Food systems assessment methodology and process Nepal

Country teams led by governments and supported by European Union delegations, FAO representatives and other development partners conducted a food system assessment in Nepal. The Conceptual framework and method for national and territorial assessments was used to conduct the assessment. The framework uses a multistakeholder approach that involves collaboration between governments, farmers, businesses, researchers, and non-governmental organizations to get a well-rounded picture. The assessment integrates qualitative and quantitative data analysis with a participatory process by mobilizing public, private and civil society stakeholders. It includes interviews with key stakeholders and a consultation workshop to refine a systemic understanding of the food system and discuss potential levers to improve its sustainability. The assessment looks at the actors and their activities at the core of the system, their interactions across the food system and the environments directly influencing their behaviour.

This approach is designed as a preliminary rapid assessment of food systems and can be implemented over a period of 8–12 weeks.¹²

The food system assessment in Nepal highlighted the challenges in meeting the food demands of a growing and urbanizing population as it makes a transition to a federal system of governance. It allowed analysing collectively how the country can meet its constitutional obligation to ensure the right to food and transforming the food system through new policies and measures to promote local production and productivity in the face of outward migration, urbanization, lack of infrastructure and climate change.