Recognizing the pivotal role that state actors play in urban food systems, the Urban Food Futures programme is hosting a policy event for the Nairobi County, as an important foundational step for the implementation of our action research.

The policy event will bring together representatives from relevant sectors in Nairobi County, including education, trade, agriculture, urban planning, and social services, as well as experts from civil society, academia and local communities from Nairobi and Cape Town. These urban food system experts will provide insights gained from our transdisciplinary research on urban food systems, the right to food, and the informal sector in the two cities.

Building on our collaboration with two civil society partners, Muungano wa Wanavijiji/Akiba Mashinani Trust, and Miramar Foundation, the event will explore the role of the informal sector as a lever for food system transformation in Nairobi by:

• discussing how to implement five pathways of change identified during the scoping phase;

• exploring opportunities to build learning coalitions between state actors and the research programme to better understand the informal sector’s role in Nairobi’s urban food system;

• agreeing on modalities for building on the Mukuru Special Planning Area: a participatory process that brings together duty bearers and rights holders in the informal settlement;

• exploring how to build a knowledge sharing platform to facilitate continuous peer exchange and monitoring of programme implementation in the two cities.