Civil society and urban food insecurity: analyzing the roles of local food organizations in Johannesburg

Abstract

Food security civil society organizations (FSCSOs) have emerged as important institutions in the battle against food insecurity in the Global South. However, little attention has so far been paid to their organizational structure, institutional roles, and governance configurations. To fill this gap, in this paper I used surveys, semi-structured interviews, and place-based case studies to analyze the landscape of Johannesburg’s FSCSOs. Results indicate that while they fulfill many important roles, an uneven distribution of resources, institutional instability, and underdevelopment of food security social movements nevertheless weakens their ability to be effective service providers and vehicles of broader social change. Thus, despite a growing literature on alternative food and food justice movements that heralds FSCSOs as a solution to urban food insecurity, this paper argues that their conceptualization has, so far, been poorly developed; and as a consequence, their transformative potential remains weakly theorized.

Keywords:

• civil society
• food security
• hunger
• urban
• South Africa

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Jennifer Wolch and Geoffrey DeVerteuil for their intellectual guidance and the University of Southern California for funding this research. In addition, I wish to thank staff at Johannesburg’s local food organizations for agreeing to speak with me. All errors are the responsibility of the author.

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Southern California.

Notes

^1. These figures are based on estimates from the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization and the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division.

^2. I draw on a strategic-relational approach to understand the central state whereby capitalist economies are socially embedded rather than self-regulating, and dynamically regulated according to the economic norms of each society (Jessop, 2002, 2007).

^3. I use the work of Tostensen, Tvedten, and Vaa (2001) to define the concept of civil society as a fluid and dynamic category that includes all social activities not legally part of the state or internal to household activity. Building on this theorization, I use the work of Habib (2005) and Habib and Kotzé (2003) in the South African context.

^4. I utilize the work of Jun (2012) who uses the term community-based organizations as an imperfect, yet useful way to describe social associations which intend to represent areas in which they live. While not overlooking the criticisms of the local trap (Purcell, 2006), community is used in my paper knowing its limitations associated with (un)democratic representation and power.

^5. The Greater Johannesburg area included the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, and West Rand District Municipality.

^6. In Crush and Frayne’s (2010a) study, food insecurity was measured by their Household Food Insecurity Access Prevalence (HFIAP) indicator which divides households into four groups: food secure and mild, moderately, and severely food insecure. Households are classified as food insecure when they answer yes to questions about the severity and frequency of food inaccessibility and negative food consumption patterns.

^7. Other listings of organizations and in-depth interviews with FSCSOs provided ways to verify the database’s accuracy (see Warshawsky, 2013b).

^8. I conducted this database development in April 2009.

^9. Survey team coordination was operated through Wits Enterprise at the University of Witwatersrand. Surveyors were trained to ensure inter-rater reliability and validity as compared to a gold standard survey by me, the primary investigator. Surveys were conducted in person at each FSCSO to the extent possible during business hours 9 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday.

^10. Semi-structured interviews were conducted at each FSCSO during regular business hours 9 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday. Although standard protocol guided semi-structured interviews, question format was open and exploratory once the questionnaire was completed. These interviews were recorded and transcribed with agreement from the interviewee. All interviews were cited in the same manner: (Interviewee role, institution, date). As multiple interviews were completed on the same day, many interviews have the same interview date. Interviews were edited for grammatical clarity when necessary.

^11. Ibid.

^12. In this study, place-based case studies are defined as a type of intensive method (Sayer, 1992) which is firmly rooted in particular sites for extended period of time and thus ensure substantial knowledge specific to the case study at hand. Typically, these place-based case studies utilize participant observation, in-depth interview, or other type of qualitative method often associated with ethnography (Clifford & Valentine, 2003).

^13. When referring to semi-structured interview data, facts are cited in the same manner (see note 10). However, for more informal data collected through informal conversations or participant observation, specific facts cannot be cited to a particular date.

^14. Statistics South Africa 2009 estimate.

^15. Exchange rate of R1 to $7.00 in June 2006.

^16. This study uses the categories of food and groceries, housing, and transportation.

^17. Exchange rate of 1R to $7.30 on 1 April 2007.

^18. Exchange rate of 1R to $8.00 on 1 April 2008.

^19. The National Department of Health’s Integrated Nutrition Programme (INP) provides food supplements to vulnerable populations for three months to two years. Eligible groups include those with debilitating diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, young children, and pregnant women (Department of Health, South Africa, 2009). In addition, the Department of Education’s National School Nutrition Programme provides a combination of free school lunches and breakfast to eligible primary and secondary schoolchildren (Department of Education, 2009).

^20. The mean number of full-time paid, part-time paid, and volunteer workers were 10, 2, and 10 respectively.

^21. Exchange rate of 1R to $8.00 in June 2009.

^22. Exchange rate of 1R to $7.30 on 1 April 2007.

^23. Exchange rate of 1R to $7.48 at the end of 2009.

^24. Exchange rate of 1R to $7.95 in July 2009.

^25. See notes 9 and 10.