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Dateline Africa A focus on the food-security crisis By Martin Nicol 1 June 2023 to 30 September 2024 This Special Issue of New Agenda focuses on food systems in Africa amid the current and worsening food security crisis resulting from a multiplicity of causes, some of which stem from the…

Affordable, accessible, healthy Urban consumer knowledge and the use of indigenous food By Nokuthula Vilakazi For many residents in peri-urban areas, the price of essential healthy food items in supermarkets is unaffordable. At the same time, the more affordable informal markets tend to offer highly processed foods with low nutritional…

Big data in the food supply chain The technological, organisational and environmental factors that play a role By Osden Jokonya and Jade Taff The fourth industrial revolution has redesigned the future of food production and transformed the food supply chain. This advancement and evolution of digitalisation has enabled organisations to…

Food systems transformation in Zimbabwe Effectiveness of participatory monitoring and evaluation By Joseph Tinarwo, Vain D.B Jarbandhan and Aaram Gwiz The usefulness of participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E) in food systems transformation in Africa remains poorly explored. JOSEPH TINARWO, VAIN JARBANDHAN and AARAM GWIZA explain how PM&E is designed to…

Participatory selection and ranking of farm-level sustainability indicators Evidence from the horticulture production system of Eritrea By Bereket T. Haile, Andrew J. Dougill and Abel Ramoelo Measuring agricultural sustainability requires operational definitions and customised indicators, which should ideally be tailored to each country’s context and reflect the full participation of…

Gender and food systems in six African countries Aligning research, policies and research funding By Elizabeth Mkandawire, Andrea Du Toit, Colleta Gandidzanwa, Eness Paidamoyo Mutsvangwa-Sammie, Esley van der Berg, Hanan Abdallah Mahmoud Abusbaitan, Anwar Mousa Mohammad Eyadat, James Shabiti Mukombwe, Kaboni Whitney Gondwe, Anne Dressel Research plays a fundamental role…

Reparative futurities South African food production and the climate crisis By Matthew Wingfield The industrialised food system has both contributed to and will in turn be affected by the climate crisis. In South Africa, as is true globally, the way in which food production has intersected with processes of industrialisation…

Towards integrating the WEF nexus into food systems thinking A case study of the Philippi Horticultural Area By Amiena Bayat and Mark Volmink In a case study of the peri-urban Philippi Horticultural Area (PHA) outside Cape Town, South Africa, AMIENA BAYAT and MARK VOLMINK uncover the many issues and racial…

Introducing the FSNet-Africa model Strengthening African capacity to tackle Africa’s wicked development challenges By guest editorsElizabeth Mkandawire, Melody Mentz-Coetzee, Frans Swanepoel, Andy Dougill, Claire Quinn, Tshilidzi Madzivhandila The challenges inherent in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are interconnected and complex (United Nations, 2018). Overcoming these challenges requires adopting solutions that…

Analyzing Africa’s Just Transition: Charting a New Path for Economic and Climate Transformation The Tunisian economist Dr. Fadhel Kaboub presented a thought-provoking webinar based on the 2023 report “Just Transition: A Climate, Energy, and Development Vision for Africa” of which he is a co-author. The report calls for a comprehensive…

From Policy to Practice: Women come together to speak as one voice In a dual celebration to mark pan-African Women’s Day on 31 July and South Africa’s Women’s Month in August, the Institute for African Alternatives (IFAA) invited women activists and thought leaders to speak out at a Roundtable Discussion,…

The Institute for African Alternatives is pleased to host Fadhel Kaboub on Monday, 16th September 2024, at 6 pm. Dr Kaboub will give an overview of the report “Just Transition: A Climate, Energy and Development Vision for Africa,” in which he is a co-author. This is an online IFAA Forum.…

Sadly, the Youth Speak event that IFAA co-hosted with the Peace Centre became the last event to be organized by the founding director of the latter organization, Rommel Roberts, who tragically passed away in a motor accident the day before the event. Rommel Roberts (1949–2024) was a South African human…

As the South African Elections approached, and with June also being South African Youth Month, IFAA engaged in discussions with several partners to host a large youth event, in which young people would take center stage and express their collective vision, concerns, and expectations for the future of the country.…

IFAA and Surplus hosted Professor Josephine Noward, the daughter of legendary investigative journalist Henry “Mr Drum” Nxumalo. Now resident in the USA, Norward’s body of work is described as ‘grounded in issues of social inequality in education, health care, and housing.’ Amongst her achievements, is an interdisciplinary documentary on investigative…