This paper provides an overview of the arguments for the central role of families, defined very broadly, and we emphasise the importance of efforts to strengthen families to support children affected by HIV and AIDS. We draw on work conducted in the Joint Learning Initiative on Children and AIDS's Learning Group 1: Strengthening Families, as well as published data and empirical literature to provide the rationale for family strengthening. We close with the following recommendations for strengthening families to ameliorate the effects of HIV and AIDS on children. Firstly, a developmental approach to poverty is an essential feature of responses to protect children affected by HIV and AIDS, necessary to safeguard their human capital. For this reason, access to essential services, such as health and education, as well as basic income security, must be at the heart of national strategic approaches. Secondly, we need to ensure that support garnered for children is directed to families. Unless we adopt a family oriented approach, we will not be in a position to interrupt the cycle of infection, provide treatment to all who need it and enable affected individuals to be cared for by those who love and feel responsible for them. Thirdly, income transfers, in a variety of forms, are desperately needed and positively indicated by available research. Basic economic security will relieve the worst distress experienced by families and enable them to continue to invest in the health care and education of their children. Lastly, interventions are needed to support distressed families and prevent knock-on negative outcomes through programmes such as home visiting, and protection and enhancement of children's potential through early child development efforts.

Global publications on the international AIDS epidemic report on the existence of an ever-increasing number of orphans and vulnerable children. It has been suggested that by the end of this decade there will be in excess of 25 million AIDS orphans globally, an issue which will require understanding and organisation of long-term medical, psychological and social support. This study provides a systematic review to examine the use, overuse and misuse of the term orphan and explores the benefits and limitations of this approach. It then summarises the knowledge on orphans to date. Using a search strategy of published studies and recent conference abstracts, 383 papers were identified where the concept of AIDS and Orphan was raised. The papers were systematically coded and reviewed to understand when and how a child is labelled an orphan, and to summarise the effect of orphanhood on outcome measures, most notably psychologically and physically. All controlled studies published prior to 2006 were reviewed. A consistent picture of negative effects of parental death (however defined) on a wide range of physical, socioeconomic and psychological outcomes were recorded. Seventeen studies met criteria for in-depth review (empirical, fully published, control group). The majority of studies are cross-sectional (two are longitudinal) and employ a very wide array of measures – both standardised and study specific. This detailed analysis shows a mixed picture on outcome. Although most studies report some negative effects, there are often no differences and some evidence of protective effects from quality of subsequent care and economic assistance. The lack of consistent measures and the blurring of definitions are stumbling blocks in this area.

Sustainably achieving the goal of global food security is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century. The current food system is failing to meet the needs of people, and at the same time, is having far-reaching impacts on the environment and undermining human well-being in other important ways. It is increasingly apparent that a deep transformation in the way we produce and consume food is needed in order to ensure a more just and sustainable future. This paper uses the concept of regime shifts to understand key drivers and innovations underlying past disruptions in the food system and to explore how they may help us think about desirable future changes and how we might leverage them. We combine two perspectives on regime shifts—one derived from natural sciences and the other from social sciences—to propose an interpretation of food regimes that draws on innovation theory. We use this conceptualization to discuss three examples of innovations that we argue helped enable critical regime shifts in the global food system in the past: the Haber-Bosch process of nitrogen fixation, the rise of the supermarket, and the call for more transparency in the food system to reconnect consumers with their food. This paper concludes with an exploration of why this combination of conceptual understandings is important across the Global North/ Global South divide, and proposes a new sustainability regime where transformative change is spearheaded by a variety of social–ecological innovations.

Smallholder farmers in South Africa find it challenging to participate in the modern economy. Most of these farmers have limited access to credit and insurance, and to markets in which to sell their produce. This paper reviews ethnographic research data and argues that smallholder farmers struggle to take part in modern agricultural value chains in South Africa. System dynamics modelling is used to understand the dynamics relating to agricultural value-chain participants, and to determine whether the ethnographic research data is sufficient to answer the question as to which value-chain participants potentially have the largest impact on smallholder farmers. The modelling results show that banks may have the potential to trigger an impact on smallholder farmers’ productivity that could then attract other value-chain industries to take part in efforts to support these farmers. Smallholder farmers could become a long-term viable and sustainable option for increasing food security in South Africa. However, this study has its limitations. The data used from existing ethnographic research, conducted by way of semi-structured interviews with valuechain participants, is limited and is not able to answer questions such as: (i) how much each industry is prepared to engage with smallholder farmers in the event of other industries being prepared to do the same; and (ii) how long it will take each industry to react to a willingness to engage. Ongoing research is required to extend the interviewee base and data in order to answer these questions and for the model to be completed and used for policy guidance.

In 2002 the Integrated Food Security Strategy (IFSS) was approved by Cabinet as the strategy that would integrate the many previously isolated policies tackling the challenge of food insecurity in South Africa. Recent focus on food security due to rising food prices at a national and global level has placed the food security agenda back in the spotlight. In this paper it is argued that there is a disjuncture between the institutional response mechanism defined in South Africa's strategy and the complexity of food insecurity nationally. It outlines why, as a response seated uncomfortably under the leadership of the National Department of Agriculture, the IFSS remains frustrated by a range of structural and organisational challenges. The IFSS provides a useful case study to demonstrate the importance of institutional arrangements to achieve food security that by its nature, requires integrated responses from diverse stakeholders.