A South–South Exchange on People-Driven Food Security Strategies
The G20 side-event on “Building Equitable Food Systems from Below”, co-hosted by the Centre of Excellence in Food Security (CoE-FS) and the Food Equity Centre at T20 South Africa 2025, brought together activists, union leaders, farm-worker organisers, researchers and policy thinkers. Moderated by our PI Dr Marc Wegerif and chaired by Professor Stephen Devereux, our PI and Chair of the NRF Research Chair in Social Protection for Food Security, the conversation foregrounded the importance of shared platforms for knowledge production, movement building, and systemic change across the Global South. Lídia Cabral, a social scientist at the Institute of Development Studies, Rural Futures Cluster Lead, and a key researcher in the Food Equity Centre’s agenda on food system governance and South–South cooperation, opened the dialogue by framing the significance of participatory governance in Latin America and its relevance for emerging food equity frameworks.
Brazil’s Participatory Governance Model: Lessons from CONSEA
Brazil’s National Council on Food and Nutrition Security (CONSEA) has long been recognised as a powerful example of participatory governance in practice. This section of the dialogue was presented by Luciene Burlandy, a leading Brazilian scholar and practitioner in food and nutrition security whose work spans public policy design, civil society participation and health equity. With two-thirds of its membership drawn from organised civil society and one-third from government, CONSEA has influenced school feeding, family farming procurement, agroecological transitions and the constitutionalisation of the right to food. The Brazilian experience demonstrates how transformative policy becomes when citizens are formally embedded in decision-making. Yet its periodic dismantling during political transitions reveals the fragility of participatory institutions without sustained public defense and political commitment.
CONSEA 6th National Conference on Food and Nutrition Security: Eradicate hunger and guarantee rights with real food, democracy, and equity
Union Against Hunger: Confronting South Africa’s Food Affordability Crisis.
South Africa’s contribution to the dialogue was expressed through the work of Union Against Hunger (UAH), a grassroots movement confronting the country’s widening food affordability gap. Despite national food production capacity, millions of South Africans struggle to access a nutritious basket due to stagnant wages and rising prices. UAH has mobilised communities through petitions, media actions and direct engagement with retailers, culminating in a rare agreement with Shoprite to reduce profits on essential foods and work with nutrition experts. Their campaign illustrates how organised civic pressure can shift corporate behaviour in concentrated retail environments.
Protestors at the Union Against Protest
Women on Farms: A Movement for Dignity, Safety and Justice for Farm Workers
A broader regional dimension was shared by the Women on Farms Project (WFP).l This grassroots social movement shared testimonies illuminated the everyday realities of women farm workers: pesticide exposure, inadequate access to water, and the deduction of protective equipment costs from already‑low wages. These lived experiences underpin a growing cross‑border movement extending across; Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Mauritius and Eswatini, calling for a ban on highly hazardous pesticides in Southern Africa. Through workshops, community organising, international advocacy and people’s tribunals, WFP is building a coordinated regional platform for worker safety, dignity and environmental justice.
The Women on Farms Pesticides campaign, photo by Ashraf Hendricks.
Through workshops, community organising, international advocacy and people’s tribunals, WFP is building a coordinated regional platform for worker safety, dignity and environmental justice.
Collectively, these campaigns underscore that equitable food systems emerge through civic action, labour organising and participatory governance. Policy frameworks matter, but they gain traction only when shaped and defended by those most affected by food system inequities. For the Centre of Excellence in Food Security and the Food Equity Centre, the dialogue affirmed the need to support spaces where research, lived experience and political voice meet. What emerged from the dialogue was a clear sense of possibility: that South–South solidarity, grounded knowledge and democratic participation can create the conditions for real transformation. These foundations are crucial for building a fairer, more equitable and more resilient food security future in both South Africa, Brazil and across the Global South.
