Dalla Lana School of Public Health

The majority of urban dwellers in low- and middle-income countries neither grow most of their food at home nor acquire it in supermarkets; they access food in urban markets, such as in municipal covered markets and street markets, and from mobile traders and street food vendors¹²³⁴⁵. The issue remains seldom quantified—particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean—but a study performed in low-income neighbourhoods in three major South African cities shows that 70 per cent of households buy their food from informal outlets⁶. Yet, many local and national governments in Latin America and the Caribbean have chosen not to support urban food market actors so that food trade can be maintained and conducted in a safe manner during the COVID-19 pandemic. For instance, many urban food markets have unilaterally been closed based on public health grounds, putting those depending on these informal networks to survive at risk⁷⁸⁹. The closure of urban food markets belongs to a series of local and national government approaches to informal food trade such as criminalization, formalization, relocation, and supermarketization that exclude food market actors from decision-making and that have documented detrimental impacts on food security and poverty (e.g.¹⁰¹¹).

Alignment of co-benefits and the intersections of Health and Environments through Food Systems Change

In low-income settlements, food access is a “key development challenge … and not food supply or availability”¹². Urban governance plays a central role in easing or impeding food access of urban dwellers, and the livelihoods and health and safety of food traders in low- and middle-income countries¹³. Governance is understood here as all the modes of governing to guide, steer, control or manage access to food in a specific urban area¹⁴. They include “non-food-related governance actions imposed on food system actors”¹⁵, such as public health regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic and infrastructure provision (or lack thereof).

As argued, existing approaches to governing urban food markets tend to exclude and have negative impacts for food traders and their clients. This proposal argues for better understanding the potential co-benefits of inclusive governance for Latin American and Caribbean urban food markets, as well as the drivers and barriers for its generation and maintenance during the COVID-19 pandemic. The potential co-benefits for low-income urban citizens are intersected and could include, for instance, improvements in food security, livelihoods, health and safety, as well as in trust and collaboration between traders, residents, and local government representatives.

Inclusive governance is perceived here not only as a means to achieve these co-benefits, but as an end that also needs to be studied. After all, collaborative governance theories suggest that the process of generating collaboration among and between government institutions, civil society and the private sector (including the informal private sector) is as pertinent and significant as its results¹⁶¹⁷.

Relevant conceptual theories, methodological tools, frameworks, approaches, gender and equity considerations

Spotlight on references:

Moragues-Faus A, Battersby J. Urban food policies for a sustainable and just future: Concepts and tools for a renewed agenda. Food Policy 2021; 102124.

Ostrom E. Crossing the great divide: Coproduction, synergy, and development. World Development 1996; 24(6):1073-1087.

The theoretical approach draws upon a wide body of literature to theorize existing as well as more inclusive food market governance frameworks in low-income neighbourhoods in Latin America and the Caribbean, including:

• Collaborative and network governance¹⁸¹⁹;
• Co-production²⁰²¹;
• Urban food system governance in low- and middle-income countries²²²³;
• Governance of built environments, public spaces, and community-based projects in low-income contexts²⁴²⁵²⁶;
• Governance of disaster risk reduction and urban resilience²⁷²⁸²⁹; and
• Gender aspects of governance³⁰³¹.

The proposed research idea consists of a multi-case study of existing as well as more inclusive practices of food market governance in a variety of urban governance contexts in Latin America and the Caribbean, for example in Port-au-Prince in Haiti, La Habana in Cuba, and Medellín in Colombia. Of particular interest, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, are the existing governance practices of urban food markets and their repercussions on multiple dimensions such as food security, livelihoods and health and safety, and the generation of inclusive governance practices through the implementation of bottom-up initiatives in these markets. Here, their potential co-benefits, and the drivers and barriers related to their implementation are studied.

The potential co-benefits, the drivers, and the barriers would likely vary according to the needs and challenges in different marketplaces and urban governance settings. Hence, the co-benefits are not predefined in the research idea. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, they may be well linked to implementing procedures and structures that ensure the health and safety of marketplace users while maintaining trade. However, they may also lead to more pressing initiatives, such as those aiming to build trust and to recognize social and environmental injustices³². The objectives of that inclusive governance—the creation of co-benefits—will therefore be based on narratives, needs, and desires expressed by urban food market actors while considering gender and equity dimensions. Therefore, local conceptualizations of co-benefits will likely vary between cases, and will emerge while doing research.

