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TOPIC: Smart logistics and urban planning As EU countries are evolving in order reduce their emissions and citizens are asking for more transparency and traceability several challenges where raised in order to ensure that smart logistics and urban planning are optimally implemented. First, enable better product traceability given that at present it is not easy to find out where food is coming from. For example, the UK government has a new law punishing entities that offer food that comes from illegal deforestation. However, there still remains more to be done to harmonize policies and legislat... Read moreion so there is more transparency. Second, foster trust and quality guarantee given that better information availability from producers, enables wholesale markets to become places of information collection and ensure quality and safety throughout the food supply chain. Third, wholesale markets need to be further included in urban planning. In fact, many urban planners do not have sufficient information on the importance of wholesale markets in food security and supplying sustainable healthy diets through their network of local food suppliers with sustainable practices Fourth, European small and medium sized companies need to be empowered to make use of new technologies that are driven by renewable energy (e.g. electric vehicles) and big companies should also be able to make investments. Fifth, city regulations must evolve and wholesale markets can work on improving last mile logistics solutions in order to comply with more efficient and eco-friendly urban distribution schemes. This would bring accessibility to a broader scale of actors, and reach city requirements such as emissions transports and optimizing logistics and congestions. Sixth, markets could develop the diversification of their facilities, with collection points in the cities to deconcentrate food logistics and distribution schedules. Seventh, investment must be considered in locations and infrastructures that facilitate access to fresh food in growing cities. For example, this includes investments for markets in the modern infrastructure, the consideration of market locations, inter-modal logistics, labels and certification, as well as securing sufficient supply from producers to consumers, including necessity and particularities of the different food sectors as well as the development of combined logistics lines (fruit/meat, etc.). Better traceability tools standards along the value chain must also be developed, for example, through “blockchain services” for tenants that can guarantee high standards in the supply process. Lastly, green energy must be promoted. For example, through the use of solar panels on roofs of markets and parking facilities, electric trucks and vehicles with associated infrastructure, the promotion of green energy for materials used by tenants, as well as by promoting other sources of clean energies (such as those coming from gas de-licensing), especially to drastically reduce emissions from refrigeration and freezing centers. Read less

TOPIC: Nutritious Diets Accessible to All There is a lack of consumer awareness and education on the importance of healthy diets. Therefore, there is a need to promote healthier diets (e.g. starting in schools from an early age) and raise awareness about the impact of diets on health but also about the sustainability of the food systems (fostering local, seasonal products, reconnecting the consumers with the raw products, etc.). This can be done through a number of ways: First, encourage increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, wholegrain cereals, nuts and pulses, particularly locally-p... Read moreroduced varieties. Second, promote more sustainably-produced food products/meals. It is important to create a food environment that makes it easier to choose healthy and sustainable diets. In this sense, it is crucial to increase the availability and accessibility of healthy, sustainable food options by ensuring that citizens can easily access places where a diversity of healthy food is sold. Food governance can be a tool to avoid having places where mainly high processed or/and high in sugar food is sold. It is important to use investments in sustainable and resilient solutions in wholesale markets’ operations and supply chain management so they can prepare for disruptions and crises since they are among the most resilient actors ensuring continuous supply of healthy diets. Thus, it is crucial that these structures are prepared for future challenges. Third, create platforms and mechanisms that bring food system stakeholders together for discussion or shared implementation of effective solutions and compliance. For example, UN Food Systems Summit or shared mandatory due diligence can be implemented in the European Union for instance. Fourth, use public procurement for public facilities serving food (e.g., school canteens, hospitals) to support the intake of healthy diets and the promotion sustainable produce. Fifth, promote healthy cooking practices with local fruits and vegetables through local authorities, (inter)national institutions and NGOs in the food and health sector so that malnutrition is addressed. Sixth, address the issue of affordability, including through specific demonstrated nutritional needs for vulnerable groups and support diet-related health programs. Seventh, promote short supply chains, learning from present practices, for example, promotion of street markets that offer a wide variety of fresh products with a discounted price at the end of the market, facilitating access to healthier diets for lower income households. Another example is Florence wholesale market where leftover fresh food is sold for a lower price to the public twice a week. Food re-distribution and collaborations with food banks should also be fostered. There is a need to encourage transparency and traceability. It is important to provide transparent, voluntary product information to consumers (e.g. through digital means) and foster responsible food marketing and advertising practices by setting standards, certification and labels. Lastly, improve policy coherence and highlight the role of wholesale markets in ensuring virtuous linkages among actors to ensure fresh food availability. However, key challenges still remain. In fact, many of the innovations or promotions of healthy diets proposed requires an extra investment from different stakeholders, including producers, without any guarantee of having this effort rewarded. They not only have an economic interest in continuing with current practices but also these new implementations take time to be understood and accepted by them all. Read less

