• Ottawa, Canada: Thursday 2 June, 7-9pm (EDT)
• Baltimore, United States: Thursday 2 June, 7-9pm (EDT)
• Melbourne/Sydney, Australia: Friday 3 June, 9-11am (AEST)

Join this webinar and interactive conversation to learn about how civil society organizations in Canada, the United States, and Australia are working collaboratively to influence food system policy change and decision making.

Civil society organizations are integral to food system governance. Food systems governance is not limited to laws and regulations developed by government. It also includes practices, actions, and advocacy by a wide range of actors to create policies and change decision making structures.

The webinar will include a dialogue between civil society representatives and researchers from Canada, the US and Australia, exploring the role of civil society organizations in food system governance. We will unpack the motivations, opportunities, challenges, and lessons learnt from collaborative forms of food system governance. We will also reflect on lessons learnt from the various models of collaborative food system governance, such as food policy councils and networks, across the three countries.

Recent research will set the stage for representatives from each country to share their experiences of engaging in food system governance. Discussions emerging from the webinar will contribute to future comparative research on the role of civil society organizations in food systems governance in the US, Australia, and Canada.

A second event later in June will focus on the issues of equity and inclusion in food system governance, as well as Indigenous-settler relations. Please indicate your interest in this second event when you register.

This event is supported by funding from The Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada and Mitacs.

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Agenda

7-7.05pm (EDT) – Welcome and land acknowledgement

7.05-7.30pm – Panel presentation and Q&A featuring: Moe Garahan, Karen Bassarab, and Nick Rose

7.30-7.45pm – Presentation of research on the role of civil society organisations in food system governance in Australia: Belinda Reeve, in conversation with Charles Levkoe, and Jill Clark

7.45-7.55pm – Q&A moderated by Peter Andrée

7.55-8.05pm – Break

8.05-8.45pm – Breakout rooms with guiding questions

8.45-8.55pm – Report back from breakout rooms

8.55-9pm – Close

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Speakers

Moe Garahan, Executive Director, Just Food, Ottawa

Moe has been working on food and farming systems issues since 1995. Since 2004, Moe has been the Executive Director of Just Food in Algonquin Territory/Ottawa region, working with teams to integrate equitable food access and a local food economy within mixed urban and rural settings with a focus on community/economic development approaches.  She is a Board Director of Sustain Ontario. Since 2019, she has supported the founding of Food Communities Network as Project Director, creating a platform to connect people working at the community-wide level on food systems change coast-to-coast-to-coast.

Karen Bassarab, Senior Program Officer, John Hopkins Center for a Liveable Future

Karen Bassarab is a Senior Program Officer with the Johns Hopkins Center for a Liveable Future, where she manages the Food Policy Networks project. Her work involves both research and capacity building to support food policy councils and similar organizations in the United States to effectively engage in food systems policy change. Karen has a particular interest in local and regional food systems policy, collaborative governance, community engagement, and food access and the built environment. Karen earned a Master’s degree in Community and Regional Planning and Public Policy at the University of Texas at Austin.

Dr Nick Rose, Executive Director, Sustain: The Australian Food Network

Dr Nick Rose is Sustain’s Executive Director and a leading thinker in food system governance and urban agriculture, with over a decade’s experience in the fields of sustainable food systems and local food economies. He holds a PhD in Political Ecology from RMIT University (2013), a Master of International and Community Development (2006, Deakin University) and a Bachelor of Laws (1989, Melbourne University). In 2014, he completed a Churchill Fellowship investigating innovative models of urban agriculture in Canada, the United States and Argentina. Nick is a Partner Investigator on an Australian Research Council Discovery Project, “Strengthening Food Systems Governance at the Local Level” (2019-2022). He coordinates Sustain’s biannual Urban Agriculture Forum and its annual Urban Agriculture Month. He has published extensively on urban agriculture, local food economies and food system governance both academically and in the public domain.

Dr Belinda Reeve, Senior Lecturer, The University of Sydney Law School

Dr Charles Levkoe, Canada Research Chair in Equitable and Sustainable Food Systems, Lakehead University

Dr Jill Clark, Associate Professor, The Ohio State University John Glenn College of Public Affairs

Professor Peter Andrée, Department of Political Science, Carleton University

• Ottawa, Canada: Thursday 2 June, 7-9pm (EDT)
• Baltimore, United States: Thursday 2 June, 7-9pm (EDT)
• Melbourne/Sydney, Australia: Friday 3 June, 9-11am (AEST)

This event is being held online only.

This event is hosted by Sydney Health Law at The University of Sydney Law School.