As part of the Nourishing Food Pathways (NFP) programme, GAIN is working to strengthen efforts to understand and measure progress on food system transformation. Clear progress measures can provide decision-makers with the visibility and the flexibility to course-correct as needed to realise the desired impact, and can help to ensure accountability for action. To this end, one of the workstreams under NFP aims to develop, test, and validate novel methods and metrics for assessing food systems transformation. To ensure that this work is grounded in local food system stakeholders’ needs and preferences, GAIN worked with Food Systems Foresight to solicit input from national stakeholders across five African countries (Ethiopia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Kenya) on priority indicator gaps for monitoring food systems transformation. This paper reports on the outcomes of that work.
After an analysis of each country’s food system transformation pathway and the ‘theory of change’ underlying it, interactive stakeholder workshops were held across the five countries, each with 14 to 23 participants spanning the public sector, private sector, and civil society/academia, as well as various subjects (e.g., agriculture, health, environment). Participants brainstormed indicator gaps and ideas for filling them, which were later categorised according to meaningfulness, measurability, and moveability. Across all five countries, some similar themes emerged, such as training and capacity building and access to information. There was a strong focus on the food supply chain, and particularly food processing and storage, as an area of the food system on which more information was needed. Women and youth were mentioned as groups requiring particular attention in metrics/methods development, including both their productive roles and their engagement in food system governance. The results from the workshops will be used to inform GAIN’s future work in developing metrics and methods to understand and help track food system transformation.