USAID and USAID Advancing Nutrition curated this focused set of tools to support USAID Missions and partners in putting a food systems approach into action. The toolkit comprises resources that provide practical guidance on how to design, implement, and measure concrete activities that improve diets and nutrition through food systems. It includes resources developed by USAID and USAID Advancing Nutrition, as well as other organizations.
How to Use the Toolkit
Use the search below to organize the tools and resources based on where they are most relevant within a food system, using the components outlined in the Bureau for Resilience and Food Security Conceptual Framework. You can also sort resources according to their program application, including design, implementation, and evaluation.
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Search the Food Systems Toolkit
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Developing Resources to Support Policymakers to Take a Food Systems Approach to Policymaking
There are increasing calls to take a food systems approach to food and nutrition policy; however, it is often unclear how policymakers can adopt this approach and adapt it to their particular context. R4D and the Centre for Food Policy at City at University of London developed an evidence review and four technical briefs to respond to this challenge. The briefs provide practical guidance on how to operationalize a food systems approach to achieve improved food systems outcomes.
Guide on Gender Integration in Nutrition Programs
This guide provides resources and examples for interventions that effectively integrate gender into nutrition programs.
Covers why gender is important for improving diets and nutrition; steps to integrate gender at each phase of the program cycle; how to conduct a gender analysis; and general considerations for activities
Applicable to both nutrition-specific and -sensitive activities
Developing Resources to Support Policymakers to Take a Food Systems Approach to Policymaking
There are increasing calls to take a food systems approach to food and nutrition policy; however, it is often unclear how policymakers can adopt this approach and adapt it to their particular context. R4D and the Centre for Food Policy at City at University of London developed an evidence review and four technical briefs to respond to this challenge. The briefs provide practical guidance on how to operationalize a food systems approach to acheive improve food systems outcomes.
Illustrative Behaviors to Improve Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture Tool
This tool offers an evidence-based list of illustrative nutrition-sensitive behaviors to help activity designers and implementers design more effective approaches to increase uptake and adoption of behaviors to improve nutrition outcomes using a food systems lens.
Food Processing for Improved Diets
The relationship between food processing and diets is complex; expanding the production of processed foods may play a role in both supporting and hindering food systems in delivering safe, nutritious diets. In regions of the world with high burdens of malnutrition—including both overweight/obesity, micronutrient deficiency, and undernutrition—food processing can be leveraged to improve diets and nutrition.
Diet Assessment Decision Tool
This tool makes it easier for practitioners and decision makers to understand dietary patterns and nutrient intake. Such information is critical to design, monitor, and evaluate efforts to improve diets. The decision tool provides existing data sources and data collection tools related to the different target groups and diet questions below.
The tools provide information on diets of five target groups:
Food Processing for Improved Diets
The relationship between food processing and diets is complex; expanding the production of processed foods may play a role in both supporting and hindering food systems in delivering safe, nutritious diets. In regions of the world with high burdens of malnutrition—including both overweight/obesity, micronutrient deficiency, and undernutrition—food processing can be leveraged to improve diets and nutrition.
Diet Assessment Decision Tool
This tool makes it easier for practitioners and decision makers to understand dietary patterns and nutrient intake. Such information is critical to design, monitor, and evaluate efforts to improve diets. The decision tool provides existing data sources and data collection tools related to five different target groups.
Focusing on Social Norms: A Practical Guide for Nutrition Programmers to Improve Women’s and Children’s Diets
Social norms influence the meaning and value of food as well as roles and expectations. This guide is for nutrition program planners and implementers planning norm-responsive activities within nutrition-sensitive or nutrition-specific programming. The guide includes tips and tools to improve program outcomes by understanding and responding to social norms at key points in the program cycle and incorporates background on how to identify norms and monitoring and measuring normative change.
USAID Large-Scale Food Fortification Programming Guide: Supporting Food Fortification at a Country Level and on a Global Scale
Large-scale food fortification (LSFF) has been shown to be a cost-effective approach to provide essential vitamins and minerals to households that are unable to access a diverse, healthy diet. The programming guide was designed for USAID Missions and implementing partners but can be used by any programmer or decision maker aiming to asses and adjust LSFF programming in low and middle income countries to better meet the needs of the local context.
Suitability of Data-Collection Methods, Tools, and Metrics for Evaluating Market Food Environments in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs)
This journal article summarizes results from a scoring exercise and expert survey to determine the suitability of data collection assessments for measuring market food environments in LMICs.
