A window of opportunity: Connecting immediate responses around the Covid-19 food crisis to long-term food systems change

Food insecurity in Cape Town and the Western Cape existed before Covid-19, but the pandemic has made things far worse. There was a ‘failure to feed’ by national government during the past months, but civil society and the Western Cape Government, amongst others, mobilised a massive effort to provide the necessary short-term food relief in poor and vulnerable communities. This effort was in part coordinated by the Western Cape NGO-Government Food Relief Coordination Forum, convened by the EDP. New relationships have been built, and a number of partnering lessons can be shared. The current food crisis under the Covid pandemic continues, with increasing needs and declining resources in both the public sector and civil society. At the same time emergency food aid is not sustainable, and we need to transition to a position of long-term food and nutrition security. Can we build on innovative civil society mobilisation during the crisis to advance a food and nutrition system change agenda? Who needs to work together to make this happen?

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A response by the speaker to comments received within the first week of the talk going live are available for viewing here: https://youtu.be/nZ3QulJ6sRs