An emphasis was placed on the leadership role that European wholesale markets can play in transforming food systems given their role as linkage of all the major stakeholders of the fresh food chain (producers, logisticians, wholesalers, sellers, retail markets, municipalities, local and national authorities, food banks, etc.). Carolyn Steel, invited as a key speaker, brought up the crucial idea of the ‘urban paradox’: the fact that those of us who live in cities think of ourselves as urban, forgetting that most of our food and other resources come from elsewhere. Education to better food h... Read moreabits, connecting consumers with the raw product/impact of the production methods should be in this context a priority. People take cheap quality food for granted. This gives rise to another insight regarding separation between urban populations and rural environments. We must revisit our systems as the impacts of current practices in food production, distribution, and consumption are serious (such as climate change, deforestation, mass extinction, pollution, soil degradation, water depletion, and declining fish stocks). As Covid-19 highlights, there is an urgent need to move towards resilient food systems and wholesale markets, as fresh food hubs, have an important role to play to reconnect humans with healthy food. Another key action is to democratize the food system and promote richer and more diversified food ecosystems, by increasing the availability of healthy, sustainable food options. Governments should foster policies and actions that contribute to create a food environment that makes it easier to choose healthy and sustainable diets. Furthermore, in the first area of nutritious diets accessible to all, promotion of healthier diets and awareness-raising about the impact of diets on health and food system sustainability is put forward as important issues accompanied by several notable solutions. In fact, it cites the current lack of consumer awareness and education in this area as the key problem to address, noting the importance of awareness as well on fostering local, seasonal products, reconnecting the consumers with the raw products, etc. Moreover, in the second area of smart logistics and urban planning, a number of solutions were put forward including those highlighting investment in locations and infrastructures to facilitate access to fresh food in growing cities, developing better traceability tools standards along the value chain, and promoting the use of green energy as well as promoting other sources of clean energies. Lastly, in the third area of reducing food waste, solutions to address food waste should be developed at every level of the supply chain. This requires an integrated approach that tackles at each level the main problems which involves processes and support at both local and national levels. The topic of stakeholder involvement is also tackled in terms of the importance of engaging local authorities as well as promoting knowledge-sharing between European members of WUWM and all food sector stakeholders. Read less

This dialogue series focuses on the role of Wholesale Markets in shaping a sustainable food system and its relationship to other stakeholders, including local authorities, smallholder farmers, and logisticians, among others. The four dialogues focused on promoting nutritious diets and ensuring accessibility as important dimensions of food sustainability, as well as fostering smart logistics and urban planning towards making a significant contribution to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The reduction of food waste, was also explored alongside a recognition of the essential role whol... Read moreesale markers play in this pursuit. The discussion on these topics contributed to development of effective strategies and sharing of best practices in line with addressing contemporary challenges including evolving consumption trends, urbanization, rapid population growth, climate change, disruptions in food systems and livelihoods, and the continuous pursuit of collective recovery and growth amid the Covid-19 crisis. This Dialogue was based on Action Track 1, 2 and 5 in which wholesale markets make significant contributions through their central position and targeted initiatives. Action track 1 aims to end hunger and all forms of malnutrition and reduce the incidence of non-communicable disease, thereby enabling all people to become well-nourished and healthy. Wholesale markets are the biggest fresh food suppliers in the world, and experts in the distribution of nutritious, fresh and non-processed food. They are key actors to ensure availability of fresh food, particularly in cities, which are often largely populated. Thus, wholesale markets must increase linkages and cooperation with tenants, farmers, and scientists to expand the availability of nutritious food. In fact, modern wholesale markets are well-known for traceability measures to ensure food safety. This practice must be promoted for the long run while infrastructures and protocols must be adapted and implemented in line with it. In light of this, markets need to continuously safeguard the highest level of sanitation, hygiene, and handling of food. Thus, investments should aim to upgrade existing infrastructures and establish new modern wholesale markets to ensure that all cities benefit from a consistent supply of nutritious fresh food. Action track 2 aims to build consumer demand for sustainably produced food, strengthen local value chains, improve nutrition, and promote the efficient use and recycling of food resources, especially in aid of the most vulnerable. To build this demand for sustainably produced food, wholesale markets must continue to promote the benefits and implementation of sustainable production methods through knowledge-sharing, capacity-building, and advocacy among food actors especially the producers, markets, and consumers. In addition, they must strengthen local value chains, increase recycling, and transition to the use of non-polluting energy resources. In fact, in shifting to more sustainable consumption patterns, wholesale markets are examining solutions such as promoting food waste reduction and distribution of food surplus that makes nutritious food accessible to the vulnerable populations. Moreover, further action concerning e-commerce and last-mile-logistics are needed to understand how these tools can be optimized by wholesale markets and help facilitate the supply of nutritious fresh food. Action track 5 aims to ensure existence of sustainable food systems in areas that are prone to conflict or natural disasters. The strong and diversified supply channels that wholesale markets possess demonstrated significant levels of adaptability during crisis. In fact, amid the Covid-19 crisis, wholesale markets were resilient, showcasing flexibility, resourcefulness, and innovation in delivering supply of fresh food to citizens worldwide. Wholesale markets can further optimize their infrastructures and prepare for future supply chain disruptions (fe. due to disease outbreaks or effects of climate change). In addition, improved communications among wholesale markets worldwide will enhance sharing of best practices and increase resilience. Read less

