Evidence-based strategies to build community food security.
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Community Health Planning↗
Biomedical subjects
Christine McCullum
Publications and source records attributed to Christine McCullum.
Mechanisms of power within a community-based food security planning process.
A community food security movement has begun to address problems of hunger and food insecurity by utilizing a community-based approach. Although various models have been implemented, little empirical research has assessed how power operates within community-based food security initiatives. The purpose of this research was to determine how power influenced participation in decision-making, agenda setting, and the shaping of perceived needs within a community-based food security planning process, with particular reference to disenfranchised stakeholders. Power influenced participation in decision-making, agenda setting, and the shaping of perceived needs through managing 1) problem framing, 2) trust, 3) knowledge, and 4) consent. To overcome these mechanisms of power, practitioners need to address individual-, community-, and institutional-level barriers to participation in community-based food security planning processes. Practitioners and researchers can work with disenfranchised groups to determine which agents have the power to create desired changes by utilizing theory-based methods and strategies that focus on changing external determinants at multiple levels.
Adult↗
Participation, power and beliefs shape local food and nutrition policy.
Community participation is believed to hold a number of benefits, including the incorporation of local knowledge in planning, generation of greater support for and sustainability of local actions and being consistent with democratic values. These claimed benefits were examined in upstate New York, where 3-d participatory planning events were convened in each of six communities, focusing on desired changes in the local food system. A variety of qualitative and quantitative methods were used to assess the following: 1) local values, interests and beliefs (viewpoints) related to food and the food system before and after the planning events; 2) fairness and effectiveness in agenda setting; and 3) implementation of actions during the 2 y following the events. Despite marked variation in viewpoints, participants readily agreed on desired changes in the local food system during the events and they considered the process to be a fair and positive experience. However, the action agendas, follow-up actions and changes in viewpoints after the events displayed systematic tendencies to deviate from revealed common interests or interests of disenfranchised participants. This reflected differences in the fairness and effectiveness of participation during and after the events, established agendas and preferences of local institutions and a variety of market and regulatory barriers.
Adult↗
Use of a participatory planning process as a way to build community food security.
The purpose of this study was to determine the multiple meanings of community food security among stakeholders with diverse interests and to assess the degree to which these stakeholders could find common ground around community food security during a participatory planning process called a search conference. The conceptual framework of citizen politics guided all aspects of the research design. In-depth, qualitative interviews were conducted with 44 participants purposefully recruited to attend a 2 1/2 h-day search conference. Open-ended questionnaires were distributed to all participants during the search conference, and a document review was performed. Prior to the search conference, 4 community food secruity groups emerged: anti-hunger advocates (n=12), agricultural visionaries (n=12), food traditionalists (n=10), and agricultural entrepreneurs (n=8). Participants were able to find common ground around 6 community food security action agendas: distribution of surplus food, education, family and community values, food processing and marketing, legislative initiatives and action, and new agriculture. Other salient community food security issues emerged, but they were not included on any of the action agendas. Formal training in facilitation, negotiation, conflict resolution, and how to influence the public policy-making process will enable dietetics professionals to effectively collaborate with community-based groups that have a stake in food security issues.
Adult↗
IMPACT position paper: SNE.
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Health Promotion↗
Agenda setting within a community-based food security planning process: the influence of power.
OBJECTIVE: To determine the effectiveness of using citizen politics as a framework for empowering citizens to build a community food security agenda. DESIGN: A critical perspective, case study design, and multiple qualitative methods were used. PARTICIPANTS/SETTING: Forty-four participants were purposefully recruited to participate in a community-based planning process called a search conference (SC). Seven additional disenfranchised stakeholders who did not attend the SC were also recruited to participate. PHENOMENON OF INTEREST: To assess how power influenced agenda setting and to determine the extent to which disenfranchised stakeholders' most salient interests were incorporated into the final SC action agendas. ANALYSIS: The constant comparison method, content analysis, and consensus were used to produce the final analysis. RESULTS: Power influenced agenda setting by managing knowledge, problem framing, trust, and consent. Two of seven of disenfranchised stakeholders' most salient interests, including need for adequate food preparation skills and increased availability of locally produced foods, were incorporated into the final SC action agendas. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Citizen politics can be used to build a community food security agenda on issues that are not at odds with stakeholders in positions of power. To bring about change on issues in which power differences between groups are substantial, additional theoretical frameworks and public policy-making models are needed.
Adult↗
Application of modern biotechnology to food and agriculture: food systems perspective.
The purpose of this article is to provide nutrition educators with an introduction to a range of considerations and forces that are driving the application of modern biotechnology in the food and fiber sector based on a food systems perspective. In doing so, the following issues are critically assessed: (1) the global debate on how to regulate genetically engineered (GE) foods and crops, (2) cultural differences in public perceptions of GE foods, and (3) evaluation of selected GE traits against the principles of social, economic, and ecological sustainability, including the potential of modern agricultural biotechnology to enhance global food security. Where appropriate, we also review other agricultural technologies and the broader political, social, and economic contexts in which these technologies have been introduced. Finally, we offer recommendations for how multiple stakeholder groups, including policy makers, biotechnology advocates, and nutrition educators, can move toward a more informed dialogue and debate on this issue.
Biotechnology↗