O-73 A tale of two interventions: co-creation and implementation of context-driven interventions to support local food production and consumption in two Caribbean countries
Author(s):
CR Brown, K Patel, C Howitt, N Unwin, MM Murphy
Type Of Study:
- Experimental or Intervention Study
Country(ies) Of Focus:
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Year of Presentation:
2026
Objective: To: (a) co-create two community-driven interventions promoting local food production and consumption in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) and St. Lucia
(SLU); (b) explore participants’ early experiences and perceived outcomes; (c) identify barriers and facilitators to
implementation.
Methods: This study used a participatory design, and living labs approach to co-create, implement, and evaluate two interventions with local partner organisations in each setting. Stakeholder interviews, group model building workshops, causal loop diagrams and Theories of Change helped co-create contextually-tailored interventions: backyard gardens in SVG and a nutrition education programme in SLU. This process hinged on continuous, open communication between researchers and partners, who combined complementary expertise to design feasible, culturally-relevant interventions aligned with community needs. Focus groups stakeholders interviews captured early perceived outcomes and experiences.
Results: Preliminary findings indicate increased local food production and consumption, improved agricultural and nutrition knowledge, strengthened community cohesion, emerging economic benefits, heightened public interest, and strong prospects for sustainability in both settings. Implementation challenges included funding constraints, unpredictable connectivity and technological limitations. Facilitators included strong pre-existing relationships between researchers and organisations, local reputations of organisations, close-knit community networks, and active engagement strategies to support participant retention.
Conclusion: This study demonstrates the early promise of co-created, community-driven interventions to strengthen local food production and consumption in Caribbean small island developing states. Though differing in focus and delivery, interventions shared core design principles grounded in local priorities and generated early qualitative evidence of positive behavioral, social, and economic change. Interventions align with regional efforts to reduce import dependence, build resilience to climate and market shocks, and simultaneously advance nutrition, livelihoods, and sustainability - key priorities for Caribbean food system transformation.