During the FEBA Annual Convention 2021 “For a sustainable future food system” some speakers explored the needs for a food system transformation and the role played by food waste prevention. In fact, there is an increasing agreement that the food system currently in place is no longer sustainable. A first hint of this assumption is the huge quantity of food that is wasted or lost throughout the food supply chain (8% of GHG emissions, ¼ of the water used in agriculture is wasted, massive use of lands and deforestation etc.). Moreover, the containment measures during the COVID-19 pandemic ha... Read moreve drastically impacted the essential flow of food from farms and producers to consumers. The food supply chain is broken and needs to be changed: following the transition from a linear to a circular economy, it is now needed to use this momentum as an opportunity to re-design and move to a food system model with future resilience. On the other side the problem of food insecurity in Europe is growing with millions of people in precarious situations and in need. Moreover, there is a climate emergency and many analyses declared that governments around the world will not meet the Paris Agreement’s targets without tackling food loss and waste. Therefore, it is evident how food loss and waste prevention is an integral part of the food system transformation. During the FEBA Annual Convention 2021 “For a sustainable future food system” some game-changer aspects were identified in this regard starting from the interconnectivity of this process. What are the key aspects that need to be transformed within the food system? Everything it is interconnected and to face a problem it is necessary to look at the entire picture with all the interconnectivities. Regarding the food loss and waste, it is fundamental to look at the framework of public and private actors and the role played by governments, businesses and civil society organisations. These actors should have a better understanding and a more mature approach to think about accountability and processes across that systems. The first game changer is about the private-public partnerships and the links between governments and businesses that work in the food supply chain to adopt all the measures necessary to get the targets. In this relation, the European Union is working to build a solid framework to facilitate the cooperation and coordination between the stakeholders, the public authorities and the civil society organisations such as the Food Banks. Another crucial issue to look at to transform the food system is the level of food waste at household consumption and the consumers’ education and the involvement of grass-roots organisations as Food Banks in this movement for change. Another important point is work to close the loop of food waste and to put in place the miracle of circular economy where Food Banks play a crucial role to redistribute food for human consumption. During the conference was highlighted in fact the central role Food Banks have to address all these issues in the food system transformation. In this context, one of the main challenge is the farmer’s engagement by businesses to reduce food loss and waste and getting governments to prioritise this issue on the different agendas. Most of the countries and governments are addressing the Paris Agreement’s targets but without mentioning the importance to tackle food loss and waste. Therefore, raising awareness it is really important but to really act towards these objectives actors need funding – to have proper storages, good infrastructures, know-how etc. COVID-19 demonstrated the fragility of the food system where the slogan ‘build back better’ emerged illustrating the need for change. This situation forced the Food Banks to emerge demonstrating the fundamental contribution for the food system’s resilience and to support the most needed in our societies. In this context, the support to Food Banks should be put in the agendas, for the role that they can play globally. COVID-19 has given visibility that pre-existing problems and demonstrated how broken the food system is. In this framework, the situation gave visibility to the Food Banks that very quickly adapted to the situation. Therefore, it is the time for Food Banks to start seeing themselves integral and active parts of the food system transformation and policy makers must looking at Food Banks with the same eyes as well. Read less

This Working Table focused on new boundaries for food redistribution. Participants started by reflecting on trends of the food systems following also the interesting discussions during the FEBA Annual Convention’s plenary sessions. The facilitator of the Working Table also presented an overview on COVID-19 and its huge impact on the consumers changes in terms of food waste, the sources of surplus food for Food Banks and the changes and learnings. Participants agreed that the Food System is changing and Food Banks have a pivotal role to play in contributing to a more sustainable food future. ... Read moreFood Banks feel that it isn’t very much recognised and the environment where they are operating. The Working Tables started to list some of the challenges Food Banks are facing especially in terms of redistribution of food and the difficulty to connect with the network of donors. Another important challenge for Food Banks is to change the sources of food and working on the optimization of the process. Participants discussed the challenge to concentrate on a balanced and diversified diet especially to look for new sources of food concentrating also on fresh and perishable products. In this context, technology can be a great boost also from a logistical point of view and even tough FEBA is doing a great work on digital transformation and data collection, FEBA members need a lot of resources and capacity building for innovation and technology. The discussion also focused on the new poor and the challenges and stigma associated with accessing food. Moreover, participants discussed the need to connect producers and the availabilities of food at the farm level but the lack of economic incentives stop the process of bringing producers on board. Participants also discussed on the need to invest on Food Banks also to position themselves in a new light to receive the support of policies and governments, as innovative partners that contribute to solve a huge challenge such as food waste. Food Banks within the Food System play a crucial role in connecting the different actors. Food Banks are like hubs that know the charities’ needs, the sources of food, where the food surplus is and they make all the different pieces of the puzzle come together to get this food where is needed. Participants also discussed about the idea of having new technological model collaborating with start-ups to reinforce the network. FEBA is a big network with a lot of expertise and knowledge and these start-ups can support the developing of new models for logistic, to extend the life of products and providing new ways of accessing food. The working table listed 3 recommendations for FEBA: 1. Need of a continuous work at policy level with the EU and International institutions and also at national level underlining Food Banks’ importance in the food system transformation and the role they had during the crisis to have also a stronger voice with the private sectors and the food producers. 2. Need to work collectively to engage businesses and develop partnerships. FEBA is an umbrella organisation and can open doors that probably an individual organisation cannot. Therefore, it is crucial to keep on with the dialogue between the FEBA network. 3. Establish a FEBA Partnerships Working Group to support connection between Food Banks and all the external actors involved in this processes and share best practices on new models of food redistribution and the capacity building that Food Banks need. Read less

During the Working Table participants focused on 4 topics related to volunteering and the Food Banks. - Development of cross-sectoral partnerships at local level by analysing the changing relations between Food Banks and local authorities, NGOs and charities, academia, the not for profit sector and the for-profit sector to see how these stakeholders can work together to respond to communities’ needs. The COVID-19 crisis has shown the need to rethink strategic partnerships and to adapt the modus operandi of the different actors; - The employee volunteering or corporate volunteering as an alte... Read morernative way to respond to the lack of volunteers, due to the health crisis. The pandemic has limited if not stopped the engagement of elderly volunteers, has brought young volunteers to Food Banks but then created a new gap when younger volunteers have returned to universities and schools. . The discussion stressed the need for employee volunteering to ensure a return in investment, as well as the need to ensure the balance between the effort required when engaging employee volunteers and valuing their wider social impact. Changing volunteers’ profiles: : Participants highlighted different and changing situations for younger and older volunteers, before, during and after COVID19 and they also discussed the possibility to explore the so called "tasks-based" volunteering offers, to reply to the changing nature of work and lifestyles rather than keeping to the traditional “role based” approach.; - Participants discussed the European Solidarity Corps Programme which enables young people to travel abroad to volunteer full time. Participants discussed whether this Programme could be a good solution for those Food Banks that struggle to have permanent human resources available. These are the main aspects to work on for Food Banks relying on volunteers to better match the offer of people across Europe who want to volunteer and Food Banks’ needs and how they can organise their volunteers in the most efficient and proper way. Read less

26 participants from all over Europe, from France, many from Italy, Spain, Poland, Sweden, Netherlands, Germany and the UK participated in this Working Table. All of the participants had very different backgrounds, some from academic research and institutions, some from national Food Banks and others from corporations and companies. During the first part of the discussion, participants talked about how young people can contribute to a sustainable food system in innovative ways and what Food Banks can do to involve and communicate with young people. First of all, young people have a new mindset... Read more and attitude, they are increasingly aware of and care about issues such as sustainability, because they directly affect their future. A second key point was education. Educating young people about food and sustainability and involving them from an early age is key. For example, now often it’s the kids that teach the parents new behaviours. Another buzzword for how to involve young people in food banking activities was „empowerment and participation “. They want to be engaged and be part of the processes and the organizations. Hybrid ways of involvement for example combining volunteering, training and workshops etc. could be a key factor for Food Banks. Another interesting thought on how to engage young people was through gamification, this could be school or university contests and projects, or hackathons, because many young people have an entrepreneurial approach. The participants talked about what added value young people can bring to the Food Banks and how they imagine the future of Food Banks. Digital skills for instance and the appreciation for more horizontal and less hierarchical ways of working will be a great asset for the future. Also establishing and strengthening partnerships with corporations, for example by hosting events in relation to food banking topics and engage young professionals. It was also mentioned, that in the future, it will be crucial to empower and engage the beneficiaries more, to address the root causes and follow a holistic approach, so that Food Banks become more of a community hub. Also being eco-friendly not only due to saving food, but also looking at the means of transportation and packaging for instance. It was a very interesting and fruitful discussion and new insights, because of the different backgrounds. One key message that the participants want to share is that young people are the leaders of change and through Food Banks’ involvement young people can really be protagonist of the future of our countries, of Europe and the world. Read less

