tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/food-aid-51979/articlesFood aid – The Conversation2023-08-02T17:13:58Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2080492023-08-02T17:13:58Z2023-08-02T17:13:58ZHow community markets for all could be a sustainable alternative to food banks<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539245/original/file-20230725-17-aqqm6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=231%2C99%2C7117%2C4803&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/woman-mesh-bag-full-fresh-vegetables-1399930106">Troyan/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The number of people using food banks in the UK has increased from 26,000 in <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/382695/uk-foodbank-users/#:%7E:text=In%202022%2F23%20approximately%202.99,compared%20with%20the%20previous%20year">2008-09</a> to more than 100 times that in 2023. Nearly one in five British households experienced moderate to severe food insecurity in September 2022. </p>
<p>In the financial year to April 2023, <a href="https://www.trusselltrust.org/2023/04/26/record-number-of-emergency-food-parcels-provided-to-people-facing-hardship-by-trussell-trust-food-banks-in-past-12-months/">Trussell Trust</a>, the largest (but not the only) network of food banks in the UK, distributed emergency food parcels to nearly three million people.</p>
<p>Food banks provide free, pre-prepared parcels of food to those most in <a href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-019-6951-6">need</a>. They have provided a great deal of support for low-income families, especially during the cost of living crisis. </p>
<p>However, they are not perfect. Food banks offer people little choice, are dependent on <a href="https://theconversation.com/food-aid-supply-chains-rely-on-a-surplus-heres-what-happens-during-a-shortage-201355">unreliable supply chains</a>. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195666316305670?casa_token=hBeZdMw2WXsAAAAA:G4TrJnRMfopSzhbuNlBy3GLvhDY_dvmZCS8nom8Z2_HU9hIhtpQM9gkQPMXHatzREzPLd9m6B_4x">Research</a> has also shown that people who use food banks often experience shame and stigma when doing so. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1187015/full">My research</a>, with colleague Heather Hartwell at Bournemouth University, has found a viable alternative. Community markets selling food and household items at subsidised rates to all could be a sustainable solution to the problems with existing food support programmes. </p>
<p>Food banks rely heavily on donations. But rising food prices means even would-be donors are <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-64304620">struggling</a> to buy that extra can of beans and other items. Beneficiaries of food banks also told us that parcels were mostly made up of dried, tinned and processed foods. </p>
<p>While it is important that parcels have a long shelf life, people experiencing food poverty want a choice of fresh and frozen food items, including meat. The constraints in the range and quality of food available are also associated with <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25792338/">health problems</a> such as diabetes, asthma and obesity.</p>
<p>Food banks also do not empower people who use them to become self-sufficient. Rather, they often result in long-term reliance on food aid. Hence, food banks offer temporary relief from hunger without addressing the bigger issues that lead to food insecurity.</p>
<h2>Community markets</h2>
<p>Community markets operate differently to food banks. They are open to everyone in the local community, regardless of income level, and provide a range of food choices along with other items such as school uniforms and toiletries. </p>
<p>We interviewed 38 people who regularly used or were involved in the operation of these programmes in the UK. Through these discussions, we assessed how well community markets address the challenges of food security, and found that they are a possible solution to the limitations of food banks and parcel distribution.</p>
<p>Community markets do not solely rely on donations from the public or businesses. They pay a subscription to charity networks such as FareShare, which provide the market with items in bulk, which are sold to the community at a subsidised rate. All revenue from sales is reinvested to pay for future bulk purchases. </p>
<p>People with low incomes who shop at community markets told us they enjoyed having food at affordable food prices and felt a stronger sense of autonomy, and being part of the community. They did not feel their reliance on food support was a barrier to being part of society. As one person said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I very much prefer being able to choose my food instead of being given parcels. … It just feels dignified to be able to pay for goods, even if it is at subsidised rates, and then being able to choose what I want based on what I would like to eat.</p>
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<img alt="A middle-aged man wearing a face mask and carrying a shopping basket in front of refrigerator cases in a supermarket" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539247/original/file-20230725-29-6avf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539247/original/file-20230725-29-6avf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539247/original/file-20230725-29-6avf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539247/original/file-20230725-29-6avf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539247/original/file-20230725-29-6avf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539247/original/file-20230725-29-6avf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539247/original/file-20230725-29-6avf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">People across social classes are struggling with high food prices.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/middle-age-man-buying-food-grocery-1697983855">Anna Nahabed/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>Food for all</h2>
<p>These markets can be used by people from across the community, including those on a higher income. People who were more well-off told us they wanted to shop at the markets because they felt they were giving back, spending their money to be reinvested in the programme:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I thought that people who would come to the market … would be very needy, not only financially but mentally as well but it isn’t like that … I like shopping here because the money I pay is invested back into the community.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Additionally, community markets serve as a hub, offering organised group activities and services for people, such as cooking and gardening classes, yoga and sewing. Through these activities, the community markets are tackling loneliness and other health issues – not just hunger.</p>
<p>Community markets are economically self-sufficient. They use revenue generated from selling products at subsidised rates to subscribe to charitable food surplus redistribution organisations. This financial independence sets them apart from food banks, which often rely on grants. They can also be environmentally sustainable, actively reducing food waste and their carbon footprint by redistributing surplus food to local emergency services and farms.</p>
<p>As more people rely on food aid, it’s important that local councils and national governments support alternatives to food banks. For the family struggling to fill the fridge or the student coping with higher rent, our findings show community markets could be of significant help, while allowing people to maintain their dignity and be part of their community.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208049/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rounaq Nayak received funding from support from the Science and Technology Facilities Council Food Network+ and the Bournemouth University Charity Impact Fund.</span></em></p>Food banks help millions of people, but have serious limitations.Rounaq Nayak, Lecturer in Sustainable Agri-Food Systems, Bournemouth UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2013552023-03-21T12:18:39Z2023-03-21T12:18:39ZFood aid supply chains rely on a surplus – here’s what happens during a shortage<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515169/original/file-20230314-20-utl7e8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=23%2C9%2C3154%2C2372&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-uk-march-14th-2018-empty-1048755398">Ink Drop/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many households in Britain have felt the impact of recent food shortages or, at the very least, noticed sparse shelves in the fresh produce aisle of their local shop. For people whose next meal may come from food aid, not a supermarket delivery, the impact is even harsher. </p>
<p>Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages have risen nearly 17% in the last year. One in seven people <a href="https://www.foodfoundation.org.uk/initiatives/food-insecurity-tracking">are regularly skipping meals or going without food</a>. Between April and September 2022, <a href="https://www.trusselltrust.org/news-and-blog/latest-stats/mid-year-stats/">the Trussell Trust noted</a> a 40% increase from the previous year in people seeking help from its food banks. </p>
<p>Food aid is more than just food banks. Community kitchens, social supermarkets and community larders are a lifeline for many people, providing food to those in need on a regular basis, rather than just emergency food aid. Crucially, they help people avoid the shame and stigma associated with using food banks that prevents some from seeking help. </p>
<p>These services are all part of the food aid supply chain, which relies on there being more than enough food. While conventional food supply chains move food from farms to grocery stores or restaurants, the food aid supply chain redistributes surplus food when it is no longer needed by those outlets. </p>
<p>The irony in the current situation is that the food aid supply chain relies on inaccuracies in the conventional supply chain whenit comes to predicting demand. Farmers and retailers have to estimate what demand is likely to be at the point crops are sown. But if, for example, poor summer weather means fewer people are eating salad, there will be a surplus. Without food surplus there is no food aid. </p>
<p>Some retailers have arrangements to deliver their surplus to local food aid distributors, either direct to the outlets or via a centralised warehouse. Some food aid charities run a collection system with local stores who notify them when they have surplus, but this means someone with both time and a vehicle has to go and collect the goods. Food banks typically use the warehouse system so they can pack food parcels with the variety of food that they think is most needed, but other food aid outlets tend to accept whatever they are offered and give users the choice of what they take. </p>
<p>Shortages of supplies from Spain and North Africa have resulted in UK charities who rely on food surplus having no vegetables to offer. This isn’t a reliable system – it is unpredictable and insecure, and means poor people are often consigned to eating food that is approaching the end of its usable life, which is often nutritionally poor – assuming there is any food at all. Food aid users are driven towards a diet that is <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jhn.12994">calorie-rich, rather than nutrient-rich</a>. This adds to the burden of <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32048393">diet-related health challenges</a> such as type II diabetes and cardiovascular disease. </p>
<p>Our current food system is showing its vulnerability to all of us, but it is actively failing the poorest in our society. </p>
<h2>Choice and empowerment</h2>
<p>Most of us take choice for granted – how often is the question “what shall we have for dinner tonight” asked in your house? Even people relying on food aid for part or all of their diet want choice and yet often lack this basic empowerment.</p>
<p>Our research in the <a href="https://research.reading.ac.uk/food-systems-equality/">Food Systems Equality (FoodSEqual)</a> project has shown that most people who access food aid aspire to eat more healthily, but they can’t afford the right ingredients, or they don’t have access to them where they get their food. When asked “what do you eat” by our community researchers, the response was often: “Whatever I can get.” </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-it-like-to-be-destitute-in-britain-it-makes-you-feel-like-some-kind-of-underclass-177395">What is it like to be destitute in Britain? 'It makes you feel like some kind of underclass'</a>
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<p>Sometimes choice is born out of necessity. The “free-from” aisle is essential for those with food allergies and intolerances. Yet these products are more expensive than standard versions. In interviews, people with dairy intolerances told us they would buy skimmed milk, knowing it would make them unwell, as the least worst option that is affordable compared to dairy-free alternatives. </p>
<p>Shortages of standard foods, such as vegetables, are forcing grocers and corner shops to increase prices of these items. For people on a limited budget who have intolerances and allergies, even less money is available for buying these more specialised “free-from” items. </p>
<h2>Food inequity</h2>
<p>People living in poverty face injustice at every turn. They are far more likely to suffer from poor physical and mental health, disability, food allergies and have a shorter life expectancy. </p>
<p>Households in poor areas spend 50% <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/visualisations/dvc2053/line-wrapper/datadownload.xlsx">more of their income</a> on food compared to the highest socioeconomic groups. Average households spend 14% of their income on food in 2021 (up from 11% in 2020), but the lowest socioeconomic class is spending upwards of 18% on food. </p>
