to truly transform food systems.
Highlights
Today’s food systems are facing challenges in delivering healthy diets, reducing both hunger and undernutrition on the one hand, while addressing a rapid rise in obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases on the other
Leadership malnutrition or food insecurity. These findings suggest that the multi-stakeholder platforms (MSPs) used a relatively ‘classic’ vocabulary of malnutri tion and health, and food production for dietary improvement, rather than a broader narrative around healthy diets or food systems
We identified MSPs involved in formal food governance ar rangements, MSPs working on agricultural and nutrition research pro jects, and MSPs driven by individual members, rather than institutional priorities, around a particular topic of concern
Summary
Today’s food systems are facing challenges in delivering healthy diets, reducing both hunger and undernutrition on the one hand, while addressing a rapid rise in obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases on the other. 1 in 9 people – 820 million worldwide – are hungry or undernourished, with numbers rising since 2015, espe cially in Africa, West Asia and Latin America (FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP, & WHO., 2019). Around 113 million people across 53 countries expe rience acute hunger as a result of conflict and food insecurity, climate shock and economic turbulence (FSIN, 2019). More than one-third of the world’s adult population is overweight or obese, a trend which has increased over the past two decades (Ng et al, 2014). Van Bers et al (2019, p. 97) define food systems as involving ‘complex networks of actors, activities, and flows that de mand system approaches’
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
