Who Really Counts in Iran's National Food Assistance Program? Lessons From Multi-Stakeholder Processes in the Wicked Policy Area of Food Security; [¿A Quien Se Tiene En Cuenta Realmente En El Programa Nacional De Asistencia Alimentaria En Iran? Lecciones Sobre Procesos Con Participacion Multiple En La Complicada Area De Politica De Seguridad Alimentaria]; [Quem Importa Realmente No Programa Nacional De Assistencia Alimentar Do Ira? Licoes Dos Processos Com Multiplos Atores Na Area Politica Complexa De Seguranca Alimentar] Publisher Pubmed



Pourghaderi M¹ ; Omidvar N¹ ; Takian A² ; Ville AS³ ; Kangarani HM⁴ ; Einizinab H¹ Show Affiliations
Source: Cadernos de Saude Publica Published:2022

Abstract

Multi-stakeholder processes - as a necessary part in the development of public policies - can provide diverse perspectives to inform and to improve food security policy-making. Iran's National Food Assistance Program (NFAP) is one of the major welfare programs in Iran that reduces food insecutiry to low-income households. This study aimed to identify and to categorize actual and potential stakeholders in NFAP using the stakeholder salience model. According to Mitchell's theory, stakeholders' attributes (power, legitimacy, and urgency) were assessed based on the nature of their interactions, roles, and level of engagement. Results revealed a number of significant but marginalized stakeholders, including Iranian Ministry of Health (office of community nutrition improvement), academia, center for food and nutrition research, target group, charities, and international organizations, who have not received any targeted organizational attention and priority to their claims. The unbalanced attention provided to some stakeholder groups characterized as definitive and dominant and ignoring some important ones will jeopardize long-term viability and undermine support for the program with inevitable declines in legitimacy. Understanding the change in the stakeholders' characteristics is the main variable to determine the allocation of organizational resources in response to different and rising stakeholders' demands and possibly the projects outcomes. This will facilitate and enhance the possibility of knowledge exchange and learning, and greater trust among stakeholders during the food and nutrition policy-making process. © 2022 Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz. All rights reserved.