Improving food systems: A participatory consultation exercise to determine priority research and action areas in Viet Nam

Abstract

With increased burden of malnutrition on global health, there is a need to set clear
and transparent priorities for action in food systems at a global and local level. While
priority settings methods are available for several adjacent domains, such as nutrition
and health policies, setting priorities for food system research has not been documented
and streamlined. The challenges involve food systems’multisector,multi-stakeholder and
multi-outcome nature. Where data exists, it is not easy to aggregate data from across
food system dimensions and stakeholders to make an informed analysis of the overall
picture of the food system, as well as current and potential food system trade-offs to
informresearch and policy. Once research priorities are set, they risk staying on paper and
never make their ways to concrete outputs and outcomes. In this paper, we documented
and assessed the inclusive process of setting research priorities for a local food system,
taking Vietnamese food systems as a case study. From this exercise, we examined
how priority setting for food systems research could learn from and improve upon
earlier priority setting research practices in other domains. We discussed the lessons for
research and policies in local food systems, such as the