<p>About 8% of deprived areas in the UK are considered to be <a href="https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/social-sciences/news/12-million-living-uk-food-deserts-studys-shows">food deserts</a>, meaning that 1.2 million people in low income areas are estimated to be living without easy access to affordable and healthy food. And <a href="https://foodfoundation.org.uk/press-release/major-report-highlights-impact-britains-disastrous-food-policy">a healthy diet is an expensive diet</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Cardboard box full of food including eggs, vegetables, bottled milk, oil, bread, and ginger root" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515174/original/file-20230314-2366-cuhnkn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515174/original/file-20230314-2366-cuhnkn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515174/original/file-20230314-2366-cuhnkn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515174/original/file-20230314-2366-cuhnkn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515174/original/file-20230314-2366-cuhnkn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515174/original/file-20230314-2366-cuhnkn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515174/original/file-20230314-2366-cuhnkn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Choosing what you eat is empowering, especially for people who rely on food aid.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/various-food-bottle-oil-milk-water-1712132848">Inna Dodor/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Over the past year, FoodSEqual researchers have recorded an increase in the number of working people experiencing poverty, and those who were “just about managing” no longer able to manage without food aid. </p>
<p>People living in poverty are constantly having to make difficult choices: whether they can afford to put the heating on, how they can get to work cheaply and how they are supposed to get to a healthcare appointment during working hours.</p>
<p>There are some, including <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2022/05/11/tory-mp-lee-anderson-moans-poor-people-cant-cook-properly-16626557/">elected politicians</a>, who insist that if people living in poverty would only learn to grow their own food and cook from scratch they would be able to live both cheaply and healthily. Attitudes like this ignore the reality of the food aid supply chain, and show precisely why transforming our food system has to be done with the input and experiences of the people who live in it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201355/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span><a href="mailto:c.wagstaff@reading.ac.uk">c.wagstaff@reading.ac.uk</a> is Principal Investigator of FoodSEqual “Co-production of healthy, sustainable food systems for disadvantaged communities,” UKRI grant reference BB/V004905/1, a £6m grant awarded as part of the Transforming the UK Food System Strategic Priority Fund</span></em></p>The food aid supply chain relies on surplus.Carol Wagstaff, Research Dean for Agriculture, Food and Health, University of ReadingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1842972022-06-21T11:51:18Z2022-06-21T11:51:18ZStarving civilians is an ancient military tactic, but today it’s a war crime in Ukraine, Yemen, Tigray and elsewhere<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469275/original/file-20220616-22-1lhdve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C0%2C3982%2C2250&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Grain warehouse destroyed by Russian attacks in Kopyliv, Kyiv province, Ukraine, May 28, 2022. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/wheat-warehouse-located-in-the-village-of-kopyliv-which-is-news-photo/1240976639">Dogukan Keskinkilic/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A hideous contradiction is playing out in war-torn Ukraine. Thousands of Ukrainians are <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/05/02/un-ukraine-aid-blocked-starving-ukrainians">starving in cities besieged by Russian forces</a>. Meanwhile, the country’s grain stores are bursting with food, and the government is begging for international assistance <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ukraine-news-russia-war-putin-food-crisis-odesa-mykolaiv-black-sea/">to export Ukrainian grain</a> to world markets.</p>
<p>Freeing the wheat will blunt the world food crisis, which is an urgent imperative. But it won’t stop belligerents around the world from using starvation as a favored weapon.</p>
<p>At the end of 2021, almost 200 million people globally were <a href="https://www.wfp.org/publications/global-report-food-crises-2022">suffering acute food insecurity</a>. The number climbed after Russia’s <a href="https://www.rescue.org/press-release/russian-blockade-ukraine-food-exports-black-sea-port-will-have-deadly-consequences">invasion and blockade of Ukraine</a>, a key exporter of grains and oil seeds, which <a href="https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statement/2022-05-19/secretary-generals-remarks-the-security-council-conflict-and-food-security-bilingual-delivered-scroll-down-for-all-english">disrupted world food markets</a>. This is pushing up food prices and straining aid budgets. </p>
<p>Russia isn’t the only belligerent to weaponize hunger. Most people <a href="https://www.wfp.org/publications/hunger-hotspots-fao-wfp-early-warnings-acute-food-insecurity-june-september-2022">at risk of famine today</a> live in places <a href="https://www.rulac.org/browse/conflicts/P12">afflicted by war</a>. Many are being deliberately starved in what amounts to a form of <a href="https://cjil.uchicago.edu/publication/siege-starvation-war-crime-societal-torture">societal torture</a>. </p>
<p>Historically, starvation tactics have been excluded from war crimes prosecutions. As scholars who study <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=KGysaxgAAAAJ&hl=en">international law</a>, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Alex-de-Waal-2128070634">humanitarian crises</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=IV7HZXgAAAAJ&hl=en">food security</a>, our view is that it is time to confront the criminality of this practice. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sLACTZzF1cU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Years of war have caused widespread starvation and disease in Yemen.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Not just a tactic for dictators</h2>
<p>Starvation is one of the oldest weapons of war. Romans used it to <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/punic-wars-end">defeat and destroy Carthage in 146 B.C.</a> The tactics have changed little over time. They include destroying food, farms and water supplies and cutting off besieged enemy populations. </p>
<p>It’s tempting to think that only totalitarians would use food as a weapon. Russia’s war on Ukraine today echoes the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8497.2012.01641.x">Holodomor</a>, dictator Josef Stalin’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/famine-subjugation-and-nuclear-fallout-how-soviet-experience-helped-sow-resentment-among-ukrainians-toward-russia-175500">subjugation of Ukraine by starvation</a> in 1933. </p>
<p>Adolf Hitler’s “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2020.101835">Hungerplan</a>” starved 4.2 million Soviet citizens to death in World War II. In 1977, Cambodia’s Pol Pot used mass starvation as a tool of titanic social reengineering in his <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300144345/pol-pot-regime/">Year Zero</a> effort to turn his country into a purely agrarian nation.</p>
<p>But liberal states are not innocent. The <a href="https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2018/04/the-lieber-code-the-first-modern-codification-of-the-laws-of-war/">Lieber Code of 1863</a>, which President Abraham Lincoln issued to instruct the Union army on the limits of hostilities, provided that it is “lawful to starve the hostile belligerent, armed or unarmed,” specifying that fleeing civilians could be driven back into a besieged location “so as to hasten on the surrender.” The U.S. Department of Defense did not formally renounce this legal position <a href="https://dod.defense.gov/Portals/1/Documents/pubs/DoD%20Law%20of%20War%20Manual%20-%20June%202015%20Updated%20Dec%202016.pdf?ver=2016-12-13-172036-190">until 2015</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469281/original/file-20220616-14-5zooc5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Pencil drawing of troops on horseback surveying burning fields." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469281/original/file-20220616-14-5zooc5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469281/original/file-20220616-14-5zooc5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469281/original/file-20220616-14-5zooc5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469281/original/file-20220616-14-5zooc5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469281/original/file-20220616-14-5zooc5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=646&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469281/original/file-20220616-14-5zooc5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=646&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469281/original/file-20220616-14-5zooc5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=646&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This Oct. 7, 1864, sketch by Alfred R. Waud shows Union Army troops burning crops in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant ordered the targeting of civilian property as a way of breaking Southerners’ will to fight.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/pnp/ppmsca/21100/21134v.jpg">Library of Congress</a></span>
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<p>This was not merely a paper doctrine. The Atlantic powers used mass starvation as a weapon in both world wars, employing comprehensive <a href="https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/oso/9780192898036.001.0001/oso-9780192898036-chapter-22">maritime blockades</a> as a favored tactic. </p>
<p>The U.S. went so far as to call its effort to encircle the Japanese homeland in 1945 <a href="https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA420650.pdf">Operation Starvation</a>. Britain used the same phrase for its <a href="https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_memoranda/2006/RM4170.pdf">mass civilian relocation program</a> designed to defeat communists in Malaya in the 1950s.</p>
<p>When the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Geneva-Conventions">Geneva Conventions</a>, key treaties governing warfare, were drafted after World War II, the U.S. and Great Britain successfully resisted efforts to prohibit such methods, ensuring that starvation of civilians <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/preparing-for-war-9780198868071?cc=us&lang=en&">would remain permissible in war</a> for several more decades.</p>
<h2>Starvation as a war crime</h2>
<p>The first significant steps toward outlawing starvation tactics came after war-driven famines in Nigeria’s <a href="https://adst.org/2014/05/the-famine-in-biafra-usaids-response-to-the-nigerian-civil-war/">breakaway Biafra region</a> in the late 1960s and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2397.2006.00448.x">Bangladesh in 1972 and 1974</a>. In 1977, nations adopted two <a href="https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/Article.xsp?action=openDocument&documentId=C5F28CACC22458EAC12563CD0051DD00">additional</a> <a href="https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/Article.xsp?action=openDocument&documentId=ACF5220D585326BCC12563CD0051E8B6">protocols</a> to the Geneva Conventions, each of which included the prohibition of “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare.” Those protocols have been ratified by 174 and 169 states, respectively.</p>
<p>In 1998 the <a href="https://www.icc-cpi.int/sites/default/files/RS-Eng.pdf">International Criminal Court Statute</a> codified starvation methods as a war crime in international armed conflicts. A <a href="https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XVIII-10-g&chapter=18&clang=_en">2019 amendment</a> expanded this doctrine to cover noninternational armed conflicts – conflicts between states and organized armed groups, or between organized armed groups. In addition to food, the legal definition of starvation also includes deprivation of water, shelter and medical care. </p>
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<h2>Hunger tactics</h2>
<p>Despite these legal advances, starvation crimes have been evident in recent or current conflicts in <a href="https://sites.tufts.edu/wpf/starving-tigray/">Ethiopia</a>, <a href="https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/3877352?ln=en">Mali</a>, <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/FFM-Myanmar/20190916/A_HRC_42_CRP.5.docx">Myanmar</a>, <a href="https://www.cfr.org/blog/northern-nigeria-faces-threat-famine">Nigeria</a>, <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/73350/a-landmark-report-on-starvation-as-a-method-of-warfare/">South Sudan</a>, <a href="https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/46/54">Syria</a>, <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/GEE-Yemen/A_HRC_42_CRP_1.PDF">Yemen</a> and now <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/81209/legal-frameworks-for-assessing-the-use-of-starvation-in-ukraine/">Ukraine</a>. </p>
<p>Warring parties have <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/united-nations-humanitarian-workers-attacks-warning/">attacked humanitarian aid workers</a> and farmers; <a href="https://apnews.com/article/only-on-ap-united-nations-africa-business-897bed43c6743c4575298ba5cf7bdd1c">stolen or slaughtered livestock</a>; and destroyed or rendered unusable <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en/market-insights/latest-news/agriculture/031822-russian-troops-seize-agricultural-assets-in-ukraine-could-risk-global-food-security">crops, farmland</a> and other food sources. </p>
<p>Herders have been blocked from <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-niger-mali-security-insight/why-niger-and-malis-cattle-herders-turned-to-jihad-idUSKBN1DC06A">moving freely with their livestock</a>, farmers from <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/05/06/1096481280/ukraine-agriculture-farms-russia-war">working on their land</a> and hungry people from <a href="https://reliefweb.int/attachments/60ae5b2e-e7ab-3b62-ba04-0c597f297d04/ssd_report_shocks_and_access_to_food_march_2018_final.pdf">foraging for wild berries and grasses</a>. </p>
