INVITE: Mega-launch of a mini-movie!

We will be screening the 6-minute animation followed by a short panel discussion and Q&A.
WATCH THE TRAILER HERE

PLAAS conducted a one-year action-oriented research project entitled “The Impacts of Covid-19 Responses on the Political Economy of African Food Systems” to gather data on the impacts of Covid-19 regulatory and support interventions on the functioning and structure of food systems in Tanzania, Ghana, and South Africa. These countries represent diverse food systems and Covid-19 responses and provide for comparison and a breadth of lessons.

This mini-movie is a visual culmination of this research. It was executive produced by PLAAS researchers Professor Moenieba Isaacs and Professor Ruth Hall.

South Africa, an upper-middle-income country imposed a strict and far-reaching lockdown. Ghana, a lower-middle-income country responded with a strong short-term lockdown in the two biggest cities and modest restrictions on movement within the country. Tanzania, a low-income country did not impose a general lockdown but did restrict travel.

The animation explores what the food systems looked like before, the implications of the Covid-19 interventions by each country’s government, as well as what could be done in the future to prevent huge losses should another crisis arise.

Research Objectives

The overall aim of the project is to inform and influence African governments, development agencies, businesses, and civil society in their responses to Covid-19 and future shocks, by investigating how their policies and practices affect and reshape different parts of the food system in three African countries, and bringing to the fore the voices, experiences, strategies, and priorities of marginalised actors in the food system – especially women and small-scale farmers, fishers, traders, processors and retailers in the informal sector. Evidence and its dissemination will guide short and long-term interventions focussed on achieving the right to food, improved livelihoods within food systems, and increased voice and agency for women, the economically marginalised, and the systematically impoverished.

Research Partnerships

Our research is a collaboration between universities and civil society organisations. In Ghana, the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana is collaborating with the Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT). In Tanzania, Ardhi University is working with the Eastern and Southern Africa Small Scale Farmers Forum (ESAFF) and the Environmental Management and Economic Development Organization (EMEDO) which works with small-scale fishers and traders. In South Africa, PLAAS at the University of the Western Cape is working with the University of Pretoria, and with Masifundise Development Trust which works with small-scale fishers and traders, and the Association for Rural Advancement Land Rights Advocacy (AFRA) which works with small-scale farmers, farm workers, and traders.

Tune in on Tuesday 14 June 2022 at:
13:00 South African Standard Time (SAST)/Central African Time (CAT)
12:00 West African Time (WAT)
11:00 Greenwich Meridian Time (GMT) (Ghana)
14:00 East African Time (EAT) (Tanzania)