Transforming food systems to improve livelihoods and environmental sustainability in three Indigenous territories of Colombia

 

Current food systems are unable to meet the needs of millions of people who experience hunger, miss key micronutrients, suffer from diet-related chronic diseases, and are highly vulnerable to environmental stressors. These conditions disproportionately affect the poor, notably women, girls and Indigenous peoples. In Colombia, for example, eight out of ten Indigenous households are food insecure. There is a growing recognition within academia and civil society that Indigenous food systems play a key role and have the potential to contribute to food security, reduce inequalities, improve resilience to climate changes, increase the agency of Indigenous communities and inform public policies.

This project will test how the empowerment of Indigenous communities in two territories of Colombia can contribute to the positive transformation of their agri-food systems. More specifically, it will investigate which food system transformations respond to community aspirations, assess how Indigenous knowledge, community innovations and agroecology contribute to the transformation of agri-food systems, and identify mechanisms to empower equity-seeking groups to help them to participate in and influence key decisions regarding the transformation of their food systems.

This project is part of a cohort of seven projects supported under IDRC’s Transforming Food Systems Initiative in the regions of Central and South America and the Middle East and North Africa. This initiative aims to foster transformation toward equitable, sustainable and diverse food systems that build the resilience of communities vulnerable to climate change, pandemics and other critical pressures and shocks by understanding mechanisms through which equity-seeking groups can benefit from and drive the change process, both at the local level and at scale.