<p>The effects have been devastating. From 2020 to <a href="https://reliefweb.int/attachments/632649d9-e02a-3963-928b-aa88319b87dc/GRFC%25202022%2520Final%2520Report.pdf">2022</a> the number of people who urgently require food assistance in situations of armed conflict rose from 99 million to 166 million. This includes nearly two-thirds of the population of South Sudan, with almost 1 person in 4 living in a full-blown <a href="https://www.ipcinfo.org/fileadmin/user_upload/ipcinfo/docs/South_Sudan_IPC_Key_Messages_February-July-2022_Report.pdf">humanitarian emergency</a> there.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">World Food Program workers airdrop food to people displaced by fighting in South Sudan.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The people of Yemen, isolated by a Saudi- and Emirati-led blockade on one side and subject to confiscation of food and medicine by the Houthis on the other, have endured years of what remains one of the <a href="https://www.unicef.org/emergencies/yemen-crisis">gravest humanitarian crises in the world</a>. </p>
<p>In a 2021 report, the United Nations-affiliated <a href="https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/46/54">Independent International Commission on Syria</a> described “modern day sieges in which perpetrators deliberately starved the population along medieval scripts.” The commission described the Syrian regime imposing “indefensible and shameful restrictions on humanitarian aid” destined for civilians in cities such as Aleppo, Homs, Daraa and Eastern Ghouta.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most <a href="https://sites.tufts.edu/reinventingpeace/2022/05/09/tigrays-wounded-agriculture-and-a-second-year-of-famine-an-urgent-call-for-action/">extreme</a> <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/77590/famine-in-tigray-humanitarian-access-and-the-war-crime-of-starvation/">case</a> is Tigray in Ethiopia, where the Ethiopian government has <a href="https://sites.tufts.edu/wpf/starving-tigray/">besieged the region</a> for more than a year and a half, closing down banking and trade and restricting humanitarian aid to the tiniest of trickles. This tactic has been <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/04/ethiopia-crimes-against-humanity-in-western-tigray-zone/">used alongside</a> a <a href="https://sites.tufts.edu/reinventingpeace/2021/08/10/what-rape-as-a-weapon-of-war-in-tigray-really-means/">campaign</a> of destruction, pillage, rape and killing that has wrecked the economy of a region of 7 million people.</p>
<p>Russian forces in Ukraine have engaged in an ever-lengthening list of starvation tactics, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-europe-edf7240a9d990e7e3e32f82ca351dede">besieging</a> <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/24/analysis-russia-falls-back-on-urban-siege-warfare-in-ukraine">entrapped populations</a>, attacking <a href="https://observers.france24.com/en/europe/20220321-ukraine-kharkiv-kyiv-supermarkets-grocery-stores-russian-attacks-shortages">grocery stores</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/10/world/europe/ukraine-farmers-food.html">agricultural areas and granaries</a>, <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/ukraine/landmines-donbass-conflict-zone-threats-population-and-necessity-mine-clearance">deploying land mines on agricultural land</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/05/26/russia-ukraine-grain-blockade/">blocking wheat-laden ships</a> from leaving Ukrainian harbors and <a href="https://www.agweb.com/news/crops/wheat/ukraines-third-largest-exporting-terminal-destroyed-russian-military">destroying a critical grain export terminal</a> in Mykolaiv. Moreover, although the U.S. and E.U. exempted fertilizers from sanctions (Russia and Belarus are two of the world’s largest producers), Russia has decided to <a href="https://www.agri-pulse.com/articles/17312-russian-halt-to-fertilizer-exports-expected-to-boost-prices-spur-shortfalls">withhold fertilizers from the market</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469580/original/file-20220617-20-1b6x7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Large clusters of metal bars protrude upward among wheat stalks." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469580/original/file-20220617-20-1b6x7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469580/original/file-20220617-20-1b6x7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469580/original/file-20220617-20-1b6x7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469580/original/file-20220617-20-1b6x7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469580/original/file-20220617-20-1b6x7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469580/original/file-20220617-20-1b6x7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469580/original/file-20220617-20-1b6x7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Anti-tank obstacles in a wheat field in southern Ukraine’s Mykolaiv region, June 11, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/photograph-shows-anti-tank-obstacles-on-a-wheat-field-at-a-news-photo/1241240046">Genya Savilov/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Responding to the crisis</h2>
<p>In line with the International Criminal Court, many countries now prohibit starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in their national war crimes codes. Some of these states have opened investigations into alleged war crimes in <a href="https://www.justiceinfo.net/en/89434-future-justice-for-ukraine-domestic.html">Ukraine</a> and <a href="https://syriaaccountability.org/faqs-universal-jurisdiction/">Syria</a>. Among others, these countries include <a href="https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/section_lc/LEGITEXT000006070719/LEGISCTA000022681856/#LEGISCTA000022686414">France</a>, <a href="https://www.iuscomp.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/voestgb.pdf">Germany</a>, <a href="https://lovdata.no/dokument/NLE/lov/2005-05-20-28/KAPITTEL_2#KAPITTEL_2">Norway</a> and <a href="https://www.government.se/government-policy/judicial-system/act-on-criminal-responsibility-for-genocide-crimes-against-humanity-and-war-crimes/">Sweden</a>. </p>
<p>Although Russia’s and Ukraine’s criminal codes do not refer explicitly to starvation tactics, they include provisions under which <a href="https://www.wipo.int/edocs/lexdocs/laws/en/ru/ru080en.pdf">such crimes</a> <a href="https://www.legislationline.org/documents/action/popup/id/16257/preview">could be prosecuted</a>. The Ethiopian criminal code also includes the <a href="https://sherloc.unodc.org/cld/uploads/res/document/eth/2005/the_criminal_code_of_the_federal_democratic_republic_of_ethiopia_2004_html/Criminal_Code_2004_Official_English.pdf">starvation war crime</a>.</p>
<p>Criminal punishment alone will not end starvation in armed conflict. That would require an effort that also includes reconstruction, reparations, support for displaced communities and targeted humanitarian action. However, in our view it is time to make accountability a central component of the response. </p>
<p>To that end, we urge investigators to focus on starvation methods in their <a href="https://www.usip.org/publications/2022/04/will-ukraine-war-renew-global-commitments-international-criminal-court">extraordinary</a> <a href="https://www.eurojust.europa.eu/news/estonia-latvia-and-slovakia-become-members-joint-investigation-team-alleged-core-international">efforts</a> to <a href="https://www.justiceinfo.net/en/89434-future-justice-for-ukraine-domestic.html">document</a> <a href="https://www.government.nl/latest/news/2022/06/13/the-netherlands-to-co-host-international-accountability-conference-for-ukraine">war crimes</a> in <a href="https://www.state.gov/creation-of-atrocity-crimes-advisory-group-for-">Ukraine</a>. At the same time, it is important to recognize that Russia’s tactics are not anomalous. Those with the relevant jurisdictional authority should devote equivalent attention to the criminal use of starvation tactics elsewhere, such as in South Sudan, Syria, Tigray and Yemen.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184297/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex de Waal is affiliated with the World Peace Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Maxwell receives funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). He is a member of the Famine Review Committee for IPC analysis.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Dannenbaum does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Countries have used starvation as a war strategy for centuries, historically without being prosecuted. Three experts on hunger and humanitarian relief call for holding perpetrators accountable.Tom Dannenbaum, Associate Professor of International Law, Tufts UniversityAlex De Waal, Research Professor and Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation at The Fletcher School, Tufts UniversityDaniel Maxwell, Henry J. Leir Professor in Food Security, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1687812021-10-07T14:48:33Z2021-10-07T14:48:33ZCivil society groups can help fix South Africa’s food system if they’re given a seat at the table<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423339/original/file-20210927-27-147r0ma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Food insecurity is a daily reality for millions of South Africans. Community organisations can help.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dino Lloyd/Gallo Images via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There is a long list of existing global crises made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic, including <a href="https://nicspaull.com/2020/09/30/the-lost-decade-my-fm-article-on-nids-cram-w2/">poverty</a> and inequality. Another is food insecurity.</p>
<p>In South Africa, <a href="https://cramsurvey.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/13.-Van-der-Berg-S.-Patel-L-and-Bridgeman-G.-2021-Food-insecurity-in-South-Africa-%E2%80%93-Evidence-from-NIDS-CRAM-Wave-5.pdf">researchers found that</a>, more than a year into the pandemic, food insecurity was still well above pre-pandemic levels. Simply put, this means more people than before do not have reliable access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food. The figure was already high before COVID-19: <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=12135">almost 20%</a> of South African households had inadequate or severely inadequate access to food. In some of Cape Town’s poorer neighbourhoods the figure was <a href="https://hungrycities.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/HCP12.pdf">as high as 54%</a>.</p>
<p>But the pandemic hasn’t just shed light on existing problems. It has also identified those who might help to tackle these problems in the longer term: civil society organisations. In South Africa, these groups did a heroic job during the initial COVID-19 crisis, providing <a href="http://www.cssr.uct.ac.za/cssr/pub/wp/455">millions of meals</a> for people in need. In the Western Cape province, for example, organisations provided <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MMCfzruoCFjcQdHSMsv88eH3nHPWsueg/view?usp=sharing">more than half</a> of the food aid distributed in the first few months of the lockdown, reaching <a href="https://wcedp.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Western-Cape-NGO-Government-Food-Relief-Forum-Report-October-2020.pdf">5.2 million people</a>. </p>
<p>Without these organisations there would have been a much larger humanitarian crisis. And their work is ongoing as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-faces-mass-hunger-if-efforts-to-offset-impact-of-covid-19-are-eased-143143">need for emergency food aid</a> continues. That’s because they didn’t just respond to the effects of the global pandemic: they also dealt with the fundamental inequalities of a food system <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03066150.2016.1259223">designed</a> to make profits for large corporate retailers and food processing companies rather than to provide safe and nutritious food for the majority of people. </p>
<p>And, as we argue in our <a href="https://foodsecurity.ac.za/publications/engaging-civil-society-organisations-in-food-security-governance-in-the-western-cape-reflections-from-emergency-food-relief-during-covid/">recently published study</a>, these organisations should be drawn more formally into food governance. </p>
<p>There are three main reasons for our argument. First, South African civil society organisations have shown <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-07-27-children-will-not-go-hungry-any-more/">they’re willing and able</a> to hold the government to account. Second, they’re ideally placed to contribute their fine-grained local knowledge. They intimately understand the specific needs of the most vulnerable in their communities. Third, given their role in communities, they can play a huge role in education and information sharing about the food system and nutrition as well as performing agricultural and nutritional training.</p>
<h2>Our research</h2>
<p><a href="https://foodsecurity.ac.za/publications/engaging-civil-society-organisations-in-food-security-governance-in-the-western-cape-reflections-from-emergency-food-relief-during-covid/">Our research</a> sought to understand the new civil society organisation landscape in relation to food security in response to the COVID-19 crisis. We examined the relationship between these organisations and government bodies. We also identified how organisations can be supported to engage in food governance after the COVID-19 crisis has passed.</p>
<p>The research showed that civil society organisations relied heavily on their existing networks and relationships with communities when looking to distribute food. These relationships helped them identify vulnerable people who might otherwise have slipped through the cracks and gone hungry.</p>
<p>Partnership was key. We found that larger organisations often helped to channel resources to smaller, more informal community-based organisations.</p>
<p>But this collaboration largely didn’t extend to civil society organisations’ relationships with government departments. In general, these organisations found working with the government difficult. This came down to a mismatch between the government’s culture of rigid compliance and box ticking and the realities organisations were seeing on the ground. There were a few bright spots: some organisations developed valuable relationships with individuals in the provincial government. </p>
