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Investing in Urban African Food Systems

We facilitate the engagement of local governments, partners, investors, financiers and food system stakeholders for investment in urban food systems.

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Investing in Urban African Food Systems

Years active:

2020 - 2022

Related ICLEI Pathway(s)

Locations

Arusha, Cape Town, Lilongwe

Funded by

Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations
Funder
About

Project summary

The COVID-19 pandemic and the related lockdown restrictions have emphasized the importance of a food systems perspective especially in addressing the issue of urban food insecurity. In the context of growing global attention on food systems perspectives, the pandemic and associated government responses, demonstrated to local governments and many urban food system actors, how entangled food is with other urban systems, and how many urban development objectives can be supported through a lens of food systems. Local governments are also attempting to understand their role in supporting sustainable food systems and have articulated the need for inter- and intra-city learning, as well as the identification of investment opportunities for system-wide food security outcomes. ICLEI has been engaging local governments around food and has been on a learning journey around urban food systems governance approaches. To continue supporting local governments on this learning journey, ICLEI Africa implemented Investing in Urban African Food Systems, supported by FAO.

Project aims

Investing in Urban African Food Systems (FS-Invest) Phase 2: The second phase of FS-Invest builds upon the work of the “Opportunities for investment in African urban food systems” project, undertaken by ICLEI Africa and FAO in 2020 to facilitate the engagement of local governments, local partners, investors, financiers and food system stakeholders for investment in urban food systems programmes in the five project cities.

Project highlights

Project outcomes

Key investment opportunities were identified for improving the resilience and nutritional outcomes of food systems in five project cities: Arusha, Cape Town, Lilongwe, Lusaka, and Maputo. An investment case was developed for one of the prioritized investment opportunities in the cities in a scoping process which took place from 1 October 2020 to 30 November 2020. 

Project activities

Five African cities were identified for food systems engagements- Arusha, Cape Town, Lilongwe, Lusaka and Maputo. The engagements took place in five selected local governments and contributed to the selection of investment opportunities (one investment opportunity per city) that have the most potential to improve the resilience and nutritional outcomes of the food systems of the cities. ICLEI ran a month long Food Systems Campaign to promote nutritious and resilient food systems perspectives 

Project partners

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Project resources

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Investing in Urban African Food Systems