Leveraging social media and digital technology to hear from a wide array of voices is part of The Rockefeller Foundation’s approach to enriching its understanding of the dynamic challenges facing the poor and vulnerable. One such challenge is food insecurity, or the burdens of hunger and malnutrition.
Policies and programs to address food insecurity have historically focused on rural communities. With half of the world living in cities and rapid rural-to-urban migration throughout much of Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and elsewhere, we wanted to understand this challenge and its drivers specifically in the urban setting. Together with our partners at +SocialGood, we took a Pulse on the issue through a Twitter Chat. We were impressed with the stories and wealth of ideas shared by nearly 400 contributors reaching 1.2M users over the course of two conversations.
Here are some of the highlights:
Understanding Urban Food Insecurity
Participants emphasized that urban food insecurity varies widely—even within low-income communities—based on other dimensions of marginalization, such as gender or HIV status. Others noted that loss and waste along supply chains and low purchasing power contributes and emphasized the importance of food quality and nutrition, not just consuming enough calories.
#RFfood – We've seen even w/in the same urban community wide variability in food security based on #gender #HIV status and other variables
— Kirsten Weeks (@klweeks) April 24, 2014
A3: Food waste & losses contribute twds food insecurity – 1/3 food produced is wasted or lost #thinkeatsave #RFfood http://t.co/ukluheunMr
— GreenAfricaDirectory 🌍 (@GreenAfricaDir) April 24, 2014
A2: Food insecurity often means people – especially the poor – are forced to buy cheap, non-nutricious foods #RFfood
— Kate Berrisford 🌊💙 (@Kate_Berrisford) April 24, 2014
https://twitter.com/fritzdrodriguez/status/459317468133998592
Approaches to Fighting Urban Food Insecurity
We heard a lot about alternative supply chains, urban agriculture, the role of street vendors, and waste reduction approaches. Others flagged more specific models, such as mobile food pantries.
#RFfood – We've seen even w/in the same urban community wide variability in food security based on #gender #HIV status and other variables
— Kirsten Weeks (@klweeks) April 24, 2014
Cities are in a good position to address many problems. Urban agriculture programs can provide nutritious food and jobs, training. #RFfood
— denise corkery (@denisecorkery) April 24, 2014
@plus_socialgood #RFFood 1 solution now in place is http://t.co/lou7zIIJNk enabling millions of growers to share excess food & not waste it
— AmpleHarvest.org (@AmpleHarvest) April 24, 2014
@plus_socialgood A4: Our Mobile Food Pantry model addresses this by trucking produce into neighborhoods. http://t.co/WaTMc8v4iY #RFfood
— Feeding America West Michigan (@feedingwestmich) April 24, 2014
@JibondeFresh In Nairobi, Street vendors play an important role securing access to food 4 the residents of low-income settlements #RFfood
— Zablon Wanyama (@wandiasilo) April 24, 2014
Connections
The coolest part was watching participants connect with each other and leverage the discussion to mobilize and build their own networks around hunger, food systems, gender, and other issues.
Are other orgs working on anticipating demand and how much food will be needed to feed the planet in the next 5 or 10 yrs? #RFfood
— AK (@xiphz) April 24, 2014
"@CSISFood: It's imp to add #women to the food security discussion. They comprise 43% of the ag labor force http://t.co/s5qDb5lDCv" #RFfood
— Dr. Bukar USMAN, mni 🇳🇬 (@DrBAUsman) April 24, 2014
Great to see so many #ZeroHunger participants in #RFfood conversation. It takes collaboration to end hunger in cities, and everywhere!
— ZeroHunger Challenge (@ZeroHunger) April 24, 2014
Check out the full conversation below and share your thoughts in the comments or on Twitter using#RFfood.
Leave a comment