Learning from ‘informal’ food networks: Realizing the right to food in contexts of semi-permanence

In the next three decades cities in African countries are expected to host two-thirds of the continent’s population. At the same time, city administrations struggle to keep up with economic and social development, especially in low-income urban areas. And though much programming focuses on the increase of agricultural productivity in rural (and sometimes urban) areas to cater to urban eaters, it is more often a question of affordability than it is of availability.

The aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ukraine-Russian war and climate-induced disasters all affect the prices of food. And it is the residents of low-income urban areas that often bear the brunt of such food price hikes as they spend the majority of their income on food. Furthermore, a lack of recognition by city administrations results in a limited access to social support. Practitioners, policymakers and researchers have looked into the different strategies employed by the urban poor in crisis situations when the ‘conventional’ way of doing had proven unavailable. The objective of this research project is to look into the somewhat hidden social mechanisms behind these practices. The study questions how social networks are enacted upon by residents in low-income urban areas of African cities to gain access to food. Gaining insights into how food provisioning networks govern themselves, how they navigate their volatile contexts and how they interact with external actors may help practitioners, policymakers and researchers better understand the daily reality of actors in the networks they are trying to reach through their work.

People involved

Marit Meijer
Rural Sociology Group, WUR

dr. Jessica Duncan
Rural Sociology Group, WUR

dr. ir. Sietze Vellema
Knowledge, Technology and Innovation Group, WUR

dr. ir. Marion Herens
Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation, WUR