ABOUT MiFOOD

The goal of the MiFOOD Project is to design and implement a new and innovative high-impact global research and knowledge mobilization agenda focused on the neglected interactions between migration and food security within the Global South.

The project will be implemented by the Hungry Cities Partnership (or HCP) a research collaboration between over 90 researchers and partner organizations in Canada, China, Ecuador, Ghana, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Mexico, Mozambique, Namibia, Qatar, Singapore and South Africa. The project has also partnered with key international organizations in the migration and food security fields including the ILO, IOM, FAO, IFPRI, MIDEQ and SDSN to increase its global reach and impact.

The main objectives of MiFOOD include:

• Understanding the links between South-South migration, rapid urbanization, and food insecurity;
• Examining the different drivers, dimensions and vulnerabilities of internal and international migrant to food insecurity in a broad cross-section of countries and cities;
• Providing insights into the food insecurity susceptibility of migrants in bilateral and multi-lateral South-South migration corridors;
• Showing how the transformation of urban food systems is generating new forms of migration and precarious employment in the informal food sector for migrants;
• Assessing how migration and food system governance impact on migrant food security;
• Building the institutional capacity of research organisations and networks in partner countries to conduct collaborative, policy-oriented research on food security and migration;
• Training a new generation of scholars to conduct rigorous, high-impact research on the migration and food security nexus;
• Advocating for the inclusion of the migration and food security nexus in the global development agenda;
• Researching the impacts of COVID-19 on migrant populations and proposing solutions for post-pandemic recovery

The Project has five inter-disciplinary workstreams focused primarily on migrants in cities and their broader internal and international connections:

• Precarity, Exclusion and Migrant Food Insecurity in the City (WS1: Cities);
• Migrant in the Informal Food Sector of Cities (WS2: Chains);
• Migrants Exploitation and Vulnerability to Food Insecurity in Transit (WS3: Corridors);
• Rural-Urban Links, Out-Migration, and Food Security (WS4: Connections);
• Migration Policies and Urban Food System Governance (WS5: Controls).

MiFOOD findings will be mobilized through a multi-pronged strategy to reach academic and non-academic audiences, leading to an enriched global discourse on the topic of migration and food security and empowering international and local organizations to understand and address the vulnerabilities of migrants to food insecurity. The research will inform public policy and global development agendas; build the capacity of institutions to address a major systemic development challenge; and integrate knowledge about migrant food insecurity into local development strategies.

MiFOOD is funded by a Partnership Grant awarded in 2021 by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).