Topics discussed:
Food | Nutrition
From the PEERSS research team in Cameroon
Strengthening Local Governance supportive of Food and Nutrition Security in Cameroon

Hunger and malnutrition are world-class health and socio-economic issues that hinder children’s physical and cognitive development. Malnutrition severely affects development with serious and lasting impacts on individuals and their families, communities and countries as well. Gaps in knowledge regarding malnutrition within communities coupled with related erroneous perceptions by actors and fueled by sociocultural backgrounds further sustain this issue. Food insecurity drivers are multifaceted depending on the territories, mechanisms of action, and the prevailing manifestations in each given setting. Food and Nutrition Security (FNS) is “when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”. Delivery on this collective task requires good governance devoted to promoting the “right to adequate food” and “social contract” whereby the citizen is the sole power holder. Mutually supportive efforts are therefore needed to improve local governance in favour of FNS to deliver on the following six objectives: (i) coordinate interventions between sectors and agencies, (ii) promote accountability, (iii) enhance food supply, (iv) reinforce community ownership, (v) improve responsiveness towards public demand, and (vi) give precedence to the right to adequate food. Agenda 2030 on Sustainable Development Goals institutes good local governance of food and nutrition security as an absolute requirement.

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Published in English

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2020

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Evidence Brief

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