The Women Feeding Cities (WFC) project team in Jamaica convened the second Policy Engagement Workshop (PEW) in Montego Bay, Jamaica, on 27 January 2026, bringing together policymakers, researchers, and local stakeholders to examine the resilience of food systems in the face of multiple shocks. Held under the theme “Shock Response Food Systems,” the workshop broadened discussion beyond the COVID-19 pandemic to include the impacts of recent climate-related events, particularly the hurricane that affected Jamaica in October 2025.
The workshop was co-hosted with the St. James Municipal Corporation and opened with a cultural presentation by students of Corinaldi Primary School. A total of 39 participants attended the workshop, with eleven participating in person and 28 joining virtually from the Sustainable Rural and Agricultural Development Research Cluster (S/RAD) at SALISES, University of the West Indies. The in-person participants included:
- Richard Vernon His Worship, The Mayor of Montego Bay
- Courtney Cole Chief Technical Director, MOAFM
- Denise Smith Parish Manager, SDC
- Naudia Crosskill Chief Executive Officer, STJMC
- Sherika Lewis Chief Public Health Inspector, MOHW
- Neko Wright Market Manager, STJMC
- Recorgo Holt Parish Agriculture Manager, RADA
- Shanice Williams Director of Revenue & Commercial Service, STJMC
- Chandradath Madho Phd Candidate, SALISES, UWI
- Natalie Dietrich Jones Senior Fellow, SALISES, UWI
- Joet Williams Student Assistant, UWI
Remarks on behalf of the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining were delivered by Mr. Courtney Cole, Chief Technical Director, who highlighted initiatives introduced in response to lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Natalie Dietrich Jones, Principal Investigator of the WFC project, presented findings from a survey of 250 informal food vendors in Montego Bay, offering insights into livelihoods, vulnerabilities, and coping strategies within the informal food sector. The workshop also featured a virtual presentation by Dr. Ana Touza, FAO Representative for Jamaica, The Bahamas and Belize, focusing on building resilient food systems.
Discussions underscored the complex and overlapping nature of shocks affecting urban food systems, drawing comparisons between the impacts of pandemics and weather-related disasters, as well as similarities between Montego Bay and Kingston, which was also surveyed under the WFC project. Key concerns included the need for gender-sensitive policy interventions, stronger social protection mechanisms for informal workers, and enhanced resilience of Jamaica’s food system to withstand future shocks. The policy recommendations highlighted the need to strengthen national systems to better withstand future shocks; prioritize vulnerable groups within policy frameworks; build community-level capacity for food production and recovery; and establish a resilient national food reserve with a strong focus on food storage.
The agenda of the workshop is available for downloading HERE.
The Women Feeding Cities (WFC) project, funded by NFRF and IDRC and part of the MiFOOD Network, examines the impacts of public health containment and mitigation measures during the COVID-19 pandemic on women working in the informal food sector. The project focuses on women’s socio-economic wellbeing and household food security, with the goal of providing gender-responsive, locally grounded evidence to inform post-pandemic recovery and resilience-building efforts.