Policy review
As part of the CRFS characterization and in order to answer the questions ‘What policies influence the CRFS? And, what role and power do the city’s decision-makers and key stakeholders have in shaping a more sustainable/resilient food system that serves the city and the city region?‘, a review of existing institutional, policy, legal and planning frameworks needs to be conducted. This includes an investigation on policies, instruments and programmes at city, regional and national level in areas of public health, social justice, food security, environment, agriculture, economic, socio-cultural, land use and city development plans, etc. Specific areas of investigation include analysis of policies and programmes directly dealing with different aspects of the CRFS: food production; processing and manufacturing; wholesale and distribution; marketing, catering and retail; food consumption; food and organic waste management.
Second, further analysis of institutional stakeholders and participation structures is needed to understand the role of various institutions at municipal, provincial and national levels (their mandates and values that can influence decision making processes) and analyze existing participation structures (approaches and norms that encourage or limit stakeholder participation; existing and potential opportunities for civil society participation in defining, planning, and implementing food-related policies and interventions; existing levels of participation by various stakeholders; and, measures taken to ensure the involvement of various stakeholders).
The policy review is conducted through document analysis and stakeholder interviews. Further guidelines and examples are outlined here in the box below.
Project tools and examples
SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) approach for policy environment analysis
This tool gives an example on how to evaluate the policy and legal environment ruling the food system. It was used in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Critical policy review on CRFS
A critical policy review will help to understand how actual policies and programmes influence the performance of the CRFS , how the CRFS can contribute to other (sectoral) policies and programmes, and what policy gaps need to be addressed to improve the sustainability and resilience of the CRFS.
This table provides an example of the location of food policy tools, groups and other food-related organisations by region in the Greater Golden Horseshoe.
This tool was developed to support a self-assessment of strong and weak points in local food governance. The barometer builds on the actions defined in the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact framework under the work-stream ‘Food Governance’. The barometer can be developed by local policy makers and other stakeholders and helps define areas for improvement.
Namibia Urban Agriculture Policy Review
RUAF Foundation, with support of the World Future Council Foundation, implemented a national policy review for urban and peri-urban agriculture development in Namibia in order to support the committed policy reformulation and implementation on the ground.
