Problem statement
The convergence of the effects of the global financial crisis of 2007/08, climate change, and the growing demand for food and biofuels led to a sharp increase in global food prices, which have since remained historically high. According to the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, this demonstrates that “the food systems we have inherited from the twentieth century have
failed” [1]. In 2012, about 842 million people were still suffering from hunger, and about 2.5 billion individuals lacked the essential micronutrients that are needed for a healthy and active life [2]. Increasing food system productivity seems the most immediate response. However, there is growing consensus among scientists, experts, policymakers, and civil society groups that increasing agricultural
productivity will not suffice to resolve the food crisis [3, 4]. In a 2010 Science article, Godfray et al. [5] point out that reducing hunger and malnutrition and feeding 9 billion people by 2050 requires a reorientation of global food policies. They need to be aligned with social and natural sciences concerned with food systems, and must go beyond just maximizing global food productivity: rather, the
aim must be to optimize the complex interactions between food production, environmental impacts, and social justice outcomes.

CLOSED

Tender Securing Declaration Form

Background
This document is based on a communication received with the approval letter for this project, in which the review panel stated that, to enable monitoring and evaluation of the project, the selection of cases and methods to be used for analysis must be finalized and justified within the first six months of the project.

This document also addresses questions that the project team discussed with Professors Eve Fouilleux and Hans Peter Binswanger – the two experts of the review panel entrusted with the task of following up on our project – and Ian Johnson, who also joined the meeting at the R4D Forum on 19 March 2015.

During the first six months of the project, the project team has organized inception workshops with a number of key stakeholders in Bolivia and Kenya, including government officers, non-governmental organizations, local community representatives, and local academics. These workshops aimed at further
advancing the conceptualization and selection of food systems to be investigated, and at defining the methods to be used for analysing them.

Research on Sustainable Governance of Food Systems in Bolivia (South America) and Kenya

Call for Application for a Consultant Senior Research Scientist for a Food Systems Trade Study in Kenya

Date of call: 12 December 2016; Closing date: COB 31^st January 2017