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Promoting sustainable local food systems and the role of the municipal authority: At the national level, processes are moving very slowly. On the municipal authority, the macro and the micro can be addressed. The municipality should lead processes of assimilating a healthy and sustainable food system. Moreover, those who need to lead this issue are the high-rank officials committed to creating in-depth changes. It is mandatory to appoint a nutritional safety and security committee in each city and publish a municipal nutrition appendix. The idea of a nutrition appendix is to form the urban spe... Read morecification for all aspects of nutrition – from purchasing food for feeding programs for schools, the elderly and other centers to urban community's kitchens and cooperation between authorities. We need to learn how to incentivize the local private sector and include it in the process. Food is a topic that connects communities - activities around the food systems are connecting and non-threatening. Focus shifted from food baskets to local production and local agriculture to eliminate the need for food baskets. Waste: The cost of food waste to the cities is enormous. 40% of the local authority's waste is organic waste. There is a huge saving for municipalities and individuals. Changing waste policy to the European model - those who reduce waste will be compensated, and payment will be according to the amount thrown away. The solution to food waste needs to be implemented at the municipal level first. Food rescuing: One of the main barriers is the Ministry of Health restrictions on the use of reusable utensils and on the use of saved food for the feeding program. The MOH requirements for school caterings are for a variety of 4 fruits and vegetables a week, which cannot be controlled when using rescued food. This problem can be solved by communicating and cooperating between authorities. The business sector has a powerful impact on health and food systems, and is a part of the problem - including it needs to be part of the solutions. Community gardens - this is a type of outdoor community center, a place for physical activity, a meeting for the elderly, etc. if we could turn these areas to be more productive and produce local agriculture, it can help reduce nutritional insecurity especially in low-income neighborhoods. This should happen without taking on the community nature of the garden. The refugees and statusless usually come from places that live mainly from agriculture. A high percentage of them were farmers. Giving them land to grow food on it is an idea worth more exploration. Solutions: 1.Cities should move toward edible cities or at least edible neighborhoods. Planting fruit trees in the city, together with a productive community garden. These are solutions, even if partial, for food security. 2. Municipal kitchens for educational institutions and social periphery – to support local employment and local food production. 3.Education program for a healthy and sustainable diet: returning nutrition classes to the education system. 4.Harnessing business sector, who currently detached from the urban food systems. 5.Reducing food losses and food waste by rescue food. Focus on vegetables and fruits (cooked food is more problematic for transfer and donation). 6.Cooperation is required between government ministries and local government. Part of the challenge is that the current food systems comply with supply and demand economic mechanisms. Read less

Food loss and food waste: In-depth analysis is needed to treat food loss in the field, agricultural depreciation, post-harvest as a critical stage, including legislation to change expiry dates system, retailer's chains purchasing systems, and infrastructures designed to detect waste optimize utilizing all products. At the agricultural level: climate changes increase depreciation (this year, the depreciation of apples in the north of Israel has reached 40% when it is usually 15-20%, caused by heatwaves). New technologies and applications are emerging, and more research and collaboration with ac... Read moreademics are needed to find solutions to agriculture losses and find other more sustainable alternatives to preservatives, fertilizers, and during transportation and storage. Optimization of all the processes. At the policy level, we tend to set long-term goals, while in this issue, we need much more short-term goals. The situation with institutional kitchen is too many restrictions on using "old" food, because of food safety issues, it is in contradiction to the need to reduce food waste. Better mechanisms to maintain food safety and reduce food waste are needed. It is challenging to predict food amounts to prepare when it is a big institutional kitchen, so solutions to the food not eaten should be prioritized. At the public level, we need to strengthen good habits, promote sustainable cultures and find how to reach out to people and make an impact. The awareness of food waste is very low in Israel, and there is a fear of shortage. We need to connect food waste to costs and explain that it is also a waste of money. Also, emphasis on the positivity and fun part of food saving, the creativity involved. Solutions: Differential pricing, active policies, and actions inside specific target populations to reduce food waste. As for households – the solutions should focus on education and changing the culture around food storage. Urban community centers, changing agents like teachers, parents, health practitioners, and NGO's campaigns could be trained to educate for reducing consumption in all its forms. Communicate the message of the urgent need to reduce food waste at all levels. Municipalities are the main actor in changing post-harvest food waste: In retail chains, in restaurants, institutional kitchens, and households. For example, waste tax, "pay as you throw," at all these levels. An interdisciplinary council that will include all parts of the local food system is needed. How: Identifying "hot spot" for wasting (for example, specific sectors, specific ethnicities) and targeted interventions, requiting the education system to teach children about food waste, media campaigns, Local Food Council (Food Security Administration), and solutions tailored to different populations and different sectors (emphasis on the essential part that municipalities have) Read less

