A community food security movement has begun to address problems of hunger and food insecurity by uti-lizing a community-basedapproach.Althoughvarious models have been implemented,little empirical researchhasassessed howpoweroperateswithincommunity-basedfoodsecurityinitiatives.Thepurposeofthisresearchwas to determine how power influenced participation in decision-making, agenda setting, and the shaping ofperceived needs within a community-based food security planning process, with particular reference to disen-franchised stakeholders. Power influenced participation in decision-making, agenda setting, and the shaping ofperceived needs through managing 1) problem framing, 2) trust, 3) knowledge, and 4) consent. To overcomethese mechanismsof power, practitionersneed to address individual-,community-,and institutional-level barri-ers to participation in community-based food security planning processes. Practitioners and researchers canwork with disenfranchised groups to determine which agents have the power to create desired changes by utiliz-ing theory-based methods and strategies that focus on changing external determinants at multiple levels.
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