Bureau for Resilience and Food Security (RFS) Food Systems Conceptual Framework Guidance Document
This five-page document provides an overview of the Bureau for Resilience and Food Security's (RFS) conceptual framework.
Explains the conceptual framework’s purpose, components, and suggestions for how it can be used
DQQ Tools and Data
The Global Diet Quality project developed the Diet Quality Questionnaire (DQQ), a standardized, easy-to-use, 5-minute survey for collecting comparable food group consumption data. You can visit their website to access the DQQ and other tools to monitor trends and compare diet quality in and across countries and sectors.
Data4Diets
Data4Diets aims to help programmers, researchers, policymakers in accessing and applying diet and food security indicators. You can access their online repository to learn more about which indicators are best suited for your objectives, which data sources are most appropriate, and how the indicators can be used to guide actionable policy.
The Integral Role of Food Safety in Strengthening Food Systems
This brief outlines how USAID is promoting adoption of food safety practices within the food system. You can learn more about steps you can take to incorporate food safety into planning and programming.
Global Individual Food Consumption Data Tool
The Global Individual Food Consumption Data Tool (GIFT) is an online platform that includes regularly updated data food safety and nutrition data from around the world. You can visit the platform to access quantitative food consumption data from national and local level surveys, food based indicators, and microdata, which can be downloaded for further analysis. GIFT aims to support programmers and decision makers to make informed decisions related to food safety and nutrition.
Locally Led Development: Partnering for Improved Nutrition Brief
This brief draws on lessons learned from a USAID project in Odisha, India to provide recommendations for USAID and other implementing partners on how to partner with local government, systems, and structures to scale nutrition interventions. You can learn about six recommendations on how to build and maintain successful partnerships.
Methods, Tools, and Metrics for Evaluating Market Food Environments in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
This report highlights 47 existing tools, methods, and metrics that are suitable for evaluating the food environment in low and middle income countries. You can learn more about which assessments are relevant for your program context.
Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture Design Guide Community of Practice
This is a COP to support implementing partners in preparing to facilitate a workshop to design more effective nutrition-sensitive agriculture interventions. You can access the COP to ask questions, share experiences, and access technical resources related to the guide.
Social and Behavior Change Resources for Women's Healthy Diets: 5 Gaps and Recommendations
This brief outlines five gaps and recommendations in social and behavior change (SBC) resources for women's healthy diets. You can learn more about where more research and tools are needed to guide future SBC investment and programming.
Food Prices for Nutrition
Food Prices for Nutrition project develops tools and conducts research to help programmers and policymakers access and use food price and diet cost data to design more effective food systems policies and programs for nutrition. You can access a range of publications resources on their website to learn about metrics and how they can be used.
Designing Effective Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture Activities Workshop: Facilitator's Guide and Slides
This is a step-by-step guide to help implementing partners design and measure nutrition-sensitive agriculture interventions. You can use it during the start up or working planning phases of a project.
42 Policies and Actions to Orient Food Systems Towards Healthier Diets For All
This report draws on recent evidence to outline 42 policy actions that policymakers and programmers can enact to support food systems in delivering nutritious, high-quality diets for all. You can use this resource to get ideas for where to intervene throughout the food system; including action oriented toward production, supply chains, food environments and consumers. The report includes the potential impact of each action.
Food Systems Dashboard
The Food Systems Dashboard is an online tool that policymakers and programmers can use to access and visualize food systems data. You can use it to compare food systems data across regions and countries and track progress on key indicators.
Food Systems and Nutrition E-Consultation Report
This report provides recommendations for decision makers and donors about where more research and investment is needed to bridge existing evidence gaps and reshape food systems to improve health and nutrition. You can learn more about five priority areas for future research.
Landscape Assessment: Food Processing in Feed the Future Investments
This executive summary summarizes findings from an assessment of USAID Feed the Future food processing programs and provides recommendations for how USAID and implementing partners can improve food processing programming for better diets and nutrition. You can learn more about opportunities to improve diet quality within food processing interventions.
Food Systems and Diets: A Handbook of Essential Policies
This handbook highlights essential entry points within the food systems where policymakers can intervene to shift food systems towards providing more safe, affordable, and accessible, and nutritious diets. You can this as a resource to draw and adapt ideas for developing policies tailored to your specific context.