The Global Food 50/50 Report reviews 51 global food system organizations. Africare stopped operating in 2021, reducing the sample size by one from 52 in 2021. These are global organizations (operational in more than three countries). These 51 organizations range in staff size from 25 to hundreds of thousands of employees and are drawn from nine sectors, including:
● 12 multilateral and bilateral organizations
● 9 nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations
● 7 private for-profit companies
● 6 regional political bodies
● 5 United Nations bodies
● 5 funders and philanthropies
● 3 public-private partnerships
● 3 faith-based organizations
● 1 research organization
Data are drawn from the Global Health 50/50 Report, which reviews 200 organizations active in global health, including those that aim to influence global health policy even if it is not their core function. The sample covers organizations from 10 sectors, headquartered in 37 countries, which together employ over 4.5 million people.
A short web review was carried out to determine which organizations in the GH5050 sample also have activities in food systems, including agriculture, fisheries, nutrition, trade, and consultancy in the food sector among other activities. Based on this analysis, 51 organizations from eight sectors were selected for inclusion. Data are derived through a rigorous methodology that is consistent with established systematic review research methods. At least two reviewers extract each data item independently, and a third reviewer verifies the data. Data are coded according to content, using a traffic light system.
Most data come from publicly available websites, though organizations are invited to share some internal human resource policies confidentially for review. Transparency and accountability are closely related and by relying on publicly available data, the report aims to hold organizations to account, including for having gender-related policies accessible to the public. Following completion of data collection, each organization receives their preliminary results and is invited to provide any additional information, documentation, or policies to review. Results are shared again with all organizations before publication for verification. A detailed explanation of our research framework and methods is available on the GH5050 website.
Board member mapping
For the first time in 2022, GH5050 conducted an in-depth analysis of who holds power and privilege in the governing boards of organizations. From July through October 2021, GH5050 gathered publicly-available demographic information on 347 individuals holding 351 board seats across 24 organizations.
Among the sample of 50-plus organizations which GH5050 annually assesses for the GF5050 Report, this review excluded organizations whose board compositions are determined by national governments (e.g. bilateral agencies) and/or member states (e.g. UN agencies). This allowed the review to focus on diversity outcomes in the absence of formal policies that dictate geographically-balanced representation (i.e. distribution of seats by region) and/or that mandate single-sector and/or single-country representation (i.e. boards with seats reserved for government representatives only). This criteria thus excluded all UN System organizations (5), all bilateral and multilateral organizations (12), and all regional bodies (6), as well as two (2) multilateral funding bodies. An additional two organizations were excluded given that information on their board members was not publicly available, or the existence of a board could not be determined.
Data collected one each board member includes the gender and nationality of board members, their place of employment, the sector in which they work, and where the organization they work for is headquartered. Data were drawn primarily from individuals’ online biosketches and LinkedIn profiles.
The final analysis includes:
Further information on the methods used in this analysis can be found in 2022 GH5050 Report: Boards For All?.
