Systems thinking is key to addressing Dhaka’s food challenges

The urbanised area known as Greater Dhaka, which includes four cities, is now home to more than 25 million people. Each year, the metropolis continues to expand as hundreds of thousands of new residents arrive. Around one third of all residents live in overcrowded neighbourhoods without formal housing. Although food markets in some parts of the city are well stocked, millions of residents have no access to sufficient healthy food. At the same time, large amounts of food are wasted, the city faces a major waste problem, and there are serious concerns about food safety.

In August 2018, the Embassy of the Netherlands in Bangladesh and FAO signed the project proposal to work on improvements to Dhaka’s food system. Wageningen University & Research (WUR) joined the project as a knowledge partner. The four city corporations that operate alongside one another were also involved. Each of these city governments has its own dynamics: Dhaka North is the centre of national government, Dhaka South is the old city, Narayanganj is a centre of industry and trade, and Gazipur is a rapidly urbanising transition zone between city and countryside.

Programme coordinator Marion Herens acted on behalf of WUR as the link between the Dhaka team and a multidisciplinary team of Wageningen researchers. She argues that approaches to urban food challenges are often reactive: “A lot of funding goes into tackling crises, without addressing their causes. During the COVID pandemic, vulnerabilities in the system were exposed: traditional approaches fall short because they ignore underlying system failures. These include poor infrastructure, a lack of coordination between sectors and a focus on short-term problems. That last point is entirely logical and human: today’s problems shape the scope for action available to urban administrators and practitioners.”

There is another issue, Herens continues: “Food is a national matter, but it is never on the urban policy agenda. As a result, urban policy is governed, mandated and implemented in a fragmented way.”

One of the many interventions was the development of the Dhaka Food Agenda 2041, which WUR developed together with FAO, the city corporations and local partners. WUR’s food systems approach played an important role in this process. Unlike conventional projects with predefined deliverables, a systems approach starts by mapping the different elements of a food system and the underlying relationships between them. “That is exactly what happened in this programme,” says Herens. “We began by mapping the entire food system, from production to consumption, from food shortages to food surpluses, and from infrastructure to policy.”

From the start, WUR also helped to establish the city food councils. These partnerships were supported through capacity building and the development of competences that enabled each city to create its own food agenda. “We also played an important role in creating a new platform that connects urban and national government,” Herens adds. “These kinds of initiatives have been very important in strengthening governance across different administrative levels.”

According to Herens, the analysis revealed priorities that were recognisable to local communities: “Many urgent problems are linked to unequal food distribution, unsafe food and waste. At the same time, we immediately started thinking about what we want Dhaka’s food system to look like in 2041. This parallel tracking, linking urgent issues to a long-term vision, was crucial to our approach. You have to address today’s urgent problems, but if you only focus on those, you will not get the system moving in a different direction for the future.”

Herens gives several examples of interventions addressing urgent problems that also fit the long-term vision: “Sixteen farmers’ markets have been set up in the city, where farmers sell safe food directly, without intermediaries driving up prices. We also invested heavily in neighbourhoods to support residents in creating urban gardens. Fresh market vendors were trained in food safety, which among other things led to improved waste management.”

Longer-term interventions were also tested. For example, a pilot was carried out with a biodigester to extract more value from food waste streams. Black soldier fly larvae were also used to convert organic waste into high-quality animal feed.

WUR also contributed to capacity development among government officials, including training to transfer knowledge of ecological and socio-economic analyses and modelling techniques. These are needed to carry out quantitative analyses, but qualitative analysis is also important, says Herens: “You have to bring together the reality of data and the realities of people and how they view their city. I call that the quantitative-qualitative handshake. This meant that the analyses included not only spatial data and socio-economic models, but also the experiences shared by local partners during stakeholder sessions. Local administrators played an important role in this, because they brought people from different sectors together. These networks are crucial: you need partnerships that are sustained through governance after a project has ended.”

According to Herens, the challenge is that urban food systems have several dimensions: “You have to work on the short term and the long term, nationally and locally.”

The results offer hope. Access to safe food increased in vulnerable neighbourhoods, for example. Yet challenges remain. Perhaps the biggest challenge is that policymakers are mainly driven by the search for solutions to the “urgencies of today”, which is also their responsibility. “An extra step is needed to identify potentially undesirable outcomes. And to change course with a view to better outcomes in the future. This requires investment in long-term thinking and action by a broad range of stakeholders.”

According to Herens, the project has also shown that the systems approach works: “We show that addressing urgent issues can be linked to long-term goals. And the partners we worked with are now applying systems thinking themselves.”

WUR has already used the food systems approach in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. Ethiopia may follow, as Addis Ababa also faces major challenges around urban food provision. Her message for other cities is: “Link short-term action to a long-term vision, involve all the parties you need to achieve systems change, and invest in capacity building. And be patient: systems change takes time, but the result is a resilient, future-proof urban food system.”

A multidisciplinary team of Wageningen scientists collaborated in the Food Systems Dhaka project:

• Wageningen Social & Economic Research (WSER) was responsible for programme leadership and coordinated WUR’s support. Experts in policy, governance and partnerships contributed on behalf of WSER. The institute was also responsible for foresight and scenario development, as well as socio-economic expertise in modelling and consumer studies.
• Wageningen Environmental Research (WENR) contributed expertise in GIS modelling and in foresight and scenario development related to climate.
• Scientists from Wageningen Food & Biobased Research (WFBR) worked on studies concerning food chains, food waste and food loss.
• Wageningen Livestock Research (WLR) contributed by setting up and testing the pilot with black soldier fly larvae.