The primary objective of WP7 is to co-design policy and recommendations for policymakers using a policy dialogue methodology underpinned by scientific evidence and stakeholder engagement to facilitate the transition towards healthy and sustainable diets.
The key output will be a road-map and set of policy briefs identifying opportunities across different policy levels, involving different food system actors, to achieve a fairer/more equal transition to healthy and sustainable dietary behaviours.
Objectives
- To analyse policy dialogue processes to identify, design, select and test promising approaches.
- To identify and elucidate policy constraints to innovation across food systems through participatory and inclusive analysis.
- To identify highly promising tools and strategies for policy, using multi-level policy consultation/ policy dialogue events at multiple levels.
- To develop and test communication strategies, including on dietary advice using strategic dialogues.
- To develop a Policy Road Map, Synthesis Reports and Policy Briefs.
Methods
In collaboration with WPs 3-5, we will analyse the i) barriers and ii) facilitators identified in the transition to more healthy and sustainable diets, and iii) related innovations able to overcome barriers or augment these facilitators from a food systems perspective. The analysis will focus on promising policies that support transitions to healthy and sustainable diets and will be incorporated into a ‘balanced intervention ladder’ to increase the chances of policy adoption and implementation. Policies that encourage and enable vulnerable groups in particular to adopt healthy and sustainable diets will be emphasised. The analysis will also account for differences in food related behaviors across countries, cultures and genders, that may require different, targeted policy measures. It will account for and build on related results of other relevant projects in the field to represent the ‘start of the art’ in relation to policy measures to unleash innovation and change.
To explore the design and implementation of effective policy solutions, we will utilise policy dialogue - a reflective process that involves stakeholders from different interest groups, who discuss an issue considering their different perspectives on, and possibly divergent interests in, the same problem. A well-balanced representation of stakeholders will be invited to take part in concentrated, high level policy dialogues to discuss highly promising tools and strategies that emerged from the research, and the factors that could perpetuate or undermine their application/success in different contexts. The outcomes of interview/consultation rounds will be analysed and, in collaboration with WP participants and the project Secretariat, will inform the focus, framing, composition and form of the dialogues.
Thematic dialogues will also be organised to explore communication strategies and dietary advice that can be used by policy makers. One dialogue will be organised per food region, as well as at the EU level, to present and discuss findings derived from the project on effective strategies for policy makers to communicate to different actors across the food chain (i.e., producers, food industry) to increase the acceptability of food and health policy.
Based on the findings of the policy dialogues and thematic analyses, we will co-develop an evidence-based road-map identifying opportunities across different policy levels, involving different food system actors, to achieve a fairer/more equal transition to healthy and sustainable dietary behaviours. We will also develop policy briefs on the key themes identified, on effective approaches to facilitate the transition to healthier and more sustainable dietary behaviours, including how to message and communicate on this theme to engage key actors across the food chain as well as consumers, with a focus on ensuring a fair transition for vulnerable populations.