<p>It is clear from our research that civil society organisations already play a vital, varied role in South African society and governance. But it’s important that they be seen as more than service delivery mechanisms. This will allow them to play a bigger role in shaping a better food system. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-should-learn-from-brazil-about-how-to-tackle-hidden-hunger-118613">South Africa should learn from Brazil about how to tackle 'hidden hunger'</a>
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<p>There’s international precedent for this approach. In the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte, civil society organisations <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-should-learn-from-brazil-about-how-to-tackle-hidden-hunger-118613">worked closely</a> with government departments to design and implement programmes that lessened hunger.</p>
<p>In the same way, South African civil society organisations need to be given a seat at the decision-making table and empowered to help drive long-term change.</p>
<h2>Setting up systems for collaboration</h2>
<p>There are a few ways this can be achieved. South Africa’s 2017 National Food and Nutrition Security Plan stipulated that a Food and Nutrition Security Council must be created. This process must be accelerated and civil society representatives must be among the members. Similar councils could be set up at both provincial and local government level.</p>
<p>It is also critical that short-term solutions such as emergency feeding be linked with long-term change of the system. This can be achieved by helping stakeholders in the food system – like government officials – “see” and understand the system as a whole. <a href="https://www.agroecologynow.com/community-kitchens-cape-town/">Community kitchens</a> are a valuable way to do this. They bring people together not just to grow, cook and share food, but also to deliberate on how to solve food insecurity as well as recognise how it is <a href="https://www.globalhungerindex.org/issues-in-focus/2017.html">shaped by other forms of inequality</a>. </p>
<p>Civil society organisations must also be connected to the debates that help shape decisions and policies about food and policies that affect food.</p>
<p>Crucially, they should be allowed to operate in an enabling environment. They shouldn’t be controlled through heavy handed regulation or stifled by red tape. There are well-established <a href="https://www.gov.za/red-tape-reduction-unit-resolves-90-queries">government programmes</a> for reducing red tape or increasing the ease of doing business, aimed at the private sector. Similar initiatives would benefit civil society organisations.</p>
<p>There have been <a href="https://wcedp.co.za/western-cape-food-forum-evolves/">examples</a> of effective collaboration between civil society organisations and local and provincial government during the crisis to deliver food aid. This collaborative approach needs to be built on so that it becomes a lasting legacy of the crisis.</p>
<p>But building partnerships and enabling environments takes time and resources. COVID-19 has shown the government needs to invest in developing and strengthening relationships outside times of crisis that it can call upon in times of need.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168781/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Camilla Adelle receives funding from the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ashley Haywood receives funding from the National Research Foundation. </span></em></p>These organisations are ideally placed to contribute their fine-grained local knowledge. They intimately understand the specific needs of the most vulnerable in their communities.Camilla Adelle, Research Fellow, Department of Political Sciences, University of PretoriaAshley Haywood, PhD candidate in the School of Government, University of the Western CapeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1605852021-05-25T12:12:24Z2021-05-25T12:12:24ZGiving food pantry clients choices – and gently nudging them toward nutritious foods – can lead to healthier diets<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402396/original/file-20210524-13-1oficke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C0%2C2991%2C1994&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Prominently placing fresh produce can encourage healthier choices.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-fresh-produce-area-at-the-south-portland-food-cupboard-news-photo/1230534714?adppopup=true">Brianna Soukup/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-food-banks-help-americans-who-have-trouble-getting-enough-to-eat-148150">Food banks</a> and pantries across the U.S. were forced in the pandemic to dispense with something that is central to most people’s grocery experience: choice.</p>
<p>Faced with social-distancing rules and a large uptick in need – by one estimate these nonprofits <a href="https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-blog/food-bank-response-covid-numbers">served 55% more people</a> – for the most part, clients were offered prepacked bags or boxes of food rather than allowed to pick from shelves themselves, as was increasingly common before the pandemic.</p>
<p>It was one of a <a href="https://uconnruddcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2909/2021/03/PHA-Report-January-2021.pdf">number of adaptations</a> that food banks and pantries made in 2020, which also included drive-thru services and expanded meal delivery options.</p>
<p>The content of these prepacked bags differed from venue to venue and also by who was assembling them. As a result, there was tremendous variability in the quality of produce being offered and whether they contained the kind of food that people were seeking.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="New York residents line up to receive food items at a food bank." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402434/original/file-20210524-23-r3exjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402434/original/file-20210524-23-r3exjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402434/original/file-20210524-23-r3exjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402434/original/file-20210524-23-r3exjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402434/original/file-20210524-23-r3exjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402434/original/file-20210524-23-r3exjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402434/original/file-20210524-23-r3exjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Food banks turned to prepackaged items as a safe, efficient means of delivery.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/local-residents-line-up-to-receive-food-items-as-food-bank-news-photo/1319085263?adppopup=true">Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for Food Bank For New York City</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=VmCnHgYAAAAJ&hl=en">experts on</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=fPDErC8AAAAJ&hl=en">food policy and obesity</a>, we are aware of both the important role of choice to clients of food pantries, and also the need to encourage healthier options. People who rely on food pantries are disproportionately at risk for <a href="https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2015.0645">diet-related diseases</a> such as diabetes and hypertension, yet most <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2021/20_0531.htm">would like to</a> eat more fresh fruit and vegetables.</p>
<p>We are currently conducting work on <a href="https://uconnruddcenter.org/research/foodsecurity/charitable-food/">the charitable food system</a> and its potential to promote a healthy lifestyle through measures including <a href="https://www.behavioraleconomics.com/resources/introduction-behavioral-economics/">behavioral economics</a>, which uses “nudges” to promote behavior change.</p>
<p>Our prior research suggests that people want healthy food that can be used to put together balanced meals when they visit food pantries. In a 2019 study of over 200 food pantries and more than 5,000 of their clients in Minnesota, the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2021/20_0531.htm">top requested</a> food categories were all healthy items that form the basis of the American diet, including meat, fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy products, eggs, and common ingredients like flour and spices. In fact, over 90% of clients said they would like to get more fresh fruits and vegetables.</p>
<p>At the same time, only about half of the people surveyed said that fresh fruits and vegetables were available at their local food pantry during every visit. Demand for healthy food has been consistently demonstrated in studies in <a href="http://doi.org/10.1080/19320248.2018.1512929">other</a> <a href="http://doi.org/10.1080/19320248.2011.576589">U.S. areas</a> as well.</p>
<p>Another key finding from the Minnesota survey was that people who visit food pantries place a very high value on choosing their own food. They said that this is even more important than having reasonable wait times and being welcomed by volunteers.</p>
<p>Because clients really want healthy food, it makes sense for food pantries to make it easier for them to make healthier choices. This requires making sure that food pantries stock a consistent supply of healthy and fresh food. It also requires displaying food so that it is appealing and accessible to people.</p>
<p>This is where <a href="https://oxfordmedicine.com/view/10.1093/med/9780199398331.001.0001/med-9780199398331">behavioral economics</a> can be helpful in guiding food pantry clients to healthier food options.</p>
<h2>Changing behaviors</h2>
<p>Behavioral economics builds on the way that people make decisions by restructuring environments to encourage certain choices. For example, <a href="https://worthwhile.typepad.com/worthwhile_canadian_initi/2012/12/three-solutions-to-the-shopping-cart-puzzle.html">grocery carts have gotten bigger</a> over the years to nudge people to buy more food. The idea behind the bigger carts is that fewer people will head to the checkout aisle with a cart that feels empty, so they will buy more stuff. </p>
<p>Behavioral economics strategies are used commonly in grocery stores, but they are a good match for food pantries for several reasons. Many behavioral economics strategies are compatible with the way food pantries already operate. And food pantries have leeway in setting the default options for clients. This might mean offering bags of produce by default, but providing day-old birthday cakes by request, rather than displaying them by the front door.</p>
<p>And <a href="http://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980016003621">unlike many food retailers</a>, as nonprofits, food pantries do not rely on advertising from food distributors for revenue. That means food pantries are under no obligation, for example, to display soda prominently as is the case in many supermarkets. They are also at liberty to alter their layout and what’s on the shelves to nudge clients toward healthier options.</p>
<p>Food pantries that have started to use behavioral economics to promote healthier choices are seeing results. Studies in <a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/1524839920904688">Utah</a>, <a href="http://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980019000405">Minnesota</a> and <a href="http://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdw043">New York</a> have shown that people are more likely to take healthy foods in food pantries when they are nudged.</p>
<p>New tools are making it easier to use behavioral economics. In March of 2020, Healthy Eating Research, a national program that supports research on strategies to promote healthy eating among children, published new <a href="https://healthyeatingresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/her-food-bank_FINAL.pdf">guidelines for the healthfulness</a> of food bank and pantry offerings. These guidelines have been supported by Feeding America, the largest network of food banks in the U.S.</p>
<p>The new guidelines offer a system for ranking individual food items in a three-tiered system using a “stoplight system” of green, yellow and red, based on their nutritional value. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/jun/19/traffic-light-health-labels-food">Stoplight systems like this</a> have long been used in other countries to encourage people to buy healthier food in grocery stores.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most common food-ranking system in the charitable food system is <a href="http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2018.03.003">Supporting Wellness at Pantries</a>. SWAP, which was introduced in 2016 and has been updated to meet the new charitable food guidelines, can be used to nudge both food pantry staff to procure healthier food and clients to select it. Research has shown that SWAP has resulted in healthier food at the pantry <a href="http://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980020004814">being ordered by staff</a> and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10389-020-01350-8">offered to clients</a>. In our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-021-01570-6">most recent study</a> we found that after a pantry implemented SWAP, clients selected significantly more “green” foods and fewer “red” foods. </p>
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<h2>A post-pandemic model</h2>
<p>The pandemic has accelerated the emergence of a number of innovations in food banks and pantries and encouraged client-centered practices like <a href="https://www.leahspantry.org/what-we-offer/inform-policy-at-all-levels/resilience-building-nutrition-education/">trauma-informed services</a>, new mobile and delivery options and opportunities to preserve client anonymity. New models are also being considered to address not just the immediate need of clients, but also the <a href="http://site.foodshare.org/site/PageServer?pagename=institute_root_causes">root causes of food insecurity</a>.</p>
