Browsing by Author "Landman, Annie Petronella"

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    Growing sustainable food systems : a study of local food distribution initiatives in Stellenbosch
    (Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2011-03) Landman, Annie Petronella; Kelly, Candice; University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. School of Public Leadership.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis investigates practical approaches to growing sustainable food systems. It first establishes the condition of the global environment within which food systems function and critically assesses previous efforts to grow sustainable food systems. After applying these findings to a set of case studies on local-food distribution in Stellenbosch, I recommend ways for the local-food distribution network to encourage the growth of a sustainable Stellenbosch food system. The literature review provides an overview of the global environment in relation to food systems and lists certain contextual challenges that food systems must address to become sustainable. These challenges are social inequality, an urban future, degraded ecosystems, climate change, energy constraints, a growing global population and food insecurity. The literature review also describes how commercialisation has disembedded food systems from their contexts. This disembeddedness loosens the feedback loops food systems require to effectively respond to contextual challenges and consequently hinders their sustainability. The critical overview of previous attempts to re-embed food systems provides insight into practical ways of growing sustainable food systems. The overview demonstrates that while localisation and the building of social capital should not be seen as the ultimate goals of sustainable food systems, they can be useful mechanisms for nurturing sustainability if applied carefully. The case studies describe ten local-food distribution initiatives in Stellenbosch, and are informed by numerous in-depth semi-structured interviews. My conceptual framework contrasts each initiative’s self-reported vision, perceived reality, and realised actions; this highlights the conceptual and physical network connections between various local-food distribution initiatives, as well as the factors preventing and promoting their sustainability. The case studies show that although a local-food distribution network exists in Stellenbosch, it is fragile and lacks defined conceptual connections. This in turn constrains the formation of physical connections and thus the food system’s progress toward sustainability. The local-food distribution network in Stellenbosch can catalyse the growth of a sustainable food system because its initiatives focus on localisation but do not see it as a final objective. This shared focus indicates that localisation already constitutes a practical tool in the growth of a sustainable food system; however, the network’s lack of social capital still needs to be addressed. Inclusive projects designed to create and protect intellectual, political and economic spaces for reflection within the food system can generate the social capital necessary to grow a sustainable food system. The realisation of a sustainable Stellenbosch food system therefore depends on those with the capacity and resources to initiate the necessary changes.
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    An Institutional Understanding of the Transfer of Knowledge to Policy Processes: The Case of The Southern African Development Community’s Regional And National Vulnerability Assessment Committees.
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2015-03) Landman, Annie Petronella; McLachlan, Milla; Drimie, Scott; Loots, Ilse; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. Dept. of Global Health. Human Nutrition.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY : This thesis explores institutional blockages to and catalysts for the uptake of vulnerability research in vulnerability-reducing policies in southern Africa. The Southern African Development Community’s (SADC’s) Vulnerability Assessment Committee (VAC) constitutes the case study. It offers a unique empirical account of issues of research-policy transfer to reduce vulnerability in complex socio-ecological systems (SESs). Complexity theory provides insights into the research field. It conceptually draws together contextual challenges that contribute to vulnerability in the complex southern African context, the VAC, research processes, and policy processes. Southern Africa is a complex SES with a governing subsystem. The VAC forms part of this subsystem. VAC actors collect contextual information from the SES to inform governing actors of regional vulnerability. Governing actors could then apply the information to make policies reducing regional vulnerability in the SES. An institutional approach and the Policy Arrangement Approach (PAA) are useful for researching the research-policy transfer in the VAC policy arrangement. A PAA-analysis is organised from four integrated analytical dimensions: discourses, actors and coalitions, power and resources, and institutional rules. The PAA also uncovers links between the VAC and its context. Regional food emergencies strongly influenced the establishment and evolution of the VAC. The VAC was formed as a consensual platform to address challenges created by parallel-operating multi-sectoral administration structures hindering collaboration to deal with uncertainty, as well as different frameworks producing conflicting food security results. Discourse findings indicate the VAC mainly interprets vulnerability as vulnerability to food insecurity. Discursive shifts to broader vulnerability and resilience are stunted by a governing mode that does not accommodate multi-actor governance. Findings from the combined actors and power dimensions show that the process of formalising NVACs within national governments has increased government power, reducing the power of international agencies, whose participation is vital to addressing immediate regional challenges. Untransparent political processes have excluded international agencies from VAC activities and politicised vulnerably information. Institutional rules have emerged, including formalising NVACs within governments; set research frameworks; a minimum set of vulnerability indicators to report; a consultancy culture; multiagency VAC membership; volunteerism in un-formalised NVACs; and the strategic exploitation of food security information by international agencies focused primarily on food aid interventions. From these PAA dimension insights, identified catalysts for research-policy transfer include sufficient capacity and funding, technical assistance, communication strategies between research and policy processes, and high-level political support. Research process blockages include a focus on informing emergency interventions, a lack of VAC capacity, neglected communication and dissemination strategies, and politicised research. Policy process blockages include weak national policy processes and a lack of easy access to VAC outputs. The thesis also unpacks contextual factors and spin-offs from VAC processes that perpetuate blockages. Although currently experiencing challenges, the VAC is ideally positioned to house research-policy transfer initiatives. If policy continues to be a strategy to address regional vulnerability, policies need to acknowledge complex contexts and consequently continuously adapt to changes in complex SESs. Research remains a useful tool for better contextualising adaptive policies.