Food as the Cornerstone of Social Development

MOGADISHU / ROME, October 31 (IPS) – Food has always been political. It decides whether families thrive or fall into poverty, whether young people see a future of prospect or despair, whether communities feel included or pushed aside. Food is also a basic human right – one recognized in international law but too often unrealized in practice.Guaranteeing that right requires viewing food not as a form of emergency relief, but as the cornerstone of sustainable social development.

Despite this, food systems rarely feature in discussions of social policy, even though they underpin the same goals world leaders will take up at the World Social Summit in Doha this November: eradicating poverty, securing decent work, and advancing inclusion.

food as social infrastructure

Food is often treated as a humanitarian issue, a matter for relief in times of drought or war. But look closer,and it is indeed the ultimate social policy.

Food systems sustain half the world’s population – around 3.8 billion people – through farming, processing, transport, and retail, most of it informal and rural. They determine how families spend thier income,who can afford a healthy diet,who learns and thrives in school,and who is left behind. food systems mirror our societies – where women bear the greatest burden of unpaid work, where child labour denies children education, and where Indigenous and marginalized communities are excluded.

Seen through this lens, food is social infrastructure: the invisible system that underpins poverty reduction, livelihoods, and inclusion.When it functions, societies grow more equal and resilient. When it falters, inequality and exclusion deepen.

Pathways out of poverty

Across low-income countries, agriculture and food processing remain the single largest source of livelihoods. National food systems transformations are showing that targeted investments here can have outsized effects on poverty reduction.

In Rwanda, investment in farmer cooperatives and value chains has enabled smallholders to capture more of the value of their crops, lifting entire communities. In Brazil, school feeding programs that source from family farmers have created stable markets for the rural poor while improving child nutrition.

And in Somaliathe work of the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub with the Resident Coordinator’s Office and national partners is helping to strengthen pastoralist value chains and improve access to markets. By connecting local producers with regional buyers and embedding resilience into social protection systems, Somalia is charting a path out of chronic vulnerability toward sustainable livelihoods.

This approach combines food systems transformation with climate-smart social protection – linking producers and markets with safety nets that improve nutrition, boost inclusion, and attract investment. It is a model built on social and economic partnerships between government,civil society,and the

Food Systems Are the Missing Link in Social Development

We could invest in food systems as the foundation of long-term social development. Progress shouldn’t be measured only by GDP or employment rates, but by whether every child eats a healthy meal each day, whether rural youth see farming as a path to prosperity, and whether no mother has to choose between buying medicine or buying bread – feeding her family today or tomorrow.

That’s the lens the World Social Summit needs. Poverty, unemployment, and exclusion are experienced daily through empty plates, insecure jobs, and the quiet despair of being shut out of opportunity.

The Way Forward

Food systems are already delivering – in farmers’ cooperatives, women- and youth-led businesses, and in national efforts like Somalia’s to link food transformation with social protection and employment. But they remain under-recognized in the social development agenda.

Doha offers a chance to correct that. If leaders are serious about eradicating poverty, creating decent work, and advancing inclusion, they should start with food. Its the system that connects households to hope, work to dignity, and communities to resilience.

George Conway, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, and Deputy Special Representative to the UN Secretary General, Somalia

Stefanos Fotiou, Director of the Office of Sustainable Development Goals at the Food and Agriculture organization, and Director of the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub

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