On May 28 and 30, FoSTA-Health’s Kulima Integrated Development Solutions (KIDS) worked with Zomba and Mangochi District stakeholders to review the stakeholder databases they developed in February to improve on them and create plans for keeping them updated.

The purpose of the work is for districts to have their own food systems databases using open-access software that all stakeholders can have access to.

FoSTA-Health has been meeting with national-level stakeholders to share progress and get guidance on linking district databases to national-level databases.  At the moment, the Food Systems National Convener (Ministry of Agriculture (MoA)) does not have a specific template or system, so each district is free to create its own system.  We will continue to coordinate with key food systems partners including MoA, National Planning Commission, Mwapata, the Transformative Initiative for Food Systems German Development Cooperation (GIZ) with Civil Society Agricultural Network (CISANET) and Civil Society Organization Nutrition Alliance (CSONA), and Feed the Future Food Systems Innovation Lab run by Tufts University.  To date, we know of 3 other districts that are working on food systems stakeholder mapping: Chikwawa, Mzimba, and Dedza.

Both Districts have similar actions:  Harmonize language within their district to work towards further data collection in their districts either with an Excel template or Google form that FoSTA Health can guide on.  Both groups made WhatsApp groups dedicated to District Stakeholder Mapping and support will be virtual in June and July with additional in-person support planned each quarter.