The Working Group’s participants were a mix between Food Banks and external participants and this mix brought a great engagement and great insights that opened up very interesting discussions. The Working Table started describing the current context of COVID-19 that very much impacted the food redistribution organisations and the communities. Food Banks have been seen as front-line heroes of the pandemic, there are images all over the world of warehouses highlighting the passion and the commitment in supporting communities. Working Table’s discussion explored what has been the impact of CO... Read moreVID-19 on the Foodbanking Narrative and how Food Banks position themselves in the hearts and minds of the stakeholders such as partners, supporters, volunteers and the teams. There has been an awareness-driven around food waste and food insecurity but it is important to re-structure the narrative of who Food Banks are and what they do. Does the narrative in the media reflect the organisations where Food Bankers operate? Food Bankers can tell stories on ambition, passion, motivation, entrepreneurship and the impact Food Banks are having on the people and on the planet. The role of this workshop was to kick start the discussion whether there is a need to refresh the narrative and the position of the Food Banks and to do recommendations for FEBA. Food Banks are indeed seen as food package providers to feed the poor, to support charities, volunteers at the door of the supermarkets etc. But how Food Banks would like to be seen in the future? Food Banks are not the producers or the users – Food Banks are the dotted line that connect the needs. This connection of need is something really powerful to communicate. The bigger role of FEBA is to continue the discussion on this topics as an opportunity to look at branding and reposition ourselves in the hearts and minds of the stakeholders and looking at having a shared language. There is a new role for Food Banks as very important actors in the food system that can work towards a more sustainable future where it is important to build a common understanding. It is a very complex environment where build awareness is a key. The lack of understanding, where complexity is the enemy, can be damaging and limiting the future growth. Food Banks need to reframe the narrative to improve understanding and build broad-based support. Time is right to reframe and reshape Food Banks’ position and it is time to go! Read less

In this Working Table there was the chance to have both representatives from the private sector and FEBA members. The Working Table started with an exercise of associating words in relation to partnerships. It was found that the collaboration between Food Banks and the private sector is not only a matter of recovering and redistributing food but it goes beyond, it is a collaboration for the common good. The Working Table participants first discussed about what the Food Banks and private Companies give and get in this collaboration exploring the Food Banks’ views and the ones of the corporati... Read moreons. While collaborating with Food Banks Companies give food, technical support, long-term perspective, operational efficiency, donations and volunteers. On the other hand, a fruitful corporate partnership with Food Banks, let Companies get: customized service, marketing opportunities, feel with the public, eyes on the ground, extensive coverage, a jump into reality, rapid solutions, professionalism, and flexibility. While collaborating with Companies, Food Banks give: immediate impact, continuity, expertise, readiness to operate, reliability, and flexible way to go beyond profits. On the other hand, a fruitful corporate partnership with Companies, let Food Banks get: continuity, necessary support to survive, marketing opportunities, trust and continuity of the relations over time, food, and donations. Then participants discussed about what hinders a fruitful partnership. One of the first issue highlighted is that for Companies it is often difficult to combine business priorities and pressure with the values and the main goals of the Food Banks. On the other side, Food Banks suffer from the different perceptions, goals and visions on what is the common good. Participants then highlighted the common necessity to overcome obstacles created by different goals and visions. The last part of the discussion focused on how COVID-19 boosted corporate partnerships and the fact that this challenging period was an accelerator for corporate partnerships and the collaboration between the private sector and the Food Banks in Europe. How to keep this relationship over time for a post-Covid Europe? Both private actors and Food Banks must invest on trust, shared goals, legal agreements, a clear and frank communication, a more efficient coordination, long-term relations, raising local awareness, engage volunteers from the Companies, rely on Food Banks’ logistic ability and invest on skills. Read less

The Working Table 1 started from the experience FEBA had on the project of the Online Observatory of Food Donation started in 2020 being the only digital touchpoint where most of the information about Food Banks in Europe are condensed. In this context the Working Table’s discussion started with a question: what is the future of data collection and digital transformation for FEBA members and the development of digital tools in the Food Banks’ context? What are the main challenges in collecting and using data within Food Banks? - Resistance to change - New way of looking at data and digital... Read more transformation and have a new mindset - Understand which type of data we do need - Capability to involve charities in the data collection process Some challenges are more technical, while others more related to competences and culture, some others related to multi-stakeholder perspective that must be involved in the process. At the same time, Food Banks have a clear idea on how data can be used in the future to foster their activities: - Data that can engage more donors and stakeholders - Data as fundamental information to make good decisions Participants also worked together to identify hypothetical investments need to boost the data collection process and digitalization of FEBA members related to technology: software to collect, shape and share data in order to publicly share meaningful information. Participants also underlined the importance of creating a community of IT experts within the FEBA network who can work together to let all the Food Banks to improve their own digital transformation pathways. In this journey FEBA is considered a pivotal actor with a unique understanding of how important has been the first step made by FEBA and the Pilot Group of 8 members in 2020. The main goals for the future are to focus, have energy and the desire to work together to build a better infrastructure that can let Food Banks collect, share and take out meaningful information throughout data. Read less

