Periodic Reporting for period 3 - HealthyFoodAfrica (Improving nutrition in Africa by strengthening the diversity, sustainability, resilience and connectivity of food systems)
Período documentado: 2023-06-01 hasta 2025-05-31
The overall objective of the HealthyFoodAfrica (HFA) project was improving nutrition in Africa by strengthening the diversity, sustainability, resilience and connectivity of food systems. This responds to a key global challenge. Currently food systems are neither functional nor sustainable. They are depleting natural resources, while not providing people with sufficient, nutritious foods in a just manner. African food systems have a number of specific challenges, due to factors such as poverty and a high reliance on local agriculture, exacerbated by climate change, low productivity and market failures, to name a few.
HFA’s goal has targeted these challenges through a systems approach, reconnecting food production and consumption using locally grounded, participatory methods. Recognizing that food system transformation is inherently complex and context-dependent, HFA adopted a perspective that addressed the entire value chain—from production and processing to food safety, nutrition, governance, and markets. Each objective was operationalized through a combination of research, piloting, and stakeholder engagement activities, supported by continuous learning and iterative design. The objectives were intentionally cross-cutting, encouraging integration across technical domains—nutrition, food safety, innovation, education, agroecology, policy—and geographic sites.
HFA’s goal has targeted these challenges through a systems approach, reconnecting food production and consumption using locally grounded, participatory methods. Recognizing that food system transformation is inherently complex and context-dependent, HFA adopted a perspective that addressed the entire value chain—from production and processing to food safety, nutrition, governance, and markets. Each objective was operationalized through a combination of research, piloting, and stakeholder engagement activities, supported by continuous learning and iterative design. The objectives were intentionally cross-cutting, encouraging integration across technical domains—nutrition, food safety, innovation, education, agroecology, policy—and geographic sites.
At the heart of HFA’s methodology was the use of Food System Labs (FSLs)—living labs rooted in real-world communities and policy environments. The ten labs served as the operational base for experimentation, innovation, learning, and dialogue. Each FSL addressed specific local food system challenges, engaging with a wide range of actors: smallholder farmers, traders, processors, community groups, urban planners, policymakers, educators, and researchers. This multi-stakeholder co-creation process ensured that interventions were not only technically sound but also locally embedded, socially legitimate, and policy-relevant.
The work was done in close collaboration with science partners, covering the whole food system from production all the way to consumption. An overview of the results, by topic, can be summaries as follows; Key activities focusing on nutrition included the development of food and nutrition profiles for each FSL, co-designing of impact monitoring frameworks, producing contextualized nutrition education (ranging from school programs to radio campaigns), and synthesising of best practices into accessible tools. Across the project’s life cycle, production-related work focused on piloting urban gardening systems in informal settlements, enhancing peri-urban fruit production (e.g. avocado, mango), testing rhizobial inoculants to boost pulse yields, and deploying low-resource aquaculture technologies. The inclusive approach specifically involved women, youth, refugees, and schoolchildren, fostering local capacity and ownership.
HFA addressed the critical challenges of food safety, quality, and postharvest loss in African food chains. Operating at the intersection of innovation and grassroots needs, we worked closely with local vendors, processors, and food system actors to co-develop and pilot five postharvest technologies tailored to informal markets. These included the Zero Energy Evaporative Cooler (ZEEC), essential oil-based shelf-life extenders, food-grade stackable bamboo baskets, and value-added processing techniques for fish and vegetables.
Key innovations related to value chain governance included cooperative formation and support (e.g. in Rwamwanja and Cotonou), establishment of trader–producer associations (e.g. Kisumu), and capacity building on leadership, contract marketing, and gender-inclusive practices. Diagnostic tools ere combined with on-the-ground facilitation, enabling communities to co-develop resilient, self-governed food chain mechanisms.
From the start, the work on processing new innovative products emphasized user-centred design and technical rigor. The innovations were co-developed with SMEs, processors, school caterers, and rural women’s groups, ensuring relevance and scalability. Product development was accompanied by nutritional and microbiological testing, training programs, and regulatory registration. With strong uptake in Ghana and beyond, durable platforms were created — such as quarterly training cycles and a dedicated Food Innovation Handbook —that continue to support innovation beyond the project lifespan. In addition, a dedicated summer school for product innovation, quality and marketing was organised online at two occasions.
Key pathways for exploiting these results include:
• Replication by local governments, NGOs, and development partners;
• Commercialization by food processors, SMEs, and agribusiness startups;
• Policy uptake through submitted briefs, food system dialogues, and contributions to EU–AU frameworks;
• Potential educational use in curricula, training modules, and university-level programs.
