Food Security

Under this special programme, hbs Nairobi works towards realizing the Right to Food in Kenya, which is provided for in Article 43 of the Constitution: “Every person has the right to be free from hunger, and to have adequate food of acceptable quality.” Our activities aim to influence the political approach to food security and target avenues related to policy development and implementation at national and county-level. Additionally, the initiative relies on creative communications and an influencer-led campaign to promote innovative solutions to the problem of chronic food insecurity. We engage with mainstream and alternative media to shift the emphasis of the debate on hunger and unaffordable or inadequate food to a discussion about food rights.

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Recent Articles
Recent Publications

Critique of the Green Economy - Toward Social and Environmental Equity

The idea of growth as the way to end poverty and escape economic and financial crisis remains largely undisputed and is currently reflected in the concept of the green economy. But not everything that is “green” and efficient is also environmentally sustainable and socially equitable. This essay outlines a policy of less, of wealth in moderation, to enable the Earth’s resources to make a life of dignity and without need possible for all.

Irrigation Agriculture in Kenya - Impact of the Economic Stimulus Programme and Long-term Prospects for Food Security in an Era of Climate Change

The study analysed the irrigation expansion strategy as a measure of increasing food security and securing livelihoods in Kenya, as well as its role as a measure to climate change adaptation in relation to other measures e.g. selection of crop varietal suitability, environmental conservation through afforestation, agro forestry and land use management and practices.
Our programs

Agroecology

Food security

Cha Kula Graphic Novel cover

The Blind Spot | Special Edition

Publication
The Route to Food Initiative, a program component of the Heinrich Boell Foundation, has launched a special edition of the Chakula Magazine, a graphic novel entitled “The Blind Spot.” The Blind Spot brings to life the ways in which politics plays out in Kenya’s food system in the form of a visually compelling political drama set in a fictional future county called Kajibora. The main protagonist, Sifa, is a passionate young professor from the city who travels back to her hometown of Kajibora after the death of her grandfather, a renowned politician and leader of a famous peasant revolution. Upon her return, Sifa discovers that the post-revolutionary county is being taken over by a multinational industrial agribusiness company.

Pesticides

HHP Cover page

Toxic Business | Highly Hazardous Pesticides in Kenya

Publication
The report “Toxic Business; Highly Hazardous Pesticides in Kenya” presents analyses on actual data of pesticides used in 2020 in Kenya. It shows that immediate action is necessary to protect human health, the environment, and the right to healthy food in Kenya.

Gender and food systems

Power Poverty Hunger - Food System Facts 2021.png

Power Poverty Hunger - Food System Facts 2021

New Publication
It is possible to create sustainable, just and healthy food systems. For this to happen, it is key to strengthen political structures that truly focus on the right to food, on healthy nutrition, and on protecting biodiversity and the climate.