JAFSCD peer-reviewed article by Elisabeth Ofosuah Obeng (Wageningen Economic Research), Sabine Desczka (Wageningen Economic Research), Bobby Tsvetkov (Wageningen Economic Research), Inder Kumar (Wageningen Environmental Research), and Sophie Galema (Wageningen Economic Research)
African communities encounter many environmental, social, economic, food, nutrition, and health-related challenges. When new technologies are tried to address these issues, there is often insufficient evidence to support a wider intervention. As a result, the community's needs remain unmet. Co-creative rapid assessments can address this information gap and contribute to the strategic action of consumption and production systems in the community.
In a new JAFSCD article, Co-creative rapid assessment for actionable circular food systems, authors Elisabeth Ofosuah Obeng, Sabine Desczka, Bobby Tsvetkov, Inder Kumar, and Sophie Galema present the learnings from a co-creative rapid assessment used in INCiTiS.eu. This project addresses the need for change in local community food systems. Corresponding author Elisabeth Obeng can be contacted at Elisabeth.obeng@wur.nl.
KEY FINDINGS
The living lab approach is relatively new. It transforms ideas directly into actionable impacts on the community level, with no time required for extensive strategic research. Co-creative rapid assessment was used to define a strategic direction early on in the project. It highlighted the need for more fish and, in particular, more locally grown indigenous vegetables under the constraint of data limitations early on in the project. The results obtained from our food system analysis were unique and distinct for the local context, and therefore directly actionable.
Living labs could catalyze proactive actions toward women, promote co-management of living labs, support access to finance, and enhance education and knowledge provision.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR POLICY, PRACTICE, AND RESEARCH
Relying on the knowledge of local experts and the availability of immediate local information ensures a consistent approach within a local dynamic context. It underscores the importance of ongoing local engagement to sustain impact. Co-creative rapid assessment helped to define a strategic direction early on in the project under the constraint of data limitations so often faced in African communities.
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Co-creative rapid assessment supports strategic decision-making for community-level living labs early in a project and helps to secure actionable impact. In a new study published in JAFSCD, this technique revealed the need for more fish and locally grown indigenous vegetables while showing that access to these disciplines was limited by a lack of knowledge facilities and finance. The researchers learned that co-creative rapid assessments are a promising method to raise awareness of the specific opportunities, challenges, and bottlenecks in a community, and to align the local community with actionable food system transformation. Read the full JAFSCD article for free: https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2025.142.005