<p>As food pantries pivot to a post-pandemic model, we believe putting choice at the center and helping guide decisions through nudges toward healthier, nutritious food would serve food pantry clients well.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160585/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Caitlin Caspi receives research funding from the National Institutes of Health.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marlene B. Schwartz has received research funding from Feeding America and the Partnership for a Healthier America.</span></em></p>Behavioral economics, long employed in grocery stores to guide customers to certain products, could be employed by food banks and pantries to encourage healthier choices.Caitlin Caspi, Associate Professor of Allied Health Sciences, University of ConnecticutMarlene B. Schwartz, Professor of Human Development and Family Sciences, University of ConnecticutLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1478892020-10-09T20:36:08Z2020-10-09T20:36:08ZNobel Peace Prize spotlights the links between hunger and conflict<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362757/original/file-20201009-13-6zl48g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=46%2C11%2C7753%2C5180&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Villagers collect World Food Programme aid dropped from a plane Feb. 6 in South Sudan.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/villagers-collect-food-aid-dropped-from-a-plane-in-gunny-news-photo/1206126143?adppopup=true">Tony Karumba/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The 2020 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to the <a href="https://www.wfp.org/">United Nations World Food Program</a> for its <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2020/press-release/">efforts</a> to combat hunger, foster conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war. This choice starkly underscores growing concern about <a href="https://theconversation.com/world-hunger-has-risen-for-three-straight-years-and-climate-change-is-a-cause-103818">increasing global food insecurity</a> and the clear connections between hunger and conflict. </p>
<p>Today, <a href="http://www.fao.org/state-of-food-security-nutrition">more than 820 million people</a> – about 1 in 9 worldwide – do not have enough to eat. They suffer from food insecurity, or not having consistent access to the right foods to keep their bodies and brains healthy. </p>
<p>Humans need a varied diet that includes a range of critical nutrients. Food insecurity is especially important to young children and unborn babies because improper nutrition can permanently <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/nure.12102">stunt brain development and growth</a>.</p>
<p>Hunger has many causes. It can be a <a href="https://theconversation.com/famines-in-the-21st-century-its-not-for-lack-of-food-73587">weapon of war</a>; the result of a <a href="https://www.wfpusa.org/news-release/covid-19-will-double-number-of-people-facing-food-crises-unless-swift-action-is-taken/">global pandemic</a> like COVID-19 that disrupts production; or the result of <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/srccl/chapter/chapter-5/">climate change</a>, as extreme weather events and shifting climates increase crop failures around the globe.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/64KLuGzGxEQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Chronic hunger is rising around the world, and the COVID-19 pandemic could worsen this trend.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Meeting a global need</h2>
<p>The World Food Program was created in the <a href="https://www.wfp.org/history">early 1960s</a> at the behest of U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower. “We must never forget that there are hundreds of millions of people, particularly in the less developed parts of the world, suffering from hunger and malnutrition, even though a number of countries, my own included, are producing food in surplus,” Eisenhower said in a <a href="https://www.wfpusa.org/articles/historys-hunger-heroes-dwight-eisenhower/#">1960 speech to the U.N. General Assembly</a>. “This paradox should not be allowed to continue.” </p>
<p>While the U.S. was already providing direct food aid to needy countries, Eisenhower urged other nations to join in creating a system to provide food to member states through the United Nations. The WFP is now one of the world’s largest humanitarian agencies. In 2019 it assisted 97 million people in 88 countries.</p>
<p>The WFP both provides direct assistance and works to strengthen individual countries’ capacity to meet their people’s basic needs. With its own fleet of trucks, ships and planes, the agency carries out <a href="https://www.wfp.org/emergency-relief">emergency response missions</a> and delivers food and assistance directly to victims of war, civil conflict, droughts, floods, crop failures and other natural disasters. </p>
<p>When emergencies subside, WFP experts develop programs for relief and rehabilitation and provide developmental aid. Over 90% of its 17,000 staff members are based in countries where the agency provides assistance.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362759/original/file-20201009-21-1sgd3vz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="World map showing countries with highest rates of undernourishment and child wasting, stunting and mortality." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362759/original/file-20201009-21-1sgd3vz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362759/original/file-20201009-21-1sgd3vz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362759/original/file-20201009-21-1sgd3vz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362759/original/file-20201009-21-1sgd3vz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362759/original/file-20201009-21-1sgd3vz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362759/original/file-20201009-21-1sgd3vz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362759/original/file-20201009-21-1sgd3vz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Global Hunger Index attempts to assess the multidimensional nature of hunger by combining four key indicators of malnutrition into a single index score.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-hunger-index?time=2018">Our World in Data</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Links between hunger and conflict</h2>
<p>The Nobel award recognizes a key connection between hunger and global conflict. As the U.N. Security Council emphasized in a 2018 resolution, humankind <a href="http://undocs.org/S/RES/2417(2018)">can never eliminate hunger without first establishing peace</a>. Conflict causes rampant food insecurity: It disrupts infrastructure and social stability, making it hard for supplies to get to people who need them. Too often, warring parties may deliberately use <a href="https://www.un.org/press/en/2018/sc13354.doc.htm">starvation as a strategy</a>. </p>
<p>Food insecurity also perpetuates conflict, as it drives people from their homes, lands and jobs, <a href="https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/WFP-0000105972.pdf">deepening existing fault lines and fueling grievances</a>. Conflict-driven hunger has been widespread in the past several years in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan and Yemen. </p>
<h2>The growing threat of food insecurity</h2>
<p>Food insecurity is an urgent global challenge now and for the future. The WFP reports that unless urgent action is taken, the COVID-19 pandemic could almost <a href="https://www.wfpusa.org/news-release/covid-19-will-double-number-of-people-facing-food-crises-unless-swift-action-is-taken/">double the number of people suffering from acute hunger</a> by the end of 2020. Economic impacts of COVID-19 hit the world’s poorest people hardest: If they can’t work, they don’t have money to buy food.</p>
<p>In the longer term, climate change is an equally urgent threat. Agriculture is one of the industries that is most exposed and vulnerable to a shifting climate. Think of it as a “<a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.5822/978-1-61091-885-5_5">Goldilocks industry</a>”: The weather must be “just right” to grow crops, and conditions that are too hot, too cold, too rainy or too dry can mean poor harvests or total losses. <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/WGIIAR5-Chap7_FINAL.pdf">All aspects of food security</a> may be affected by climate change, including who ultimately gets the food, how much it costs and how much is wasted or lost along the way. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1314638939689545728"}"></div></p>
<h2>Seeds of conflict</h2>
<p>The best way to prevent future hunger crises is to take action before they develop. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed many flaws in global political and economic systems and worsened food insecurity for the world’s poorest populations. </p>
<p>Eisenhower, who commanded U.S. forces in Europe during World War II, understood where such conditions could lead. “In vast stretches of the earth, men awoke today in hunger. They will spend the day in unceasing toil. And as the sun goes down they will still know hunger,” he observed in a <a href="https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/eisenhowers/quotes">1958 speech</a>. “They will see suffering in the eyes of their children. Many despair that their labor will ever decently shelter their families or protect them against disease. So long as this is so, peace and freedom will be in danger throughout our world. For wherever free men lose hope of progress, liberty will be weakened and the seeds of conflict will be sown.”</p>
<p>As the Nobel Peace Prize award makes clear, a world of peace and stability hinges upon everyone’s receiving the most basic of human dignities: the food they need to live. </p>
<p>[<em>The Conversation’s science, health and technology editors pick their favorite stories.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/science-editors-picks-71/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=science-favorite">Weekly on Wednesdays</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/147889/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Eise does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Over 820 million people around the world go to bed hungry at night, and that tide is rising. For working to reverse it, the U.N. World Food Program has received the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize.Jessica Eise, Postdoctoral Researcher, Purdue UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1409892020-07-03T07:23:31Z2020-07-03T07:23:31ZCivil society groups that mobilised around COVID-19 face important choices<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344740/original/file-20200630-103645-5k0kkj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Non-profit organisation Nakhlistan and Mustadafin Foundation prepares food for underprivileged communities across the Western Cape. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Brenton Geach/Gallo Images via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Civil society groups have played an <a href="https://theconversation.com/local-networks-can-help-people-in-distress-south-africas-covid-19-response-needs-them-138219">important role</a> in responding to the COVID-19 social crisis in South Africa. Examples include the “community action networks” in <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/CapeTownTogether/">Cape Town</a> and <a href="https://www.gautengtogether.org">Gauteng</a>, as well as similar initiatives in more rural areas, such as the <a href="https://easterncapetogether.co.za">Eastern Cape</a>. They also include extraordinary crisis response efforts by pre-existing NGOs, such as <a href="https://boostafrica.com">Boost Africa</a> and <a href="https://umgibe.org">Umgibe</a>, and novel social innovations like <a href="https://www.foodflowza.com">Food Flow</a>.</p>
<p>This activism has played a substantial role in hunger relief. In the Western Cape, for example, the <a href="https://wcedp.co.za">Economic Development Partnership</a> estimates that such initiatives have contributed about half of all food aid in recent months. This is especially salient considering that the state has actually <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-06-02-feeding-poor-people-the-national-government-has-failed/#gsc.tab=0">decreased food distribution</a> during the COVID-19 crisis.</p>
<p>But as the crisis drags on and evolves, these activist groups are responding to growing and diversifying needs, just when access to resources is becoming more insecure for many of them.</p>
<p>Activists thus face some tough choices around how to keep going, what to focus on, and how to achieve longer-term impacts. We have been studying and participating in a variety of these social relief and innovation efforts, in order to collect and share their experiences. At this point in the evolving crisis, we seek to highlight the need for activists to carefully consider their strategic choices, so as to avoid some of their remarkable community activism from dissipating.</p>
<h2>Stretched resources</h2>
<p>Civil society activists have been responding to social and public health aspects of the pandemic for well over three months now. It is important to take stock of the resources they have been devoting to these efforts, and those that are needed for continued work.</p>
<p>Ensuring that food gets to those who need it and navigating tense community dynamics wrought by desperation is demanding and complex work. It is all the more tiring because many activists are volunteers – <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2020-05-21-in-the-communities-the-sa-covid-19-ground-response-is-mostly-female/#gsc.tab=0">mostly women</a> – who juggle long hours of volunteering with other demands. These are remarkable efforts and many activists are exhausted.</p>
<p>Activists also carry heavy emotional burdens. They are directly confronted with the human suffering caused by hunger, disease and conflict. They receive calls from desperate mothers whose babies are dying. Many such calls cannot be responded to. This emotional cost contributes heavily to risks of activist burnout.</p>
<p>Finally, most activists have been relying on donations to obtain the food, sanitisers and other materials that they distribute. As the novelty of the crisis diminishes, there are signs that donations are diminishing, but the needs are not. In a recent survey by the Western Cape NGO-Government Food Relief Coordination Forum, about 90% of respondents highlighted that the need for food relief was growing, while 70% reported a decrease in available resources to meet this need.</p>