Poverty and food insecurity in Latin America and the Caribbean varies according to gender³³³⁴³⁵. Yet, women often play a vital role in building the social fabric that allows change to occur in low-income neighbourhoods³⁶³⁷. Gender and equity considerations are incorporated into the generation of inclusive governance, into the study of their potential co-benefits, drivers, and barriers for its implementation, and into the metrics. As such, the research idea aims to understand and address gender and socio-economic inequities and their drivers present in and around food market governance in Latin America and the Caribbean. Inclusive governance is seen as a way to redefine power relationships among stakeholders and as an alternative to other approaches that tend to marginalize urban dwellers based on their income activity (e.g. street trade), place of residence (e.g. informal settlement), gender, or other dimensions.

Measurement of impact

Spotlight on references:

Juillard H, Mohiddin L, Péchayre M, Smith G, Lewin R. The influence of market support interventions on household food security: An evidence synthesis. Oxford: Oxfam GB. 2017.

Metrics:

• Number of multi-stakeholder partnerships with inclusive governance practices (stakeholders could include market traders, residents, businesses, community-based organizations, and local government representatives);
• Number and frequency of meetings and events related to food market governance;
• Number of women and members of marginalized groups occupying leadership roles in these partnerships and participating in these meetings and events;
• Increase in financial and in-kind contributions from these stakeholders in bottom-up initiatives;
• Improvement in the quality of inter-stakeholder collaboration as well as in the co-benefits for market users (for instance in food security, livelihoods, and health and safety), based on disaggregated data collected in before-and-after surveys;
• Number of references to scientific literature or policy briefs on the drivers and barriers for implementing inclusive food market governance, such as for creating new policy or implementing change in food markets in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Such research would inform policy and have practical implications for urban planners, food security practitioners, policymakers, and community-based organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean on the potential co-benefits of adopting a more inclusive approach to governing urban food markets as well as the possible ways to do so. In fact, the collaborative process advocated in the research is itself a way to influence stakeholders in each marketplace, neighbourhood, and city, on the potential co-benefits of undertaking a different approach to governing urban food markets. For urban planners and local policymakers, the research would provide tools to engage with local food actors (e.g. women traders, residents, community leaders) and a better understanding of their role in contributing to poverty reduction, food security and health and safety, in ways that build on and not harm the existing functions and attributes of marketplaces. For food security and humanitarian practitioners, it would contribute to the ‘growing consensus on the need to consider and support markets as part of humanitarian responses’³⁸ and addresses the need for further ‘research to document the influence of market support interventions’³⁹. The research would also provide more evidence for donors to support local and international organizations in improving urban governance of food markets as well as an understanding of the contextual implications linked to various Latin American and Caribbean urban contexts.

Challenges/barriers and knowledge gaps that impede shifts towards healthier and sustainable food systems

Spotlight on references:

Alfers L, Xulu P, Dobson R. Promoting workplace health and safety in urban public space: reflections from Durban, South Africa. Environment and Urbanization 2016; 28(2):391-404.

Gupte J, Mitlin D. COVID-19: what is not being addressed. Environment and Urbanization 2020; 33(1):1-18.

This research proposal is in line with the perspectives of researchers^40414243 and pro-informal worker and food security organizations (e.g. WIEGO, Health Bridge, and Hivos) arguing that the main problem lies in the lack of recognition and inclusion of actors engaged in informal or alternative ways to provide food in urban governance. Referring to the COVID-19 context, Gupte and Mitlin⁴⁴ explain that “there is too little understanding about the importance of building dialogue, exploring collaboration, and co-producing solutions. There is too little understanding as to why social and cultural responses are important, and how the recognition that they are important can be actioned.” Research on cases of collaboration and inclusion of these food actors in urban governance is scarce, limiting the evidence and practical learning needed for scaling up the approach⁴⁵. Publications on collaborative governance and co-production related to food access in low-income settlements, while promising, are indeed limited and mostly based on African and Asian contexts⁴⁶⁴⁷. Importantly, the “urban” drivers and barriers to improve food access for low-income dwellers are still not well understood in Latin America and the Caribbean.

A better awareness and the improvement of co-benefits are the objective of more inclusive governance for urban food markets. To this date, policymakers have tended to overlook the desired attributes of urban food markets for traders and their clients, such as solidarity, reciprocity, proximity, stability, and security in the case of Haiti⁴⁸. This ignorance or misunderstanding, in part caused by the exclusion of informal food actors in urban governance, can result in unilateral policy and interventions that may be well intended—reducing food safety hazards or the spread of COVID-19 disease for instance—but have detrimental impacts on food access and livelihoods for the urban poor. The inclusive governance approach could help uncover the complexity of the intertwined cultural, social, economic, spatial, and physical dimensions embedded in urban marketplaces. A better understanding of that complexity among stakeholders could result in policy and practice that truly result in generating co-benefits without harming existing functions and attributes of urban food markets.