IPaSS: Informality, Inclusive Growth and Food Security in Cities of the Global South

The focus of the IPaSS project of the Hungry Cities Partnership is on food security as an indicator of a successful inclusive growth strategy and on the growth potential of the food sector of the informal economy. Given the sheer size and importance of the informal food economy in most cities, and the fact that the sector is under intense competitive pressure from the global supermarket revolution of the last two decades, the knowledge generated by the project should excite considerable global interest. The overall goal of the project is the promotion of inclusive growth in the food sector of cities of the South through an enabling policy environment and support for entrepreneurship and decent employment in the informal economy.

The project objectives include the following:

(a) to generate a significant body of comparative, inter-disciplinary knowledge on the organization, structure and potential for inclusive growth in the formal and informal food economy and implications for food security in cities of the Global South;

(b) to examine the implications of formal and informal competition for entrepreneurship, innovation, job creation and inclusive growth in the urban food economy, with particular reference to women and youth;

(c) to assess national, regional and municipal policies that enable or constrain enterprise development, entrepreneurship and innovation in the informal economy;

(d) to build the institutional capacity of research organisations and networks in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean to plan and conduct collaborative, inter-regional policy-oriented research on inclusive growth and urban food systems;

(e) to mentor and train graduate students and post-doctoral researchers in Canada and in partner countries to conduct rigorous, high-quality, impactful research on urban food security and inclusive growth.

The IPaSS project will provide a global perspective on these critical issues through collaboration between researchers at five Canadian universities (WLU, UW, Western, Guelph and Carleton) and their counterparts in seven cities and countries in Africa, the Caribbean and Asia (Nanjing in China, Chennai in India, Kingston in Jamaica, Nairobi in Kenya, Mexico City in Mexico, Maputo in Mozambique and Cape Town in South Africa).