The starting point of all the discussions was to explore the role of Food Banks within the Food System transformation and the role of Food Banks in the context of the Farm to Fork Strategy. The COVID-19 crisis spot a light on the important role played by Food Banks in Europe contributing to food security in really complex conditions. Food Banks reacted very quickly to the increased demand for food aid and the challenge to recover and redistribute food surplus to those in need. During the crisis, the close cooperation with all the actors of the food supply chain – from farmers to food busines... Read mores operators helped to save precious food resources from being wasted. At the same time, the food system is transforming towards a more sustainable future. The questions addressed by the different speakers were what exactly it is necessary to transform and the reason why, and most importantly how. In fact, the food system transformation is a process of fundamental change in the structural, functional and relational aspects of the food system that leads to more equitable relationships and more benign patterns of interactions and outcomes. They key aspect is the key word “relationship” because the main target of the food system transformation is, indeed, provided by a set of relationships. FEBA Annual Convention 2021 “for a sustainable future food system” tried to identify the most important challenges for this transformation, recognising their complexity. Food systems are very complex entanglements of relations, some of them are visible, but many of them are hidden and they should be recognised in order to face this challenge. It emerged how food system transformation is a process of democratisation, a process that needs to blur the boundaries between the different actors, the public and the private sectors and the civil society. Food Bankers are very practical and concrete people, therefore the Annual Convention 2021 was the occasion to indicate some key aspects to move from the grand vision of the food system transformation to the practicalities of it. In fact, Food Bankers have been defined as “practitioner policy-makers”, together with the external experts and partners involved and the researchers. All these actors should be courageous and bold deciding a normative stance and the desired outcomes at the start of the process of this key transformation. Four pillars have been recognised in this respect: bringing together the social and the natural, creating or strengthening positive flows and interactions within and between food systems, making space for pluralism and connecting food with other public goods (health, well-being, the environment, the welfare system). In this context, there are some tangible and interrelates goals for food system transformation such as the generation of co-benefits, the strengthening of linkages, social inclusion and connectivity. In fact, food insecurities are indicative of underlying socio-economic and environmental problems that need to be addressed holistically. Connecting food with other complex systems and policy priorities is a key factor, both for the private and NGO sectors. Food Banks are important actors in this food system transformation where it is necessary to connect food with other important aspects and priorities in the governments arena, health, welfare, housing and transports. Food Banks can be protagonist of this transformation to be empowered and become active agents of change especially in overcoming the new liberal tendences to individualise food insecurity and to dump the responsibility of this problem to single individuals and the solution of the problems to civil society organisations and the volunteers working more on the symptoms than on the causes. Food Banks can become ‘community hubs’ closely connected to transformative initiatives going on at local level. Moreover, Food Banks play a vital role in diversifying the knowledge-base that is needed for food system transformation, being at the core of every process of democratization in the food system transformation. A key message from the FEBA Annual Convention 2021 is that it is essential to think systemically: all food business operators are pieces of a single picture representing the food systems. The European Food Banks Federation wants to accept this responsibility by engaging in concrete actions, contributing to the ongoing debate, and being part of the choices that will follow giving value to food and taste to the future. Read less

FEBA Annual Convention 2021 “For a sustainable future food system” was organised in collaboration with Česka Federace Potravinovych Bank and took place online on 6-7 May 2021. FEBA Annual Convention 2021 has been recognised as a UN Food Systems Independent Dialogue and wanted to offer opportunities for all participants to engage directly in proposing pathways towards sustainable food systems, exploring new ways of working together and encouraging collaborative actions. COVID-19 has placed the global economy under tremendous strain. While throwing many people into food insecurity overnight... Read more, this crisis has highlighted the importance of food security in Europe. Since their first establishment, FEBA members have daily worked facing the challenge not just to prevent food waste but also to ensure its safe delivery and redistribution to charities helping people in need. Adaptation to change is the nature of Food Banks. They have provided tangible responses in a challenging context, contributed to improving the efficiency of food business operators, increasing significantly and rapidly their operations, with an agile determination, a continuous process innovation, and a widespread coverage on the ground. FEBA Annual Convention 2021, as a UN Food System Independent Dialogue, had the primary goal to gather Food Banks, stakeholders, officials of European institutions and international organizations, researchers and professors from worldwide universities to be protagonist of the UN Food Systems Summit, as part of the Decade of Action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In fact, the Summit will launch bold new actions to deliver progress on all 17 SDGs, each of which relies to some degree on healthier, more sustainable and equitable food systems. The discussions, both in plenary sessions and high-level panels and in the discussion groups (Working Tables) were structured around the 5 UN Food System Summit Actions Tracks. Themes, topics of discussion and key messages were not addressed as different siloes but with an integrated approach trying to underline the possible trade-offs with other tracks, identifying possible solutions to deliver wide-reaching benefits. In fact, key cross-cutting levers of change can draw on the expertise of actors actively participating to the FEBA UN Food System Summit Dialogue “For a sustainable future food system”. FEBA Annual Convention “For a sustainable future food system” has been an accelerator of new and innovative ideas also to give a strong contribution to the next International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste (29 September 2021). Finally, 2021 marks the beginning of the programming period 2021-2027 with new EU strategies and policies, such as the European Pillar of Social Rights, the Next Generation EU, the REACT-EU initiative, the Farm to Fork Strategy, the European Social Fund Plus, and the Common Agricultural Policy. Solidarity and collaboration emerged as a way of coming of this pandemic crisis better, stronger and together. The support of public authorities, businesses, charities, volunteers, and citizens has proven that it is possible to grow through adversity. 2021 can be regarded as the foundation stone for a profound renewal of our food system, bringing it at the centre of the political agenda and going beyond the “business as usual” approach. Our food systems can overcome historical criticalities – crises, disruptions, fragmentation, interdependence, national self-sufficiency – by means of a massive digitalisation, by facilitating the dissemination of best practices, innovations and new technologies from farm to fork, and by ensuring that both profit and non-profit food business operators can understand the benefits of such transformation. Read less