<h2>Growing needs</h2>
<p>The primary need that galvanised many civil society groups to action has been hunger. Initially, many activists had hoped that this would be mostly a short-term need brought about by the lockdown. But the desperate struggle for food is increasing in many communities. </p>
<p>And the need for food has also been joined by other important needs, including children’s education and psycho-social requirements.</p>
<p>From the onset of the crisis, a big part of many civil society groups’ response was to slow the spread of the coronavirus. But now activists are also responding to the growing disease burden, which may include establishing <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-04-13-the-power-of-people-caring-for-those-affected-by-covid-19/#gsc.tab=0">community-based isolation areas</a>, “<a href="https://www.resilientdestinations.com/blog-database/safe-home-established-by-rural-tourism-business-in-south-africa">safe homes</a>” or fighting stigma associated with the virus.</p>
<p>In the context of these growing and diversifying needs, various choices will need to be made around what to focus attention on, both in the short term and the longer term. For some, even thinking about the longer term seems like a luxury, given the need to meet unrelenting day-to-day needs. Others emphasise the need to go beyond such immediate crisis relief to develop more systemic, longer-term interventions.</p>
<h2>Longer-term, locally embedded strategies</h2>
<p>Activists thus face the twin challenges of diminishing resources and proliferating community needs, as well as tensions between short- and longer-term interventions. These challenges and tensions may lead to the dissolution of some groups.</p>
<p>Groups that aim to sustain themselves and deepen their positive impacts will need to tackle these tensions head-on.</p>
<p>Importantly, there are no templates or “best practice” responses. Each activist group or initiative will need to negotiate its own responses to these tensions, taking into account their local context and priorities. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, exchanging experiences and strategies across initiatives can provide some ideas and inspiration.</p>
<p>For example, activists in the <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-03-31-crisis-sees-cape-town-suburbs-reach-across-the-great-social-divide/#gsc.tab=0">Gugulethu community action network</a> have emphasised that the problem of hunger, while worsened by COVID-19, has always existed. They have thus developed a longer-term plan to enhance and maintain the many new community kitchens that have been set up, and to significantly expand community gardens to provide vegetables to these kitchens. </p>
<p>The longer-term vision is a network of local kitchens that are self-reliant, run by employees instead of unpaid volunteers. A strength of this plan is its reliance on local resources and its focus on developing local supply chains, galvanised by local community organising. Ensuring food relief (an immediate need) thus becomes a catalyst for local socio-economic development (a systemic change).</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.muizenbergcan.org">Muizenberg</a>, activists discussed longer-term options with those who have been in need of support. One of the results is a local community kitchen run by volunteers from across the economic spectrum. It provides nutritious, high-quality food both to the needy and to those who can pay a donation to help maintain the enterprise. The community kitchen not only sustains the hunger relief effort (the immediate need), but builds vital bridges across different sections of the community (a systemic change).</p>
<h2>Engaging the state</h2>
<p>The magic juice in any such strategy is the local community organising. The hope is that the civil society groups that have emerged to respond to COVID-19 can build longer-term momentum, expanding our “<a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-06-30-cape-town-together-organising-in-a-city-of-islands">imagination of what is possible</a>.” </p>
<p>A second and related hope is that they can help build a more accountable and responsive state. While the groups have been able to provide some much-needed and well-targeted sustenance in vulnerable communities, the necessary longer-term and larger-scale interventions will benefit from the resources and mechanisms of the state.</p>
<p>The state’s ability to respond to the problem of hunger has been very patchy. For years, activists have been pointing to this problem in their communities without a committed response from officials or politicians. </p>
<p>In that context, it’s been encouraging to see that there have been positive coordination efforts between government leaders and civil society groups, for instance in provincial forums in Gauteng and the Western Cape. Also, some civil servants have played <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-06-30-cape-town-together-organising-in-a-city-of-islands">important roles</a> in participating in or supporting civil society efforts. </p>
<p>But other state representatives, such as some local councillors, have been remarkably absent in local community organising. Some have even offered resistance, fearing a possible political force in the making. </p>
<p>Most activists we speak to have no ambition for political office and are at pains to emphasise this to preempt political resistance. Yet, it is possible that the civil society organising in response to COVID-19 is bringing forth a new cadre of community leaders – a network of activists who will help keep the state accountable and engaged.</p>
<h2>Silver lining in the epidemic</h2>
<p>The scale and spread of civil society activism in response to COVID-19 has been remarkable. Some of these initiatives will likely dissipate as their resources are depleted and as the crisis evolves. But some will maintain their momentum and adapt to changing circumstances. The spirit of community organising has strengthened and that is a silver lining among the dark clouds of our current times.</p>
<p><em>This article was coauthored by a research group including Annika Surmeier, Ashley Newell, Christine Fyvie, Jenny Soderbergh, Jody Delichte, Mandy Rapson, Nadia Sitas, Scott Drimie, and Thanyani Ramarumo. It is based on discussions with diverse activists and practitioners, including Andrew Boraine, Ayal Benning, Claire McGuinness, Estelline Sauls, George van der Schyff, Isa-Lee Jacobson, Leanne Brady, Megan Wooley, Nonhlanhla Joye, Pamela Silwana, Phumeza Ntsantsa, Réjane Woodroffe, Samantha Bailey, Taryn Pereira, Theresa Wigley, Temie Makefungana, and Vuyisile Dlamini.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140989/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Members of the author team are active in some of the civil society initiatives or NGOs mentioned in this article, including Boost Africa, Food Flow and some of the mentioned Community Action Networks. These are mostly volunteering contributions but include paid work in the case of Boost Africa. This research has received ethical clearance from the University of Cape Town.</span></em></p>Civil society activists responding to the COVID-19 social crisis face important challenges and tensions. They should tackle these choices head-on as they develop longer-term plans.Ralph Hamann, Professor, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1372292020-05-11T19:48:24Z2020-05-11T19:48:24ZWhat Canada knows about food crises can help prevent shortages and protect workers during coronavirus<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331852/original/file-20200430-42942-fqt5n7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=112%2C479%2C3779%2C2482&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Food is a measure of how countries respond to crises from access to pricing to shortages.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(nrd/Unsplash)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As news of the pandemic began circulating, Canadians hurried to grocery stores, laying in supplies for the upcoming crisis. By mid-March, experts had begun warning <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/6688655/coroanvirus-canadians-food-shortages/">against hoarding</a>. There is plenty of food in our supply chain, they said; do not “panic buy” lest we create shortages — and very real hardships — for vulnerable members of our communities. </p>
<p>As an historian of Canadian food, I am alarmed to see how pressures for productivity <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/6856544/bc-coronavirus-outbreak-poultry-plant/">have endangered</a> — and in some cases <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/cargill-alberta-covid-19-deena-hinshaw-1.5537377">tragically taken</a> — the lives of food workers. These tragedies are preventable and untenable. And there is historical precedent for strong government intervention in our food marketplace.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332557/original/file-20200504-83745-1ivecse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332557/original/file-20200504-83745-1ivecse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332557/original/file-20200504-83745-1ivecse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332557/original/file-20200504-83745-1ivecse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332557/original/file-20200504-83745-1ivecse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332557/original/file-20200504-83745-1ivecse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332557/original/file-20200504-83745-1ivecse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Food stability and security are influenced by histories of colonialism and a history of governments exerting control over foodways.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>They brought their foods</h2>
<p>The greatest crisis affecting Canadian food history started about 400 years ago: the <a href="https://doi.org/10.7202/019373ar">colonization of Indigenous food</a>. Since time immemorial, Indigenous peoples have <a href="https://www.fnha.ca/Documents/Traditional_Food_Fact_Sheets.pdf">practised sustainable food production, distribution and consumption</a>. </p>
<p>When Europeans arrived, however, they brought their foods with them. By Confederation, <a href="https://utorontopress.com/ca/edible-histories-cultural-politics-4">English</a> and <a href="https://www.septentrion.qc.ca/catalogue/a-table-en-nouvelle-france">French</a> Canadians were transposing their preferences for beef, pork, sugar and wheat upon the northern American landscape. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/canadas-unequal-health-system-may-make-remote-indigenous-communities-more-vulnerable-to-the-coronavirus-134963">Canada's unequal health system may make remote Indigenous communities more vulnerable to the coronavirus</a>
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<p>As settlement increased, a battery of measures meant that Indigenous peoples faced <a href="https://doi.org/10.7202/1033506ar">increased barriers</a> to their own food. <a href="https://doi.org/10.7202/1033506ar">Reserves</a>, the <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/pass-system-in-canada">pass system</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/B07-020">residential schools</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03404373">forced resettlement</a>, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/ca/academic/subjects/history/american-history-general-interest/pemmican-empire-food-trade-and-last-bison-hunts-north-american-plains-17801882?format=HB&isbn=9781107044906">species extinction</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-013-9591-y">habitat loss</a> have been especially harmful. </p>
<p>On the plains, for example, the extinction of wild bison in the 1870s dealt a severe blow to individual and <a href="https://utorontopress.com/ca/medicine-that-walks-3">community health</a>. Simultaneously, Prime Minister John A. MacDonald’s determination to push a railway through to the Pacific Ocean, together with his plan to fill the plains with European wheat farmers, spurred his government to enforce settlement on reserves, including through <a href="https://uofrpress.ca/Books/C/Clearing-the-Plains2">forcible removals</a>. Such actions were heinous. They also barred access to traditional animal and plant food.</p>
<p>Well into the 20th century, the food available to Indigenous peoples through rations and residential schools was carbohydrate-heavy and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01459740.2013.828722">devoid of most nutrients</a>. It was often also rancid. To this day, Indigenous people are three times more likely than non-Indigenous people to face <a href="https://anishinabeknews.ca/2020/01/09/new-study-finds-first-nations-in-canada-face-serious-problems-with-food-supply/">food insecurity</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334160/original/file-20200511-49584-omqfw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334160/original/file-20200511-49584-omqfw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334160/original/file-20200511-49584-omqfw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334160/original/file-20200511-49584-omqfw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334160/original/file-20200511-49584-omqfw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334160/original/file-20200511-49584-omqfw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334160/original/file-20200511-49584-omqfw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Indigenous food remains a sustainable and viable way fo producing food as documented by authors Dolly and Annie Watts of the Liliget Feast House.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.annielwatts.com/wpf.htm">Annie Watts/Arsenal Pulp Press</a></span>
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<h2>State control of Canadian food</h2>
<p>The effects of colonization show how state oppression has created and maintained food insecurity. It is, in fact, instructive to compare the difference between how the Canadian state has treated Indigenous people’s access to food, on the one hand, and British and Euro-Canadians’ access, on the other. </p>
