Participatory approaches: a necessity for sustainable food systems ? ; Généraliser les approches participatives dans l’accompagnement de projets alimentaires : une nécessité pour des systèmes alimentaires durables ?

Achieving food sustainability is limited by the multi-dimensionality and severity of it, and the diversity of stakeholders involved with divergent and, in cases, conflicting interests. Therefore, building policies that enable food sustainability requires careful consideration of these limiting factors as well as strong collaboration and coordination among stakeholders for orchestrated actions that favor the general interest.Therefore, working towards food sustainability requires participatory approaches that can facilitate integrating the different views, voices, and interests of the stakeholders involved in developing a shared and concerted vision of what food sustainability means for their territory.Nonetheless, the effectiveness and enabling conditions of participatory approaches for successfully achieving food sustainability remain unclear. Similarly, systematic analysis of the limitations of participatory approaches to building cohesion among the diverse stakeholders involved in strengthening food sustainability remains scarce.This study contributes to closing these knowledge gaps by interviewing and learning from eighteen practitioners through a semi-structured interview that lasts 1h30min each approximately. Practitioners work with participatory approaches to enable and facilitate transitioning towards sustainable food systems in contrasting territories with a wide range of challenges across France. Practitioners shared their methods, tools, and attitudes to carry out their facilitation and concertation processes adequately. Similarly, practitioners share the main difficulties they face and their expectations to improve further participatory approaches in supporting projects that aim to achieve food sustainability.The results indicate that the facilitators' attitude and the know-how are critical for a successful mediation process beyond the facilitation tool. Nonetheless, the major challenges rest on the conditions set by public organizations for carrying out and uptaking the outcomes from participatory ...