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Conclusions from Discussion Group 4: Have the stakeholder analysis in the Nairobi City County Food System Strategy captured all the key food systems transformation stakeholders and their requirements / needs necessary to drive food systems transformation? Which Stakeholders are key to achieving the strategy and what are their needs? • Actors at national government, county government, private actors and donors are key in providing financial and technical resources for improvement of infrastructure such as market infrastructure and installing warehouses and cold rooms in order to handle the pr... Read moreoduce with minimal loss and waste. Programs should benefit both formal and informal actors across the food system. In addition, Private Public Partnerships (PPP) are key in ensuring access to capital and other technologies. • Mobilise and involve major and micro food players such as the small/ medium traders, industries/ companies and supermarkets in the city which are key marketing and storage food points. This will also motivate producers due to ready market available for their produce. • Involve the financial institutions to finance food system actors’ dealings in the city. Also exploring innovative finance measures or ways of organisation such as Savings and Credit Co-operatives (SACCOs) to facilitate saving and access to loans especially for small scale farmers and informal actors across the food value chain) • Strengthen value addition and agro-processing dealers so as to minimize food loss and waste. This is through capacity building by national and local government, private consumers as well as • Women and children who are major handlers of food. Capacity building is crucial especially on issues of nutrition and food safety. Read less

Outcomes from Discussion Group 3: How can the capacities and capabilities of Nairobi City County Government and local stakeholders be built to carry on, extend and identify opportunities to achieve an urban food system that is inclusive and resilient, including withstanding shocks such as the COVID 19? • In depth contextual analysis and mapping of the food system to Identifying capacity gaps and focus system strengthening on these key areas ( both on the supply side and demand side) as well as creating linkages where they are required. Map existing urban capacities/ actors such as highlight ... Read morethe number of urban farmers and their needs to provide services specific to their needs. • Multilevel governance and coordination across departments, civil society actors, private sector actors, researchers. Importantly partner with researchers, innovators and Implement innovation informed by research • Zoning and territorial planning geared towards promoting the food system in urban areas through identifying areas that can be used for urban farming and encourage and support urban farmers with capacity and finances to farm and market their produce. • Some areas of focus for capacity building and strengthening could include: Environmentally friendly, climate smart agriculture, nutrition sensitive approaches (through institutions such as schools, hospitals, and prisons), shock responsive social protection, focus on short and efficient supply chains and local production. Targeted professional development efforts including succession plan into hiring and capacity building. (This would help with attrition and losing already existing capacities, and mentor new HR capacities ) • Climate Smart Agriculture o Extensive clean-up of rivers in Nairobi so water can be used for urban agriculture o Country should limit clean/drinking water use to agriculture and domestic uses and avoid ‘wastage’ for example don’t allow car washing companies to use drinking water o Encourage urban small business to diversity their income by running small farms or holdings rearing chickens/goats/sheep (helps with shocks like COVID) • Early warning systems: o County to act on Food Strategy’s proposed institutionalization of a food contingency plan with early warning and early action components o Continuous monitoring of the food chain from the farmers to the consumer (surveillance) so that the food chain can be evaluated from time to time and enhance sustainability • Shortening supply chain is key as well as ensuring that supply chains are efficient: Increasing capacities in local food production (strengthen short supply chains, urban food production, lower taxes) through: o Household level gardens, kitchen gardens, chickens and goats to diversity food system o County could provide more support with ground work policy implementation: e.g. extension services (support farmers: subsides for urban farmers) o Promote food aggregation for local consumption ( investors storage) o Promote urban planning and zoning to support local production Read less

Outcomes from Discussion Group 2: What additional ideas, solutions, partnerships and action plans can be adopted / introduced to realize the overall objectives of a sustainable urban food system? • Food safety action plan – this is key especially for guiding food handling, food certification as well as food retail. • Partnerships with urban planning and zoning departments- food production areas set aside; urban zoning to allow for farming. Architecture - city planners to mainstream open spaces for urban farming/kitchen gardens • Inclusion of consumers in the making of the policies, str... Read moreategies, guidelines. Feedback loop. Street food vendors vs their enhancers who buy the foods. • Smallholder farmer - capacity building of urban farmers for food production in a sustainable manner. Dissemination of relevant technologies through our extension workers. • Inclusive food systems governance - participatory processes by as many stakeholders from the start to enhance ownership. Legitimising the role of platforms such as the Food Liaison Advisory Group (FLAG), which is a multi-stakeholder platform for food governance • Improve infrastructure, both physical and technological infrastructure, from farm lands to markets/consumers to reduce food loss, enhance waste reduction, with little/no food wasted as. For example there is an opportunity for the City to negotiate with upcoming Railway infrastructure for cold storage provision for transport of foods coming to the City. • Food waste management. Linkages with different farmers to make use of biodegradable waste Read less

