Conceptual Framework for Community Approach to Combat Food Insecurity in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

Abstract The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by the United Nations in 2015, provide a global framework for addressing poverty, hunger and the escalating impacts of climate change. In South Africa, the Ilima Lokulima Community Food Production Scheme in the Eastern Cape is a notable initiative that addresses food security. To assess the Scheme’s strengths and limitations, this chapter employed a desktop approach, adopting qualitative thematic analysis informed by the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) model. The findings of this chapter show that the Scheme’s approach is based on community and individual agricultural initiatives. In other words, support is provided to those who already have land and institutions, such as schools and clinics, that have established food gardens. Be that as it may, a noticeable weakness is that, by focusing on those who already practice agriculture, it limits broader mobilisation and fails to leverage rural households with large gardens to ensure they utilise them to produce food and combat hunger. To address this weakness, this chapter recommends a conceptual framework for a community-based approach to combat food insecurity in the Eastern Cape, emphasising ABCD as a strategy to enhance food security.