Advancing food safety in Africa in the informal sector: a lean multi-actor use case approach on innovations with strong stakeholder engagement

The Food Safety for Africa (FS4Africa) project aims to improve food safety in Africa's informal sector through an innovative use case approach with strong stakeholder engagement. This paper discusses four use cases: aflatoxin management, pesticide and antibiotic residue management, transparency and traceability in food production, and microbiological quality monitoring. A lean, multi-actor approach is employed, involving co-design, implementation, testing, and evaluation to develop Minimum Viable Products (MVPs). The use case approach is anchored in, innovation systems, and design-science theory. Stakeholder engagement is crucial, with efforts to integrate local communities, government agencies, and private sector partners. The paper highlights the importance of tailored interventions, continuous refinement based on user feedback, and the creation of synergies among use cases to enhance food safety practices and outcomes in the informal sector. It presents a report of the first implementation cycle of an ongoing, multi-year project, documenting the process and presenting the first findings. This is from the early-stage process and output indicators rather than confirmed outcome- or impact-level evidence. Scalability and transformation claims are consequently positioned within a framework from provisional and hypothesis-generating data. This will be required to be tested with outcome data in a planned follow-up paper.