When we started working with policymakers in Benin to improve evidence use in decision-making, one of our main hypotheses was that evidence use was low because decision makers did not have the capacity for evidence-informed policymaking. Consequently, we planned capacity building activities such as training and equipment provision. Policymakers were trained on how to access, interpret, and use evidence in…
Evidence is essential to help policymakers and development actors to make informed-decisions and to implement appropriate actions, especially in sensitive areas such as food and nutrition security (FNS). Evidence can be scientific (statistical data, evaluation results, research findings) or non-scientific (citizens’ opinions, endogenous beliefs and knowledge). Unfortunately, policymakers and development actors such as non-governmental organisations (NGOs) make very little use…
Poor access of smallholder farmers to innovations and markets. Most interventions regarding FNS-related issues strategically focus on smallholder farmers who represent the majority of farmers worldwide.[1] This target group is paradoxically known to be particularly affected by food insecurity and malnutrition, whilst at the same time, playing an essential role in ensuring FNS. But the world has developed – and…
Ensuring that everybody is able to access sufficient, affordable and nutritious food has been – and still is – an all-time challenge for humanity, with the issue of food and nutrition security (FNS) receiving permanent and increasing attention in the research and policy spheres. About 820 million people in the world are still hungry today, and 2 billion people experience…
