EcoFoodSystems catch-up with collaborators in Addis AbabaEcoFoodSystems catch-up with collaborators in Addis Ababa
Ciara Varley, Anna Lorente Sebastián, Peter C. McKeown.
Members of the EcoFoodSystems team recently met with key collaborators and stakeholders working in Ethiopia.
Members of the EcoFoodSystems team, Peter C. McKeown (EcoFoodSystems Principal Investigator), Noel Ndlovu (EcoFoodSystems Principal Investigator), Anna Lorente Sebastián (EcoFoodSystems Project Manager) and Jemima O’ Farrell (EcoFoodSystems PhD Researcher), recently met with a range of stakeholders engaged in research of relevance to the EcoFoodSystems project.
The team met with key collaborators during a visit to Addis Ababa, enjoying fruitful discussions with:
International Livestock Research Institute and World Vegetable Centre
The EcoFoodSystems team appreciated the opportunity to meet with colleagues from ILRI Ethiopia and the World Vegetable Centre. The organisations discussed potential joint research activities, including plans to further elucidate research workplans in the coming months. EcoFoodSystems learned about WorldVeg’s 1-minute audio messages as a communication tool, and WorldVeg learned more about the expertise in circular bioeconomy research within the EcoFoodSystems research group.
International Potato Institute (CIP)
The team met with Dr. Setegn Gebeyehu, Ethiopia Country Manager, Dr. Simon Heck, Senior Director, Dr. Joyce Maru, Regional Director for Africa and Dr. Mukani Moyo, Head of Urban Food Systems from CIP. EcoFoodSystems and CIP colleagues discussed a range of overarching research themes, including work on urban food systems, life cycle analyses, nutrition and resilience-sensitive dietary recommendations, and the role of food markets in enabling healthy diets.
Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI)
Dr Reta Wegary Gissa, Director of ATI, and Dr Anbissa Muleta, Senior Researcher at ATI, met with the team to discuss the use of dashboards for food system decision-making in Ethiopia. The teams discussed the national food system indicators developed by the Ethiopian Government and key commodities within Ethiopia’s agricultural system, among other topics.
Ethiopian Public Health Institute
The team were delighted to meet again with members from the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI). EPHI and EcoFoodSystems co-organised the EcoFoodSystems Multistakeholder Inception Research and Innovation Inception Workshop.
The team met with Dr. Masresha, Director of Nutrition, Environmental Health and Noncommunicable Disease Research at EPHI, Tadesse Kebebe, Researcher at Ethiopian Public Health Institute, and Mamo Kassegn Sisay to discuss ongoing and future collaborations between the EcoFoodSystems project and EPHI.
Open Street Maps, Ethiopia
EcoFoodSystems were delighted to reconnect with Open Street Maps Ethiopia. The project met with Binyam Dele, Chief Executive Director for OSM Ethiopia. The projects continued discussion of ongoing research, such as advancing mapping of food system vendors around Addis Ababa city.
FAO Ethiopia
The team gave an overview of the EcoFoodSystems City-Regional Food Systems Decision-Support Dashboard to Mr. Orlando Sosa, FAO Representative in Ethiopia, and colleagues working in the office. The EcoFoodSystems and FAO team also discussed behavioural change tools, policy briefs and the importance of linking to local universities within Ethiopia.
International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA)
The team were delighted to meet with members of ICARDA to discuss potential synergies. ICARDA is a non-profit research institution funded by the CGIAR Fund. ICARDA focuses on research-for-development activities that benefit livelihoods for resource-poor people living in dry areas.
Ethiopian Clean Cooking Alliance
EcoFoodSystems met with the Ethiopian Clean Cooking Alliance to discuss potential research synergies. The team met with Dawit Tibebu, Executive Director of ECCA, Hana Gebrehiwot, Chair of the eCooking Working Group and Henok Gebrehiwot, Business Development Officer. ECCA are an NGO working to enable more clean cooking practices across Ethiopia.
What’s next for EcoFoodSystems in Addis Ababa?
The EcoFoodSystems team were grateful for the opportunity to meet with collaborators while in Addis Ababa and discuss potential research collaborations. The project looks forward to continuing to forward the relationship with critical partners working in Ethiopia and Addis Ababa as the team moves research ideas to outputs in the upcoming final year of implementation.
The EcoFoodSystems project extends thanks to IFAD for funding of the project through the European Union DeSIRA initiative. This funding supports EcoFoodSystems ongoing collaborations and research forwarding sustainable, healthy and affordable dietary transitions in the project’s focus cities: Addis Ababa and Hanoi.