Assessing what food policies lead to on the ground: exploring opportunities and challenges of the MUFPP indicator framework

Local governments are increasingly adopting food policies, but the extent to which these policies advance their stated aims often remains unknown. Indicator frameworks have been developed to facilitate evaluation, but in practice, food policy evaluation remains limited, as cities face increasing challenges. Through an explorative case study, we examine implementation opportunities and challenges for the indicator framework with a relatively greater potential reach among governments: the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact framework. Data, collected from expert interviews, were inductively analyzed for evaluation opportunities and challenges. Our analysis confirms that, at present, the value of this framework lies less in the evaluation outcomes themselves, and more in opportunities generated from the process, such as concretizing policy priorities and goals and generating political will. Encountered challenges include lack of data and resources, difficulty of adaptation to the local context, and poor data accessibility. Evaluation challenges between thematic areas differ: issues related to food production, supply, and distribution prove relatively hard, while health and governance issues are easier to assess. We emphasize the value of approaching evaluation less as a mechanism of accountability and control, and more with a view to acknowledging its processual capacity to improve food policy and learn.

Automated summary

Food policy evaluation in cities face challenges such as lack of data and resources, difficulty in adapting to the local context, and poor data accessibility. Evaluation challenges differ between thematic areas, with health and governance issues being easier to assess compared to issues related to food production, supply, and distribution.