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  • Publication | 2021

Beacons of Hope: Stories of Food Systems Transformation During Covid-19

Global Food and Nutrition Security

The Global Alliance for the Future of Food publishes Beacons of Hope: Stories of Food Systems Transformation During COVID-19. Drawn from different countries around the world, each initiative intervenes at a different point in the food system and responds to the pandemic with creativity, adaptability, and resilience. Their stories reveal why food systems need to change, while also serving to push back against popular narratives that maintain the status quo and dominate thinking about the future of food.

Led by farmer and community groups, innovative policymakers, progressive private sector players, social entrepreneurs, and others, the Beacons of Hope include:  

  • Gastromotiva (Brazil) launched a network of Solidarity Kitchens where its students and alumni cooked in their homes and provided meals to vulnerable people living in their own communities.
  • Fiji’s Ministry of Agriculture focused on the production and consumption of locally-grown and organic produce, and on shifting public perception to view farming as a sector worth investing in. 
  • FoodShare (Canada) applied a food justice lens to its pandemic response, partnering with community agencies and grassroots groups to ensure its alternative food infrastructure reached communities most in need. 
  • Gardens for Health International (Rwanda) deployed its team of Field Educators and other staff to government-run community health clinics, teaming up with community health workers to screen young children for malnutrition.
  • The Common Market (USA) worked directly with local family farms, aggregating products and distributing them as part of a new, free-of-charge Farm-Fresh Box initiative, aimed at reaching Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour communities.
  • The Lagos Food Bank Initiative (Nigeria) departed from the traditional food bank model, providing immediate relief through food distribution while also addressing the root causes of hunger.
  • The Municipality of Quito (Ecuador) coordinated a comprehensive local food systems response to COVID-19 based on the resilience strategy they had designed for other disasters.