Transformative Initiative: Strengthening local fresh food markets for healthier food environments within planetary boundaries

In cities throughout Africa, marketplaces have emerged as a vital space for intervention for food systems education and awareness, for direct improvements to infrastructure and services, and locations for value-addition to food and associated livelihood generation. Based on this observation, CityFood is coordinating a project funded by GIZ (running from January 2024 to December 2025) and focused on the potential of fresh food markets.

The project seeks to empower citizens to shift to healthier and more diversified nutrition, while improving urban food environments. While implementation focuses on two African cities - Lusaka (Zambia) and Lilongwe (Malawi) - the project also engages cities around the world to exchange experiences, challenges and best practices related to food markets. Project activities notably include action-driven multi-stakeholder dialogues in Lusaka and Lilongwe, high-level consultations with local governments around the world to assess current challenges and opportunities related to fresh food markets, as well as city-to-city exchange webinars to foster knowledge sharing across countries and world regions.