{"id":4078,"date":"2022-07-05T09:54:44","date_gmt":"2022-07-05T07:54:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foodactioncities.org\/?post_type=case-studies&p=4078"},"modified":"2022-07-09T12:42:17","modified_gmt":"2022-07-09T10:42:17","slug":"long-case-study-keeping-food-markets-working-in-machakos-county","status":"publish","type":"case-studies","link":"https:\/\/foodactioncities.org\/fr\/case-studies\/long-case-study-keeping-food-markets-working-in-machakos-county\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Case Study: Keeping Food Markets Working in Machakos County"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Summary <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In Kenya, the peri-urban county of Machakos was already dealing with an array of public health and environmental challenges when COVID-19 hit. The arrival of the pandemic led to a countywide health crisis and economic downturn that brought a range of new problems and exacerbated existing ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With responsibility for local food systems, healthcare, sanitation and pandemic containment measures, the local government found itself under huge strain. Similarly, traditional urban food markets struggled to function. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As was the case throughout Kenya \u2013 and Sub-Saharan Africa more widely \u2013 the disruptions to these markets meant poor urban communities had difficulty accessing safe and nutritious food. Moreover, those who worked in and around the markets were in economic turmoil. Income and job loss were common \u2013 not just for the vendors but also for an array of market-related small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), like produce transporters and family farms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response to these impacts, the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) launched an emergency initiative called Keeping Food Markets Working (KFMW). Machakos County was one of six urban locations in Africa and Asia where its \u2018policy and coordination\u2019 workstream was active. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking local gender sensitivities into account, this workstream consisted of vendors, market committees, county policymakers and other urban food system stakeholders working together to gather evidence about locally specific food system challenges during the pandemic. They then co-designed a series of bespoken policy options to address them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These policy options aimed to empower market workers and enhance local policymakers\u2019 decision-making regarding keeping urban markets working during the current crisis \u2013 and any future shocks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This case study looks at the process and resulting policy options toolkit for Machakos County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note: <\/strong>You can access the short case study here. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Food Market, Machakos Kenya<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Key Insights <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
  • Good governance – and knowing your city and its food system network – is a cornerstone to resilient urban food systems<\/li>
  • Focus on empowering residents to shape and support a resilient urban food system<\/li>
  • City local governments can use existing global networks to share knowledge about sustainable urban food systems approaches (see Food Action Cities).<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Context and objective<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Before the pandemic, Kenya was already dogged by food insecurity and its associated public health issues. The national prevalence of moderate to severe food insecurity was almost 70% for the 2018\u20132020 period, an increase of 15% on the 2014\u20131016 period.1<\/sup> In 2020, an estimated 4% of children under five years-old suffered from wasting and 20% from stunting. Anemia was prevalent in almost 30% of women of reproductive age..1<\/sup>To curb the spread of COVID-19, the national government ordered a comprehensive lockdown, which included travel restrictions, school closures and the sudden shutting of urban food markets. Successive waves of the virus were met with partial lockdowns, which involved nightly curfews and mandatory face mask wearing in public places, like markets.  Despite these measures, COVID 19 hit Kenya hard. The capital, Nairobi, was severely impacted, with reports of high numbers of infections. At the same time, city residents experienced food supply disruptions, healthcare service constraints, diminished economic activity, loss of livelihoods and rising debt.
    Lying just 60km southeast of the Kenyan capital, Machakos soon fell victim to similar trends, although the true scale of the county\u2019s pandemic was difficult to determine. With a population of approximately 1.4 million2<\/sup> and a large low-income community, the county was in the midst of rapid urbanisation.3,4<\/sup> With informal settlements increasingly sprawling over its hilly landscapes, a large proportion of its residents had limited access to healthcare. Consequently, many families struggled at home without reporting cases. Around the same time, environmental disaster struck. Flooding and then drought devastated harvests of subsistence crops like maize, sorghum and beans. Swarming desert locusts in eastern Kenya caused further crop damage and loss.As a result, the local population suffered from a decrease in dietary diversity1<\/sup>, with communities prioritising staple foods, like cereals, over fresh fruit and vegetables.Border closures caused by the pandemic created further problems. With its semi-arid climate, Machakos typically has to source foods from nearby counties like Kiambu and Busia \u2013 as well as from across the Tanzanian border. This reliance on external food sources made it especially vulnerable to disrupted supply chains. The result was that its vulnerable communities were more likely to lose their access to safe, affordable and nutritious foods from urban traditional markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The action needed <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Under the \u2018policy and coordination\u2019 workstream of the emergency KFMW programme, GAIN engaged in a participatory, gender-sensitive manner with local policymakers, market committees, vendors and other urban food system market stakeholders in Machakos County. The approach was to gather evidence about traditional urban food markets and the wider food system during the COVID-19 pandemic in a rapid manner. Then GAIN worked with local stakeholders to co-design a selection of tailormade practical policy options, to be presented to the local government in the form of a toolkit. All the policy options were linked to real world, evidence-based problems that had been identified and prioritised by local stakeholders. They all had the capacity to be scaled up and build long-term resilience into the local food system. Taking local government mandates, budgets and pre-existing food-nutrition policies into account, they could be implemented on their own or \u2018mixed and matched\u2019 with other policies.  Providing widespread access to the policy options toolkit was critical. Consequently, GAIN undertook a communications campaign, in the form of additional workshops for key audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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