Governing food and nutrition security in food-importing and aid-recipient countries: Burkina Faso and Ethiopia
This FoodSecure working paper (PDF) analyses to what extend development partners contribute to change in food and nutrition security policies in Ethiopia and Burkina Faso. The analysis of some policy-decisions shows the complexity of relations between aid and national the actors. The authors analyse how the multidimensional nature of food and nutrition security (FNS) challenges is addressed in policy-making processes. The authors discovered that often FNS policies and institutional frameworks remain predominantly agricultural production-oriented. They argue that policies have a strong inertia around agricultural production issues since predominant actors are mainly trained in agriculture and tend to focus on sectoral agricultural issues. The institutional framework is increasingly fragmented between agriculture, nutrition and social agendas, instead of being conducive to the debate of competing visions and intersectoral coordination. Intersectoral initiatives are often the result of high-level commitments and/or individual actors. In these initiatives, aid actors play a key role, especially through innovation in their internal organisation to overcome the tendency to work in silos. Burkina Faso and Ethiopia are the most prominent casestudies, and complementary insights are given from Benin and Kenya to support the results.
Also have a look at this blogpost from Sara Gustafson (IFPRI) that reflects on the report.