Policy

AFSUN intends to influence national and municipal policy affecting food security in four ways:

• Through lobbying and advocacy interventions into the existing food security, HIV/AIDS, environment (built and natural) and urban poverty networks.

• Through local interactions. The design of both research and networking in each city is intended to influence the local city agenda, bring stakeholders together and raise the profile of urban food security and HIV issues.

• Capacity building and training will produce a group of urban food security specialists, whose professional life will involve policy engagement.

• By producing reliable data on urban food security issues the intention is to influence how current and future policy makers and implementers think about and respond to the issue based on locally produced and relevant research information.

Activities include audits of existing policy environments and regulatory and legal obstacles to enhanced urban food security; developing gender and environmentally-sensitive food security plans for each participating city; providing in-service short course training of officials and others in policy-making positions of influence; convening policy workshops on key urban food security policy themes and challenges; and publication of policy-oriented working papers and broadsheets.