Strengthening Food Security Policy and Practice: Can Systems Approaches Improve Monitoring?
About the project
What is our shared challenge to improve food security monitoring?
Food security is a complex policy and practice priority in Canada. To inform policy and practice, indicators such as household food insecurity are used to monitor population-level trends of food insecurity. However, these indicators do not fully capture the root social (e.g., housing, education) and structural (e.g., globalization) causes of food insecurity, which limits decision-making for policy and practice. A monitoring system that captures this social and structural context would require coordinated and collective action across sectors to understand how food insecurity impacts communities.
Why does governance matter for monitoring systems?
Improving the way monitoring systems are designed and identifying opportunities for collaboration can change the data that are collected, analyzed and used for policy and practice. Characteristics of good governance for a monitoring system include:
- engagement across sectors and communities to capture multiple perspectives, including of historically underserved communities;
- an inclusive data approach using different data types (e.g., qualitative) and sources (e.g., community stories);
- methods to analyze interrelated social and structural context (e.g., linking datasets) and tools to communicate to a range of audiences (e.g., dashboards).
What is the potential of systems thinking for food security monitoring?
Systems thinking is an approach that focuses on understanding the dynamic interconnections of people and drivers within and between systems. Monitoring systems can be conceptualized as a complex set of activities centred around practitioners and organizations with their own governance structures and processes to collect, analyze and interpret data. We reviewed the literature to (1) assess current practice in using systems methods for monitoring and (2) identify relevant case studies of monitoring complex problems.
Key findings
Assessing current practice in using systems methods for food security monitoring
- While conceptualization of food security as a complex challenge is not new to research and practice, the application of systems thinking to food security monitoring is less common.
- Systems thinking methods have been applied to monitoring a range of complex issues, such as communicable disease and injury. The included case studies used concept mapping, causal loop diagrams, network mapping, agent-based modelling and system dynamics modelling.
- Across case studies, systems methods improved governance of monitoring systems by enabling engagement across sectors, leveraging multiple data types and sources to interpret the effects and relationships of social and structural contexts, and reaching different audiences through various visualization tools.
- Systems thinking methods were applied to monitoring systems in two ways: (1) to improve the design and governance of monitoring systems and (2) to use the monitoring data to model a complex problem.
Case study examples and best practices
Case study 1
This case study illustrates how systems thinking methods can be used to improve the design and governance of monitoring systems. Causal loop diagrams were used to evaluate the effectiveness of food-borne disease monitoring systems in Africa and to identify barriers within those systems, informed by participatory workshops and a literature review. The diagrams were interpreted using system archetypes and leverage point analysis to identify barriers in the current monitoring system.
In this example, causal loop diagrams supported all characteristics of good governance for monitoring systems. They enabled engagement of participants from diverse backgrounds in health care, research and government. The inclusive data approach combined quantitative and qualitative data on monitoring barriers, and strategies for improving monitoring were shared with stakeholders.
Case study 2
This case study illustrates how systems thinking methods can be applied to monitoring data to model a complex problem and simulate different policy scenarios to improve outcomes. Agent-based modelling and system dynamics modelling were used to analyze neighbourhood-level monitoring data from New York City on health, environment and geography to explore hypothetical interventions to improve fruit and vegetable consumption.
In this example, agent-based modelling supported some characteristics of good governance for monitoring systems. The modelling used quantitative data from multiple population surveys to interpret social and environmental characteristics. Although stakeholders were not directly engaged, the models could be used to communicate intervention scenarios to a range of audiences.
Policy implications
- The application of systems approaches to monitoring complex health and social issues demonstrates the potential of these methods to strengthen food security monitoring.
- Systems thinking offers a suite of methods that can support good governance of monitoring systems, including increased engagement across sectors and communities relevant to food security (e.g., health, agriculture, rural, underserved groups), an inclusive data approach to better understand social and structural interconnections of food security, and strategies to visualize and communicate data to different audiences.
- Systems approaches are powerful tools to convene stakeholders from government, civil society and academics to evaluate the current governance of monitoring systems. For example, causal loop diagrams can identify how governance structures and processes could be improved to ensure food security data is relevant and timely for policy and practice.
- Integrating systems approaches into monitoring systems will require changes to structures and processes at national and local levels. This includes removing barriers within organizational mandates for cross-sectoral collaboration, investing in opportunities to engage across sectors and disciplines, and strengthening capacity to apply systems thinking approaches and technical skills to complex problems.
Contact the researchers
Kirsten M. Lee, Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Global Health, Faculty of Health, York University: leekm@yorku.ca
Danisha Zaman, Research Assistant, School of Global Health, Faculty of Health, York University
Rebecca Hasdell, Lead Health Equity and Determinants of Health for Population and Public Health, Population and Public Health, BC Centre for Disease Control
Janelle Hatch, Lead Food Security, Prevention and Health Promotion, British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, Provincial Health Services Authority
Seri Niimi-Burch, Coordinator Food Security, Prevention and Health Promotion, British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, Provincial Health Services Authority
Ryan Stillwagon, Michael Smith Health Research BC Research Trainee, School of Public Health and Social Policy, University of Victoria and Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Global Health, Faculty of Health, York University
Tarra Penney, Associate Professor, School of Global Health, Faculty of Health, York University
Further information
Read full report (Coming soon)