City to City Food Systems Forum for southern and eastern African cities

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and ICLEI are collaborating, together with RUAF Foundation and C40, to collectively promote and support subnational take-up and engagement regarding food policy and action. This is being undertaken in line with global targets and ambitions articulated in SDG 2* and through initiatives such as the Milan Food Pact. It is also intended to build on the existing ICLEI-RUAF CITYFOOD Network and related initiatives of all the partners in Africa.

A three-day food-focused workshop for selected local governments from southern and eastern Africa, will be held in March/April 2018. It will help to raise awareness, build capacity, and foster dialogue and the sharing of experiences on city food systems. By providing cities with a platform to share and learn from each other, the workshop will focus on enhancing local government capacities to design, implement and monitor initiatives that improve food security and nutrition for their vulnerable population, while also increasing decent food jobs (including for the informal sector). This in turn will serve to support cities making the transition towards more sustainable urban food systems.

The collaboration between the FAO, ICLEI, RUAF and C40 also makes provision for undertaking certain policy-focused actions with some of these cities after the workshop.

* Sustainable Development Goal 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture