Uniting equity and governance: An urgent agenda
This blog by Agriculture for Nutrition and Health examined how equity and governance have come together in research in the agriculture, nutrition and health (ANH) space over time. Governance is a key driver of agriculture and food systems, framig how they work and for whom, so a focus on equity in governance is crucial to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 and food justice. Inequality and inequity have been addressed both implicitly and explicitly over time. The ways poverty and gender, for instance, have shaped outcomes in this space has long been acknowledged. Moreover, academics have concerned themselves with policy and governance for nutrition, more recently looking at the issues of power or the enabling environment for nutrition and health outcomes. But what about looking at both of these issues together? After creating a list of words and synonyms, it was revealed that only nine papers have been published since 2008 that looked at ANH research and equity through some form of governance lens. These nine papers were very diverse, including diversity in governance topics and approaches. So, despite a history of both equity and governance work in ANH research, few studies tie these important issues together. This is therefore a critical research gap that must be filled: We need to know how different agriculture and food system governance issues affect nutrition and health outcomes differently for different groups and through different social and political pathways.