<p>During the First and Second World Wars, the Canadian government moved to protect the food supply. During the First World War, Britain called upon its empire to increase shipments of beef, pork, butter, sugar and flour to the mother country. </p>
<p>In response, (and as <a href="https://utorontopress.com/ca/purchasing-power-2">I demonstrate in my recent book</a>) — Canada stepped up production of these goods. It also introduced 28 orders-in-council that regulated meat, dairy, sugar and wheat consumption. At no time did Canada introduce rationing during this war; instead it urged compliance through propaganda, fines and jail sentences. </p>
<p>Things were different the next war. Having witnessed skyrocketing inflation between 1917 and 1921, the federal government created <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/wartime-prices-and-trade-board">the Wartime Prices and Trade Board (WPTB)</a> in 1939. </p>
<p>Designed to curb inflation, reduce shortages and secure supplies for overseas, the WPTB was an unprecedented intervention. In 1941, the WPTB introduced “<a href="https://www.ubcpress.ca/food-will-win-the-war">comprehensive price, rent, and wage controls</a>.” The next year, it introduced rationing. To purchase meat, sugar, butter, preserves, tea and coffee, Canadians had to use ration coupons. </p>
<p>The last restrictions weren’t lifted until 1947. Even then, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/CHR.83.4.483">shoppers protested</a>. As soon as restrictions were removed, <a href="https://utorontopress.com/us/radical-housewives-2">prices rose</a>. </p>
<h2>What we can learn from the past</h2>
<p>Today’s problems differ from those of other times. Especially pressing are dangers affecting <a href="https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/covid-19-southwestern-ontario-outbreak-puts-migrant-farm-workers-in-spotlight/">agricultural</a>, <a href="https://thetyee.ca/News/2020/04/24/Alberta-Meat-Packers-COVID-Outbreak/">butchery</a> <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/essential-workers-talk-about-how-covid-19-affects-them-1.4883241">and grocery</a> workers. There are also important difficulties that food distributors encounter when retooling wholesale products <a href="https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/saputo-inc-sees-demand-shift-from-food-service-to-retail-amid-covid-19-pandemic-1.4869609">for retail</a>.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, other problems are familiar. Now more than ever, it is important to address how disruptions affect food insecurity. Some First Nations are already taking action against <a href="https://thenarwhal.ca/adapting-to-coronavirus-how-b-c-first-nations-balance-food-security-and-conservation/">possible shortages</a>. Intermittent shortages in the retail sector — caused by supply disruption, increased consumer demand and decreased wholesale demand — also affect shoppers who cannot buy in bulk. Empty grocery shelves further affect those who shop infrequently in efforts to socially distance.</p>
<p>As Canadians experienced during the First World War, shortages often precipitate <a href="https://utorontopress.com/ca/purchasing-power-2">price hikes</a>. Already, Atlantic grocery distributors are <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/atlantic-grocery-distributors-prices-rise-1.5534470">reporting changes to prices</a>. In the North, further inflation would be unconscionable, given that northerners already struggle with <a href="https://theconversation.com/canadas-unequal-health-system-may-make-remote-indigenous-communities-more-vulnerable-to-the-coronavirus-134963">outrageous prices</a>. </p>
<p>In the past, much finger-pointing accompanied price markups, with some arguing that profiteers deliberately raised prices and others suggesting that inflation was the inevitable <a href="https://www.ubcpress.ca/buying-happiness">result of disequilibrium</a>. </p>
<p>Whatever the causes of food instability, however, there are demonstrable viable solutions, in both the past and present. To this day, Indigenous food systems <a href="https://foodsecurecanada.org/resources-news/newsletters/1-indigenous-food-sovereignty">are equitable</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/indigenous-food-1.4294388">sustainable</a>. </p>
<p>During the Second World War, William Lyon Mackenzie King’s Liberal government’s interventions protected both producers and consumers. Its main instrument, the WPTB, also — and completely unintentionally — improved many <a href="https://wartimecanada.ca/essay/eating/food-home-front-during-second-world-war">people’s diets</a>. Restrictions kept prices affordable while rationing ensured greater availability. </p>
<p>It is time now to revisit how Canadians produce and distribute food. The twin spectres of food insecurity and fatal illness demand such consideration.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/137229/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Donica Belisle receives funding from SSHRC. </span></em></p>Food is essential to survival. It is also essential to identity. During times of national crisis like the coronavirus pandemic and in the historical landscape, food issues become prominent.Donica Belisle, Associate Professor of History, University of ReginaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1191322019-06-26T12:36:26Z2019-06-26T12:36:26ZTech can empower refugee communities – if they’re allowed to design how it works<p>In Lebanon, <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-my/50a9f817b.pdf">around 350,000 Syrian refugees</a> don’t have access to enough safe and nutritious food. To stem the crisis, the World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations introduced an electronic voucher system <a href="https://www.wfpusa.org/stories/what-wfp-delivers-cash-vouchers-and-e-cards/">to distribute food aid</a>. People are given debit cards loaded with “e-vouchers” that they can use in certain shops to buy food.</p>
<p>But we found that Syrian refugees living in rural Lebanon <a href="https://openlab.ncl.ac.uk/">often have to make difficult choices</a> when buying essential items at the expense of food. Their e-vouchers can only be used in exchange for food, not other essentials like nappies. </p>
<p>Refugees have to engage in “grey-area transactions” that work around the e-voucher system, by asking shop owners to sell them the nappies and instead record on the system that they bought food. This places refugees in a vulnerable position – shop owners often charge higher prices for scanning non-food items as food, but refugees have no choice but to depend on shop owners to cooperate.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281121/original/file-20190625-81733-2vk4dm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281121/original/file-20190625-81733-2vk4dm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281121/original/file-20190625-81733-2vk4dm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281121/original/file-20190625-81733-2vk4dm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281121/original/file-20190625-81733-2vk4dm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281121/original/file-20190625-81733-2vk4dm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281121/original/file-20190625-81733-2vk4dm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Using dialogue cards, Syrian refugees mapped out their experiences of food insecurity and their interactions with shop owners.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reem Talhouk</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Collective purchasing allows refugees to pool their cash and e-vouchers so that one person can buy non-food items for another and be repaid with food. This allows people a degree of autonomy – they don’t have to rely on shop owners to allow them to buy non-food items using their vouchers. Instead, the community can manage their resources and needs among themselves.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the e-voucher system prevents refugees from buying goods in bulk. Shop owners are advised by the WFP that purchases by refugees should be typical of buying food for a family. If refugees want to buy enough rice for their community and benefit from a wholesale discount, then the shop owner can refuse the transaction. This makes collective purchasing – something refugees often prefer to do when they have cash available – more difficult.</p>
<p>The WFP is currently piloting blockchain technology to <a href="https://innovation.wfp.org/project/building-blocks">replace this e-voucher system in Jordan and Pakistan</a>. This is an exciting opportunity to alleviate these problems and help to empower both refugees and the shop owners, but only if the refugees themselves are involved.</p>
<h2>Food aid designed by refugees</h2>
<p>Rather than using a debit card, under this new system refugees would have a digital wallet that is similar to a bank account that you can access online. And instead of it being hosted by a bank, it’s part of the blockchain.</p>
<p>A blockchain is a shared log of transactions, with each user being able to track how much money and goods have been exchanged. This is constantly updated as transactions of food aid and money transfers are agreed between the customer and the shop owner. Each transaction forms a block of new information. The digital ledger is an expanding chain of interconnected blocks of information – hence the name, blockchain.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/beyond-bitcoin-how-blockchains-can-empower-communities-to-control-their-own-energy-supply-99411">Beyond Bitcoin: how blockchains can empower communities to control their own energy supply</a>
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<p>The WFP is using blockchain technology to cut costs on currency exchange and bank transfers. But the blockchain still allows transactions between refugees and shop owners in the same manner as the e-voucher system. If this new and innovative technology mimics the model that came before, the restrictions on what refugees can do will continue and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41271-016-0040-1">blockchain will mimic paternalistic aid models</a> that focus on efficiently distributing aid, rather than empowering refugees to leverage their own ways of coping with food insecurity. But if aid is designed with input from refugee communities, the technology could give Syrian people in Lebanon more agency when buying the essentials they need to live.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281123/original/file-20190625-81762-1mt3l3m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281123/original/file-20190625-81762-1mt3l3m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=952&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281123/original/file-20190625-81762-1mt3l3m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=952&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281123/original/file-20190625-81762-1mt3l3m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=952&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281123/original/file-20190625-81762-1mt3l3m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1196&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281123/original/file-20190625-81762-1mt3l3m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1196&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281123/original/file-20190625-81762-1mt3l3m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1196&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A Syrian woman’s depiction of her community’s food insecurity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reem Talhouk</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p><a href="https://www.coindesk.com/information/ethereum-smart-contracts-work">Blockchain can write smart contracts</a>, which would allow people to buy items together. These are agreements whose terms are automatically enforced by an algorithm. Smart contracts act like a lock box with two keys that can be used to open it, one key is given for each party involved in the contract. </p>
<p>When the smart contract is created, both parties set the conditions that need to be met for them to be able to use the keys to open the lock box. Both keys need to be used for the lock box to open and for the money to transfer to complete the transaction. Before this can happen, both parties must agree that the conditions of the contract have been met. With this, refugee communities can negotiate collective purchases with shop owners and hold them accountable to the agreements they make. </p>
<p>Negotiating the terms of the smart contract means that refugees have more of a say over what they consider to be a fair deal. Once the smart contract is in place, the agreed sum of money for the purchase will be placed in a digital wallet – the lock box – that is bound by the terms of the smart contract. The value of items purchased by refugees is deducted once they’ve verified their identity with a retina scan, but the money will only be released to the shop owner if the refugees verify that they received the items.</p>
<p>We saw how these smart contracts could rebalance the power disparity between refugees and shop owners. <a href="https://eprints.ncl.ac.uk/file_store/production/256501/A51C6485-22E6-41BE-911F-EAC0DBFFDBBF.pdf">Including refugees in the design process</a> of humanitarian technologies and aid models can ensure they incorporate the <a href="https://eprints.ncl.ac.uk/file_store/production/256853/AC794E4C-402D-4369-9245-9C2D46B98FDE.pdf">values</a> and practices of the people they’re supposed to help. Future innovations must be rooted in the daily lives of refugee communities. These technologies can empower people and make a real difference to their lives, but only if they’re allowed to design how they work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/119132/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Reem Talhouk receives funding from Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andy Garbett receives funding from Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kyle Montague receives funding from Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).</span></em></p>Syrian refugees in Lebanon know how best to manage their resources, but food aid currently prevents them.Reem Talhouk, Researcher in Human Computer Interaction and Design, Newcastle UniversityAndy Garbett, Research Associate in Computing Science, Newcastle UniversityKyle Montague, Lecturer in Digital Civics, Newcastle UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/990772018-06-28T19:56:52Z2018-06-28T19:56:52ZThere are some single-use plastics we truly need. The rest we can live without<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225265/original/file-20180628-112611-7hv28j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sure, ditch the coffee cups. But don't say goodbye to these too soon.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lubos Chlubny/Shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/WasteandRecycling/Report">Senate report</a> this week recommended a ban on single-use plastics such as takeaway food containers and plastic-lined coffee cups by 2023. </p>