The work was done in close collaboration with science partners, covering the whole food system from production all the way to consumption. An overview of the results, by topic, can be summaries as follows; Key activities focusing on nutrition included the development of food and nutrition profiles for each FSL, co-designing of impact monitoring frameworks, producing contextualized nutrition education (ranging from school programs to radio campaigns), and synthesising of best practices into accessible tools. Across the project’s life cycle, production-related work focused on piloting urban gardening systems in informal settlements, enhancing peri-urban fruit production (e.g. avocado, mango), testing rhizobial inoculants to boost pulse yields, and deploying low-resource aquaculture technologies. The inclusive approach specifically involved women, youth, refugees, and schoolchildren, fostering local capacity and ownership.
HFA addressed the critical challenges of food safety, quality, and postharvest loss in African food chains. Operating at the intersection of innovation and grassroots needs, we worked closely with local vendors, processors, and food system actors to co-develop and pilot five postharvest technologies tailored to informal markets. These included the Zero Energy Evaporative Cooler (ZEEC), essential oil-based shelf-life extenders, food-grade stackable bamboo baskets, and value-added processing techniques for fish and vegetables.
Key innovations related to value chain governance included cooperative formation and support (e.g. in Rwamwanja and Cotonou), establishment of trader–producer associations (e.g. Kisumu), and capacity building on leadership, contract marketing, and gender-inclusive practices. Diagnostic tools ere combined with on-the-ground facilitation, enabling communities to co-develop resilient, self-governed food chain mechanisms.
From the start, the work on processing new innovative products emphasized user-centred design and technical rigor. The innovations were co-developed with SMEs, processors, school caterers, and rural women’s groups, ensuring relevance and scalability. Product development was accompanied by nutritional and microbiological testing, training programs, and regulatory registration. With strong uptake in Ghana and beyond, durable platforms were created — such as quarterly training cycles and a dedicated Food Innovation Handbook —that continue to support innovation beyond the project lifespan. In addition, a dedicated summer school for product innovation, quality and marketing was organised online at two occasions.
Key pathways for exploiting these results include:
• Replication by local governments, NGOs, and development partners;
• Commercialization by food processors, SMEs, and agribusiness startups;
• Policy uptake through submitted briefs, food system dialogues, and contributions to EU–AU frameworks;
• Potential educational use in curricula, training modules, and university-level programs.
The HealthyFoodAfrica project has generated a diverse and substantial portfolio of exploitable results across its six thematic areas, spanning food education, sustainable production, value-added processing, governance innovation, and commercialization. These outputs are now being mobilized across multiple domains, demonstrating concrete potential for replication, commercialization, policy uptake, and educational integration.
HFA’s approach differs from more narrowly focused food innovation initiatives by placing co-creation, systems thinking, and long-term transformation at its core. Rather than concentrating solely on technological innovation or isolated interventions, the project emphasized the design of locally adapted, socially inclusive, and institutionally supported pathways for change. This holistic approach aligns with and expands upon the European Union’s Farm to Fork strategy by addressing not only innovation but also the deeper processes of participation, governance, and capacity building required for equitable food systems.
One of the project’s most significant contributions lies in its practical experience with operationalizing the living lab approach in African urban and peri-urban contexts. Insights from the FSLs provide valuable guidance for future efforts in participatory transformation, particularly regarding how multi-actor platforms can be structured to enhance collaboration, legitimacy, and policy uptake, while adapted to local contexts.
Importantly, HFA also experimented with different modalities of integration across scientific fields, to avoid “siloed” operations. This helped synthesize learning across the project’s main areas: nutrition, sustainable agricultural production, food safety and food waste, value chain governance, novel food products, and enhancing impact.
HealhtyFoodAfrica thus contributes not only to food system transformation in its target regions but also to the global understanding of how to operationalize systems approaches through embedded, co-designed interventions. The lessons learned from HFA are expected to have broader relevance for food systems research, implementation, and policy engagement across Africa and beyond.
HFA’s approach differs from more narrowly focused food innovation initiatives by placing co-creation, systems thinking, and long-term transformation at its core. Rather than concentrating solely on technological innovation or isolated interventions, the project emphasized the design of locally adapted, socially inclusive, and institutionally supported pathways for change. This holistic approach aligns with and expands upon the European Union’s Farm to Fork strategy by addressing not only innovation but also the deeper processes of participation, governance, and capacity building required for equitable food systems.
One of the project’s most significant contributions lies in its practical experience with operationalizing the living lab approach in African urban and peri-urban contexts. Insights from the FSLs provide valuable guidance for future efforts in participatory transformation, particularly regarding how multi-actor platforms can be structured to enhance collaboration, legitimacy, and policy uptake, while adapted to local contexts.
Importantly, HFA also experimented with different modalities of integration across scientific fields, to avoid “siloed” operations. This helped synthesize learning across the project’s main areas: nutrition, sustainable agricultural production, food safety and food waste, value chain governance, novel food products, and enhancing impact.
HealhtyFoodAfrica thus contributes not only to food system transformation in its target regions but also to the global understanding of how to operationalize systems approaches through embedded, co-designed interventions. The lessons learned from HFA are expected to have broader relevance for food systems research, implementation, and policy engagement across Africa and beyond.