Description

Despite the variety of governace models, all FPCs need to reflect on their ability to provide a clear and transparent account of their work not only to their members and the whider public but also to policy makers. Transparency and accountability are key pillars to build trust and attract resources toward FPCs' objectives.

What ar ethe tools available to make decision making processes transparent and participated? How can can we enhance the accountability of FPCs initiatives? Are there strategies to monitor and evaluate the impacts obtained?

In this Session:

Three Ways for FPCs to Increase their Impact through Evaluation (Nessa Richman)

• A case study of the Rhode Island Food Policy Council (US) in evaluating the local food system, this presentation will explore why, when, and how food policy councils may want to take on evaluation work. Topics will include: the challenges of evaluating a complex system in a way that best serves a diverse network; uses of network assets and democratic processes to determine and collect priority data in key indicator areas; and optimal communication methods. The three-level evaluation program of the Rhode Island Food Policy Council will be shared, including their interactive Local Food System Dashboard, annual Local Food System Factbook, municipal-level Food System Fact Sheets, and student-driven online library of performance measures. The session will end with discussion of key questions related to potential utility of this work to other food policy councils.

Using the Doughnut to rethink and monitor food policies (Laura Prota)

• Food Policy Councils (FPCs) must designeffective policies and demonstrate their impact. The Doughnut Economics model provides an intuitive yet comprehensive framework for mapping the cross-sectoral impacts of food policies, setting goals, and identifying indicators for long-term monitoring. By design, the doughnut is a flexible and participatory tool, adaptable to local contexts while remaining  comparable across different settings. In this presentation, I will share examples of how FPCs can use this model for both planning and evaluation purposes.

The Value of the Process. Structural analysis and empirical strategies of twelve European cities’ Food Policy Councils (Rachel Reckinger)

• Based on twelve empirical examples from European cities that collaborated in the H2020-project FUSILLI, we draw on the framework developped by Michel et al. (2022), to start by providing asystematic analysis of the considered FPCs’ processual and substantive contributions to food system sustainability. We will in a second step scrutinize the considered FPCs’ commitment towards food democracy. Finally, we will consider the considered FPCs’ efforts and implementations of good governance. Those three key areas will be exemplified by the  considered FPCs’ goals, their processes in terms of governance and activities, their outcomes and their outputs.

Urban environment and quality of life. A methodological proposal to support urban food policies and planning (Luca Daconto, Mariaclaudia Cusumano)

• We present an innovative methodological proposal developed within the ON Foods partnership, specifically designed to quickly assess the characteristics of the urban food environment. Leveraging Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and spatial analysis techniques, the proposed approach measures the availability, proximity, and variety of food and urban opportunities crucial in ensuring a good quality of urban life and good health within walkable areas defined around residential locations. The methodological framework generates a synthetic index, decomposable  into distinct sub-dimensions, enabling policymakers and FPCs to rapidly identify spatial inequalities and areas at risk of food insecurity or inadequate access to healthy food. Applying this approach to Milan, using open georeferenced data has allowed the identification of vulnerable neighbourhoods characterized by limited food opportunities, reduced proximity to health-supportive urban services, and constrained lifestyle choices.