<p>This week will see Australians take a significant step towards that plastic-free future, with major supermarkets <a href="https://theconversation.com/plastic-free-campaigns-dont-have-to-shock-or-shame-shoppers-are-already-on-board-98944">turning their backs on throwaway plastic bags</a>, and an outright ban on free plastic bags at shops in Queensland and Western Australia.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/plastic-free-campaigns-dont-have-to-shock-or-shame-shoppers-are-already-on-board-98944">Plastic-free campaigns don't have to shock or shame. Shoppers are already on board</a>
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<p>It is remarkable how far we have already come in the effort to reduce our plastic pollution. We are rapidly reaching the point at which the relevant question is not “which plastics can we do without?”, but “which single-use plastics do we genuinely need?”</p>
<h2>Legitimate uses</h2>
<p>Most of us will get along just fine without throwaway plastic in our daily lives. But there are nevertheless many legitimate applications for single-use plastics. </p>
<p>Take medicine, for example, where single-use plastics are a key part of infection control. Having a blood test requires gloves made from plastic, a plastic syringe, and a plastic vial, all of which are single-use to control contamination and infection. While glass is often suggested as an alternative, this introduces challenges in cleaning, transport and availability, particularly in emergency situations where resources may be limited.</p>
<p>Single-use plastics also play a role in scientific research. Many scientists cringe as they look at their waste bin at the end of a session in the lab. Typically, it will be filled with pipettes, gloves, vials, sample bags, and the list goes on.</p>
<p>These items are used for their strength and resilience, and because they prevent cross-contamination of sampling. As with medical applications, many substitute materials do not provide the protection or stability that single-use plastics do. </p>
<p>Single-use plastics are often used to package food and water. While this is unnecessary in most settings, certain situations do require single-use packaging to ensure food and water safety. Domestic food aid, emergency responses, and international aid efforts all require food and water that can be stored without refrigeration and distributed when and where it’s needed. Often this means packaging it in lightweight, single-use plastics. </p>
<p>While the proposed bans on single-use plastics should be recognised and applauded as an important step forward in the global fight to prevent plastic pollution, we should ensure that we have thought through all the scenarios where single-use plastic may be a legitimate necessity.</p>
<p>Consider the case of someone with a disability who can only eat with the aid of a flexible plastic straw. Without appropriate exemptions, a federal legislative ban on single-use plastic straws could prevent people in need from accessing a basic medical aid. </p>
<h2>Mass plastic begone</h2>
<p>There is no doubt that single-use plastics are a major source of pollution. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-018-0132-6">Recent research</a> has shown plastic pollution to be as ubiquitous in the global environment as the more familiar pollutants like lead. Plastic has been found at the deepest depths of our oceans and the greatest heights of our mountains. No country on Earth is immune to plastic pollution, from <a href="https://theconversation.com/pristine-paradise-to-rubbish-dump-the-same-pacific-island-23-years-apart-80811">tropical islands</a> to <a href="https://www.thenational.ae/uae/environment/warning-to-desert-campers-over-harm-caused-to-animals-by-litter-1.61974">deserts</a>. All of this pollution has happened in less than a century.</p>
<p>As a society we are realising the damage that single-use plastic is doing to the environment. That’s why a carefully legislated ban on almost all single-use plastics is a good idea. From throwaway food containers, to drinking straws, to coffee cups – we can live without almost all of it.</p>
<p>If you take a stroll down a busy city block today, you will see a people clutching reusable coffee cups, or eating food wrapped in brown paper, or carrying a drink bottle that they can refill at a free public water station. We as a society are changing.</p>
<p>We are also seeing a shift in governance and policy. Earlier this year, the European Union announced a <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/news/single-use-plastics-2018-may-28_en">ban on single-use plastic products with readily available alternatives</a>. Seattle has been on a path to ban single-use plastics for many years, with the latest efforts aimed at <a href="https://www.seattle.gov/Util/cs/groups/public/@spu/@foodyard/documents/webcontent/1_072578.pdf?">banning plastic utensils, straws and cocktail picks</a>. The move away from single-use plastics has even been adopted by McDonald’s, which will trial plastic-free straws later this year.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-nudge-theory-can-help-shops-avoid-a-backlash-over-plastic-bag-bans-81191">How 'nudge theory' can help shops avoid a backlash over plastic bag bans</a>
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<p>Amid these trends, we need to ensure that we have the right strategy to accommodate those who still depend on single-use plastics. This would include thinking seriously and developing single-use products that have a reduced environmental impact and can be used in these applications. </p>
<p>For the rest of us who need to kick our single-use plastic addiction, you can start today (if you haven’t already) by saying no to plastic straws and taking a reusable cup to your favourite coffee cart.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99077/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Harvey is co-owner of The Wonky Carrot, a small start-up company focused on sustainable and plastic-free products. </span></em></p>We can safely say goodbye to most single-use plastics. But they do have essential uses in some areas, such as for medical or scientific samples, or storing food for humanitarian aid.Dr Paul Harvey, Researcher of Environmental Science, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/943712018-04-12T14:11:20Z2018-04-12T14:11:20ZWhy the world’s poorest countries don’t always get the foreign aid they need<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/213227/original/file-20180404-189807-uyhuoi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A UN aid agency distributes free mosquito nets in Ethiopia.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA-EFE</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Foreign aid, or official development assistance, is controversial. The expectation is that it should benefit the most vulnerable countries but this is not always the case.</p>
<p>In 2016, only about <a href="http://www.oecd.org/dac/development-aid-rises-again-in-2016-but-flows-to-poorest-countries-dip.htm">19.8% of traditional aid</a> went to the world’s least developed countries. This was <a href="http://stats.oecd.org/qwids/#?x=2&y=6&f=3:51,4:1,1:26,5:3,7:2&q=3:51+4:1+1:2,26+5:3+7:1,2+2:1,240,242,252+6:2005,2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016">down</a> from 23.7% in 2015 and a peak of 26.9% in 2010. <a href="http://stats.oecd.org/qwids/#?x=2&y=6&f=3:51,4:1,1:26,5:3,7:2&q=3:51+4:1+1:2,26+5:3+7:1,2+2:1,240,242,252,44,40,67,119,148+6:2005,2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016">African countries</a> such as Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Mozambique and Senegal are among those that now receive less aid than they did in 2010.</p>
<p>Traditional bilateral aid to Africa continues to decline despite the fact that 34 of the countries on the continent are classified as least developed countries - the so-called LDCs.</p>
<p>One reason for the decline in development assistance to poor countries is the rise in foreign aid peculiarities like the so-called “<a href="https://www.devex.com/news/debating-the-rules-what-in-house-refugee-costs-count-as-aid-90602">in-donor refugee costs</a>”. This refers to foreign aid meant for refugees that donors spend in their own countries. International conventions allow provider countries to <a href="https://www.oecd.org/dac/stats/RefugeeCostsMethodologicalNote.pdf">use development aid</a> to support refugees during the first twelve months of their stay.</p>
<p>Between 2010 and 2016, as foreign aid to many poor countries decreased, in-donor refugee costs rose from USD$3.3 billion to USD$15.4 billion. This is a USD$12.1 billion increase in six years. In contrast, aid that flowed to countries in need increased marginally <a href="http://www.oecd.org/dac/financing-sustainable-development/development-finance-data/ODA-2016-Tables-and-Charts.xls">from USD$103.4 to USD$113.4 billion</a> between 2005 and 2016. That amounts to a USD$10 billion increase over an 11-year period.</p>
<h2>Explaining the mismatch</h2>
<p>The mismatch between need and actual aid distribution shouldn’t be surprising. Why? Because countries typically allocate aid based on <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9361.2011.00605.x">three criteria</a>, the first being self-interest. The others are need and merit. Problems arise when decisions must be made on the weight of each criterion.</p>
<p>Self-interest is particularly complex. Different providers have <a href="http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/13960/1/World%20dev%20aid%20allocation%20final.pdf">different levels of self-interest</a>. Furthermore, levels of self-interest differ from administration to administration even <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ecpo.12053">within the same provider countries</a>. When it comes to <a href="https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/gdec10/15.html">non-state providers</a> different funders within the same country can also exhibit varying interpretations of self-interest.</p>
<p>One of the most enduring illustrations of the connection between self-interest and aid allocation can be seen in the <a href="https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/4553020/alesina_whogives.pdf?sequence=2">voting patterns</a> at the United Nations General Assembly where the interests of nation states outweigh need or merit.
Nation states are more likely to <a href="https://econpapers.repec.org/article/eeepoleco/v_3a24_3ay_3a2008_3ai_3a3_3ap_3a661-674.htm">give aid to their trade partners</a> over their non-trade partners. In addition, researchers have found indications that providers are prone to allocate disproportionate amounts of aid to recipients who <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0010836713482552">have the same allies and rivals</a>.</p>
<p>While self-interest has its issues, the merit and need criteria are also complex. <a href="https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:83563975-c05c-48f3-9526-709ac849db41">Studies</a> have found that in some countries aid actually decreased as the policy environment improved. Put differently, even as countries’ merit ratings improved (better policy environments), they started receiving less aid. Conversely, in some cases, perceived need trumps merit especially in instances of food aid. This continues to be the case in countries like <a href="https://www.ogaden.com/ethiopia-is-it-the-drought-that-causes-the-deaths-or-the-dictatorial-dynasties/">Ethiopia</a> and <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/03/1004702">South Sudan</a> where oppressive governance systems and ethnic conflict have prevailed for years.</p>
<h2>A fourth criterion</h2>
<p>All things considered, the most deserving and impoverished countries don’t often get the most foreign aid. This much is clear and can be explained with reference to the complexity of balancing self-interest, need and merit.</p>
<p>But this doesn’t answer some fundamental questions such as, what are the limits to self-interest? Shouldn’t need and merit be more important than self-interest? And finally, should need, merit and self-interest be the only criteria?</p>
<p>The Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation has provided some direction in this regard by emphasising a fourth criterion: <a href="https://www.oecd.org/dac/effectiveness/49650173.pdf">effectiveness</a>. Over the past few years I have had the opportunity to collaborate closely with the Global Partnership, which represents the vast majority of the world’s provider and recipient countries.</p>
<p>By emphasising effectiveness, it <a href="http://effectivecooperation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/OutcomeDocumentEnglish.pdf">prioritises</a> country ownership, accountability, transparency, results orientation, and inclusive partnerships as the requirements for aid effectiveness. So far, aid effectiveness is receiving wide support from both developed and developing countries, including regional organisations like the <a href="http://www.nepad.org/download/file/fid/4205">African Union</a>.</p>
<p>Going forward, metrics that quantify the effectiveness of aid will be very helpful not only for understanding current aid distribution patterns, but also for influencing future aid allocation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94371/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Willem Fourie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Poor countries aren’t receiving the most foreign aid. Why? And what should be done?Willem Fourie, Associate Professor at the Albert Luthuli Centre for Responsible Leadership, Co-ordinator of the South African SDG Hub, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.