A Combined Theory of Change-Group Model Building Approach to Evaluating “Farm to Fork” Models for School Feeding in the Caribbean
Authors
Saint Ville, A
Hickey, GM
Rouwette, E
Samuels, A
Guariguata, L
Unwin, Nigel
Phillip, LE
Publication Date
2022-04-05Journal Title
Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems
ISSN
2571-581X
Publisher
Frontiers Media SA
Volume
6
Language
en
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Saint Ville, A., Hickey, G., Rouwette, E., Samuels, A., Guariguata, L., Unwin, N., & Phillip, L. (2022). A Combined Theory of Change-Group Model Building Approach to Evaluating “Farm to Fork” Models for School Feeding in the Caribbean. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 6 https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2022.801731
Abstract
<jats:p>There is a scarcity of research on building nutrition-sensitive value chains (NSVCs) to improve diets and nutrition outcomes of populations in the Caribbean. This study contributes to filling this research gap by outlining a participatory approach to evaluating a NSVC model for “farm to fork” (F2F) school feeding in the Eastern Caribbean Island of St. Kitts. Using a combined group model building (GMB) and theory of change (ToC) approach, policy actors and other stakeholders (<jats:italic>n</jats:italic> = 37) across the school feeding value chain were guided through a facilitated process to evaluate the ToC underlying a series of F2F interventions designed to enhance childhood nutrition. Stakeholders at the workshop engaged collaboratively to create a causal map of interconnected “system factors” that help explain behaviors contributing to unhealthy eating among children that extended well-beyond the original F2F project ToC that had been used to inform interventions. Through this facilitated GMB process, stakeholders proposed additional food system interventions, and identified multiple “impact pathways” and “mediating influences” underlying local availability and consumption of nutritious foods in local school environments. Workshop participants were also able to identify leverage points where community-level efforts, alongside research interventions, may ensure that initiatives for building local NSVCs are ultimately institutionalized. Results of this study suggest that developing NSVCs for school feeding and food systems in the Caribbean requires both locally driven innovation and the leveraging of system-wide resources, with lessons for project intervention strategies.</jats:p>
Keywords
Sustainable Food Systems, participatory approaches, food security, research for development, school feeding programmes, Saint Kitts and Nevis, nutrition sensitive value chains
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2022.801731
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/336425
Rights
Licence:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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