Bridging nutrition and agriculture. Local food-livelihood systems and food governance including a gender perspective

Worldwide hunger is still increasing and there is an urgent need to address the structural causes of hunger and food insecurity, including gender discrimination and power imbalances. We review the shortcomings of the separated food security and nutrition security approaches, arguing that they need to be united in the context of local food systems and governance. Current measures to address malnutrition and hunger are favoring paternalistic approaches that perpetuate aid, neediness and dependency. We suggest alternative frames that integrate food and nutrition security in a food systems and rights-based approach, namely through sustainable livelihoods and agro-ecology, and including a gender perspective that so far has been missing. We argue that this will ultimately be more cost-effective and sustainable, building capacity and autonomy of local food systems through local governance approaches that foreground inclusive participation of all members of society.