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Research has been compared to the removal of emotion from human experiences and diluting it into a series of numbers. This is one method of research that community knows, but to put into practice sovereign processes for how research is conducted and led, challenging how the status quo of typical research design and funding is necessary. We can no longer wait as “liberation” and “community co-creation” have become the buzz words for current and upcoming funding opportunities, with their meanings reduced to basic interactions with community instead of shifting power to them. Too much has been lost, too much has been co-opted, too much has been extracted from community for researchers to remain static. This is the seed for true change.
The Food Access, Justice, and Sovereignty (FAJS) framework is a lens to critically examine FAM interventions and to identify whether they promote food “access,” “justice” or “sovereignty.” Each “category” offers guidelines for how access, justice or sovereignty can be operationalized in the FAM intervention. However, the guidelines can be applied broadly across not just the intervention itself, but in planning, implementation, research methodology, evaluation, policy making, funding, and partnership building, making it a versatile tool for FAM interventionalists. (Figure 1). The aim of the framework is to provide clear delineations and to name the intended goal of the intervention:
Justice: Advocate for the equitable distribution of healthy and culturally appropriate food, addressing systemic injustices within the food system
Access: Increase availability of healthy food for as many people as possible
Sovereignty: To shift power and capital to communities so they have ownership and control over their localized food value chain and to change economic realities that perpetuate the cycle of food insecurity/poverty
"Research is human stories with the tears wiped away"
