Rural Women’s Movement: Confronting Food Insecurity

Media:
Report

Team:
Jacquelin Kataneksza
Riddhima A. Mehta
Gary A. Weingarten

Organization:
Rural Women’s Movement of South Africa

About:

In February 2012, RWM began a dialog with students in the Graduate Program in International Affairs at the New School for Public Engagement to become involved in developing a food security program for the organization. The initial request was that the students produce a manual on sustainable agricultural training. However, after careful consideration, the team concluded that manuals were insufficient to address a problem as complex as food insecurity. Therefore, a more comprehensive research and application approach cognizant of the New School’s academic standards was adopted to assist the client.
The team consisted of three graduate students from the GPIA program.

Two team members conducted field and desk research in the communities of KZN and made visits to the cities of Johannesburg and Durban among others to connect with relevant stakeholders. One team member conducted desk research and established contact with relevant organizations based in New York City. The intensive fieldwork in South Africa comprised of household and focus group interviews with community members, communication with local NGOs, attorneys, academic institutions and other important stakeholders.

The team members worked closely with the client and gained firsthand experience of the functioning of a grassroots level non-governmental organization (NGO). The team acquired vital information and data, through a needs assessment of the community and recorded the same. Desk research included the study of the Right to Food, climate change and the history of apartheid-era policies and post-apartheid policies vis-à-vis agriculture and land reform. Desk research study conducted by the third team member examined global and grassroots initiatives in various regions to mitigate the risks posed by food insecurity for the world’s poorest in order to develop an inventory of good practices for a food security program.

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