Adaptive food and nutrition Governance: The Role of regional and subregional technical platforms and partnerships amidst a Crisis of multilateralism

The weakening of global multilateral mechanisms has opened space for regional and subregional level technical partnerships to function as adaptive governance mechanisms. This paper contends that these partnerships can function as adaptive governance mechanisms in a context where global multilateral cooperation is becoming ineffective. By applying the Political Economy Analysis (PEA) framework, we posit that regional and subregional technical partnerships offer a possible model for reimagining food and nutrition governance. These platforms have succeeded by prioritizing delivery on technical goals (e.g. locust control, healthy school meals), and inclusive leadership. Further, these bridging structures are less susceptible to the erosion of global-level multilateralism because they are grounded in the immediate economic and environmental realities faced by the member countries.