Analysing food systems governance in Ethiopia: The case of the Seqota Declaration

Abstract

Everyone seems to agree that our food systems are failing us and that changes are necessary in order to achieve more sustainable, inclusive food systems. There also seems to be an agreement that handling food systems issues through a systematic approach instead of a siloed one could enable better food systems outcomes, including improved nutrition and health. As a result of this realisation, many conceptualisations of the food systems approach have emerged and key actors have been increasingly embracing this approach. However, although food systems governance arrangements will play a critical role in stimulating or hindering transformations, this area has been under-researched and there have only been a few conceptualisations of food systems governance to date. This thesis contributed towards addressing this research gap through providing an indepth empirical application of the combination of a food systems governance framework consisting of five governance principles and a framework consisting of five

governance capabilities to a unique governance arrangement in Ethiopia—The Seqota

Declaration—that is committed to ending stunting in children under two by 2030. The aim of this thesis was to diagnose the Seqota Declaration initiative against the key principles appropriate for food systems governance and explore the presence or absence of governance capabilities necessary for achieving progress during the implementation of the initiative. The results confirm the prevalence of the five principles and capabilities in the initiative and the stakeholders driving it, albeit to varying levels. Overall, the efforts appear promising, but they do face a number of limitations that could jeopardise successes in the implementation of the initiative. Whilst resource constraint has been identified as a major hindrance to progress, what is being done with the resources that are available should also be taken into account. This thesis outlines some of the areas where governance issues may hinder progress. The strengths of the initiative include the presence of systems-thinking, a high number of enabling structures for improved collaboration, a high level of innovations, and strong ownership by government stakeholders across the different scales and sectors. However, system dynamics are given less consideration, human capital to fill the new structures is not there, long-term sustainability may be questionable, and there is space for improvement for third sector and private sector inclusion. ii