The big idea: A stakeholder is any person, group or organisation with an interest in — and an influence on — what people eat and how healthy they are.
No single group decides this alone. Governments, transnational corporations (TNCs), international organisations and NGOs, and individuals all pull in different directions, and they act at different scales — from a global vaccination drive down to a family's weekly shop.
Option F essays almost always ask you to weigh how much power each stakeholder really has — so you must know what each one does and its limits.
The four main stakeholder groups
- Governments — set laws, taxes, subsidies and food-safety rules, and run public-health campaigns (e.g. a sugar tax).
- TNCs / agribusiness — grow, process, price and advertise food worldwide; powerful but profit-driven (e.g. Nestle, supermarkets, fast food).
- IOs & NGOs — bodies like the WFP, FAO and WHO, and charities like Oxfam, give food aid and long-term help.
- Individuals & communities — make daily food choices, farm, run food banks; less power but the most direct control over their own diet.
Scale and power both matter: Stakeholders act at different scales — global (the WHO, agribusiness TNCs) and local (a town's food bank, a household).
A strong answer names the stakeholder, says what they do, gives a real example, and judges how much power they actually have compared with the others.
How this is tested: Paper 2 / Paper 3 Option F tests this micro with short Explain answers (name an action + develop it) and the headline [10] markband essay. A common short question asks for one global-scale and one local-scale action to manage a problem, so always be ready to give an example at each scale.
| Stakeholder | What they do | Real example |
|---|---|---|
| Governments | Laws, taxes, subsidies, food-safety rules, public health campaigns | India's 1960s Green Revolution subsidies; the UK sugar tax on soft drinks (2018) |
| TNCs / agribusiness | Grow, process, advertise and price food worldwide; shape diets for profit | Nestle and Coca-Cola marketing; supermarket chains; fast-food TNCs like McDonald's |
| IOs & NGOs | Emergency food aid, long-term development, research, setting global targets | The WFP and FAO; Oxfam and ActionAid; the WHO during disease outbreaks |
| Individuals & communities | Daily food choices, farming methods, local food banks, cultural diets | Local food banks; subsistence farmers in the Sahel; community health volunteers |
Answering an 'Explain' [4]
- Name the action and its scale (e.g. a global WHO vaccination drive).
- Give the mechanism — how it actually changes diet or health.
- Develop it with a real example or a second linked point. 2 marks per developed action.
Always give the mechanism: Don't just name a stakeholder — explain how their action changes diet or health. Sugar tax -> sugary drinks cost more -> people buy fewer -> lower sugar intake -> less type-2 diabetes.
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Stakeholders show their power most clearly in a crisis — a famine, a disease outbreak, or a push to feed a growing population. The same stakeholder can make things better or worse, which is exactly what the essays ask you to weigh.
Famine in the Sahel — governments and aid agencies: Recurrent drought across the Sahel (the dry belt south of the Sahara) has caused repeated famines.
Governments and IOs/NGOs help by delivering emergency food (the WFP) and funding wells and drought-resistant seeds. But weak governance, conflict and over-reliance on short-term food aid can deepen the crisis — aid can undercut local farmers' prices and create dependency rather than lasting food security.
Cholera in Haiti, 2010 — when a response backfires: After the 2010 earthquake, a cholera outbreak killed thousands in Haiti.
It shows the double edge of stakeholders: NGOs and the WHO ran treatment and clean-water programmes that saved lives, yet the outbreak itself was linked to poor sanitation around an aid base — a reminder that even well-meaning intervention can carry risks if it is poorly managed.
Malaria in sub-Saharan Africa & the Green Revolution: Malaria across sub-Saharan Africa is fought by a mix of stakeholders — the WHO and NGOs distribute treated bed-nets and medicines, while local health workers run prevention.
In 1960s India, the Green Revolution saw the government and agribusiness push high-yield seeds, fertiliser and irrigation — boosting food output hugely, but widening the gap between rich and poor farmers and harming soils.
The same stakeholder can help OR harm: Top essays show two sides of a stakeholder: aid saves lives short-term but can create dependency long-term; agribusiness feeds millions but can widen inequality. Weighing this earns the higher markbands.
How this is tested — the [10] essay: Option F's headline question is a [10]-mark Examine / To-what-extent / Evaluate essay, marked on markbands. Recurring versions ask how far TNCs / agribusiness shape diets, how governments and aid agencies raise or lower famine severity, what IOs and NGOs do for food insecurity, and how effective the solutions are.
Top band needs: accurate terms, two or more developed stakeholders with named examples, a weighing of their relative power (and limits), and a justified conclusion.
Markband marks: (1) Develop two or more stakeholders, not one. (2) Anchor each to a named example (WFP, Oxfam, the Sahel, the UK sugar tax). (3) Weigh their relative power and limits, then finish on an explicit judgement that answers the command term.