Africa is not short of research on food systems, but translating that knowledge into effective interventions to improve diets, health, and livelihoods across the continent remains a challenge.
Now, a new platform, Africa Regional Collaborative for Agriculture, Nutrition and Health (ANH-ARC), aims to close this divide by bringing together leading African research institutions, global academic partners, policymakers and funders.
The initiative is co-led by Stellenbosch University (SU) in Southern Africa, the University of Ghana (UG) in West Africa, and Ethiopia’s Policy Studies Institute (PSI) in East Africa, working in collaboration with the global ANH Academy Science–Policy Platform. It was officially launched in Accra, Ghana, on 30 April 2026.
The platform aims to strengthen the link between evidence, policy and implementation in African food systems to make them healthier, more equitable and climate-resilient.
“This is about ensuring that our research does not remain in journals, but actually influences policy and practice,” said SU dean of agrisciences, Professor Kennedy Dzama, who serves as a principal investigator on the programme.
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From knowledge to implementation
Food systems in Africa are under intensifying pressure. Undernutrition remains widespread, while obesity, micronutrient deficiencies and diet-related diseases are rising.
Climate change, inequality and changes in food environments are compounding these pressures.
Researchers, governments and regional bodies are expanding the evidence base and policy frameworks to overcome these challenges, yet translation into policy and practice remains uneven.
The ANH-ARC is designed as an integrated, “end-to-end” programme linking evidence generation with financing, governance and implementation.
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UG’s Professor Amos Laar said the initiative seeks to address fragmentation across sectors: “Agriculture, nutrition, and health can no longer operate in silos; evidence must deliberately connect them to inform policy-relevant decisions.”
Meanwhile, PSI’s Dr Tseday Jemaneh Mekasha stressed that gender and equity considerations must be embedded in how food-systems evidence is generated, policies are designed, and decisions are made, or they risk failure.
African-led collaboration
The ANH-ARC is explicitly designed to be African-led, while also globally connected. “The partnership is designed to ensure that African voices are central in shaping the agenda,” Dzama said.
Speaking on behalf of the ANH Academy, LSHTM’s Professor Suneetha Kadiyala said, “Sustainable change depends not simply on better evidence, but on partnership structures that redistribute voice, leadership and agenda-setting closer to where decisions and impacts are felt.”
The funders echoed this emphasis on impact and collaboration.
“I’m proud of the UK’s investment in the ANH Academy and of what the ARC represents – a strong commitment to equitable, Africa-led research with real-world impact,” said Professor Sir John Edmunds of the UK FCDO.
Ana Maria Loboguerrero of the Gates Foundation added that the initiative comes at a critical moment. “Bringing together leading research and policy experts, the collaborative will improve access to safe, affordable and healthy diets by leveraging rigorous evidence rooted in local realities.”
Stellenbosch oversees governance
At SU, the initiative is anchored in the faculty of agrisciences, which leads the programme’s governance component. The faculty is consistently ranked top in Africa for agricultural research and education, and has a strong international reputation in food systems science.
A distinctive feature of ANH-ARC is its emphasis on applied, multi-stakeholder approaches. At SU, this builds on the work of the Southern Africa Food Lab (SAFL), bringing together government, academia, business and civil society to co-develop solutions to complex food system challenges.
Dzama, who took up his role as dean in January 2026 and is also head of the SAFL, is an internationally recognised researcher in animal breeding, genetics and sustainable agriculture, with a strong focus on climate-resilient livestock systems.
He emphasised, “Strengthening governance systems and accountability mechanisms will be critical to translating knowledge into sustained impact at scale.”
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