Outcomes from Discussion Group 1: Does the vision of the Nairobi City County Food System Strategy align with the UN goals for urban communities? How can the strategies and actions in the Nairobi City County Food System Strategy better support this vision? • The strategy is recognised as the first step in offering a direction but resources should be directed towards implementation and monitoring and evaluation of the strategy. • There is alignment with SDG Goal 11 and 2, since it considers accessibility, affordability and nutritious safe food for all, including informal settlements. However... Read more, aspects of food insecurity among vulnerable populations and adaptation to climate change need to be priorities. We want to categorise the vulnerability of low income settlements into three. For the most vulnerable, we give food relief. For the moderate and low, we give food relief and enterprise support. • Actions around sustainability and environmental regeneration need to be strongly represented in the food strategy • It was noted that there are a number of bills and regulations mentioned in the strategy, these need to align in terms of priorities. Hence there is need for more policy incoherence across the different bills mentioned in the strategy • Beyond emphasizing food for all, the strategy needs specific actions that emphasise access to affordable healthy, safe and nutritious food for all especially the vulnerable populations beyond food aid. • We must include SDG 12 on consumption and production patterns. We cannot always depend on food coming from out of the city region and imported food. We should encourage urban and peri-urban production within the city and the strategy should strongly express through actions on hoe this will be promoted. Read less

It was noted that Nairobi City County produces only approximately 20% of food consumed in Nairobi and therefore it is vulnerable to shocks and stresses to the food system such as the recent lockdown regulations associated with the COVID 19 pandemic which drove up the food prices and in many ways affected the access to nutritious food. There it was noted that the county should prioritise: • Intensifying food production within the city through incentivising small scale farmers to produce and providing the right assistance with access to finance, production technology and access to markets. In ... Read moreaddition the opportunity of schools and institutions such as prisons, hospitals were identified as they have access to large parcels of land which could potentially be used as intensive production and education centers. • Taking stock of the food system in Nairobi county by identifying all related activities, stakeholders and initiatives as well as going further to ensure that the right linkages are made between different stakeholders as well as incentives directed towards those that require support to build capacity. • Zoning and territorial planning geared towards putting forward at the fore. This includes allocating and protecting spaces for agri-food related activities such as farm lands, markets, dams, etc. In addition ensuring the access of land to vulnerable urban populations such as women and urban poor. • Driving efficiency of the food supply chains through infrastructure and technology related develops, for example, transportation systems that are agri-food friendly (e.g. trains with cold storage and well developed road network system) and fast internet for online market places. Read less

Nairobi County is developing the Nairobi City County Food System Strategy. The process of drafting the strategy started in 2017 as part of the project called: “Developing Sustainable Food Systems for Urban Areas”, that was implemented jointly by FAO and the governments of the cities of Nairobi, Dhaka (Bangladesh) and Lima (Peru) (“NADHALI”). The strategic objective of the project was to enable more inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems at local, national and international levels. The Nairobi City County Food Systems Strategy has the overall objective of attaining consis... Read moretent food security for city residents while safeguarding the commercial interests of food industry entrepreneurs. Currently the draft strategy has been published for a public participation process (https://nairobi.go.ke/download/nairobi-city-county-food-system-strategy-fourth-draft/). The dialogue answered the question: can the Nairobi City County Food System Strategy achieve a future of food that is sustainable, equitable and secure for its urban community? The discussions was guided by the specific objectives of the strategy which included: • SO1: Increase in food production, • SO2: Stable food supply to the city with stable incomes for players, • SO3: Reduction of food losses • SO4: Good welfare of food consumers. Key Questions • Does the vision of the Nairobi City County Food System Strategy align with the UN goals for urban communities? • How can the strategies and actions in the Nairobi City County Food System Strategy better support this vision? • What additional ideas, solutions, partnerships and action plans can be adopted / introduced to realize the overall objectives of a sustainable urban food system? • How can the capacities and capabilities of Nairobi City County Government and local stakeholders be built to carry on, extend and identify opportunities to achieve an urban food system that is inclusive and resilient, including withstanding shocks such as the COVID 19? • Have the stakeholder analysis in the Nairobi City County Food System Strategy captured all the key food systems transformation stakeholders and their requirements / needs necessary to drive food systems transformation? • As a food systems stakeholder, how can your work contribute towards a resilient and inclusive Nairobi urban food system? Read less