The major thems were: Theme 1: Establish a national food and nutrition masterplan to assure national and nutritional food security in the present and future. Proposal: Systematic screening and data collection, which is nutrition insecure Proposal: budget allocation to support the nutrition insecure population Proposal: reduction of meat consumption to comply with healthy and sustainable diets and transition toward Mediterranean diet. Proposal: Promotion of a holistic view, focusing on local agriculture as a primary provider of food security, with emphasis on quality and not only quantity and e... Read moreco-friendly agriculture Proposal: Promotion of agricultural law and legislative infrastructure, supporting farmers' needs for local production such as stable customs on import, affordable water prices, foreign workers, and R&D, including workforce saving technology Proposal: substantial budgeting for research as a permanent part of the masterplan. Setting measurable goals in all aspects: health and nutrition, economy, welfare, education, etc.) Proposal: collecting data and researching food loss and food waste through the whole food system – from agriculture to households. Legislation of coerced treatment of food loos and food waste throughout the food systems – from livestock and plant agriculture to industrial and municipal food waste. Theme 2: the establishment of an inclusive regulatory authority for national food and nutrition Proposal: mapping and solving conflicting policies through system thinking according to the masterplan Proposal: establishing Big Data integration center to cope with the huge challenges of contradicting regulation and lack of data in significant parts of the food system in Israel (lack of data on antimicrobial resistance, food insecurity population, the nutritional composition of agriculture production) Proposal: the healthy and sustainable food basket recommendation of the Israeli ministry of health for nutrition insecurity population should be the compass for policies and implementation – fields dedicated for certain plantation (allocations of agricultural land to specific yields, guidance to which food can be donated and which food cannot be donated for the nutrition insecure population and more. Theme 3: Regulation and policies: Proposal: create incentives and penalties throughout the food system: To reduce food waste, a different waste stream system, such as households paying per weight waste, incentives for farmers to reduce agriculture waste and for consumers to buy "ugly" fruits and vegetables. Solutions such as taxes on ultra-processed food and differential VAT on healthy food create incentives to consume healthy diets on the production and consumption. Proposal: reducing food waste – promoting better consumption and purchasing through policies. Theme 4: sustainable and healthy nutritional and agricultural education for children and adults Proposal: sustainable nutrition should be part of the educational programs within the educational system from the early ages until graduation. Proposal: Allocation of resources and land in cities, especially to the underprivileged, to grow food Proposal: Education for all ages, promoting closer contacts between farmers and consumers, and changing nutritional habits that will increase local agriculture base in food security. These will be in congruence with the national dietary recommendation. Theme 5: technologies are needed to better adaptation and mitigation Proposal: to make sure the technologies that are being developed are used to support health and sustainable diets and not produce ultra-processed food. Proposal: use of technologies (special apps) to reduce food loss and food waste –including on retails, catering services, restaurants, and neighborhoods. Theme 6: healthy and sustainable livestock food system Proposal: creating a benchmark for the whole livestock: from agriculture to food waste. Including data collection and transparency to prevent Antimicrobial resistance and zoonotic disease development. Proposal: the target of lowering livestock-related foodprints should include both the imported meats and the country's local-grown meats. Theme 7: local food systems are central to the solutions. Municipalities can take part in all SDG's Proposal: since food systems are so complicated, each municipality or region must have an inclusive food and sustainability council led by the mayor and lead the region's healthy and sustainable policies. Proposal: connecting the municipals' private sector to be part of the solutions to changing the local food systems to healthier and sustainable ones. Proposal: creating incentives - financial and logistics- for sustainable treatment of metropolitan's food waste. Read less

The focus of the dialogue was food Security, Nutrition Security, Agriculture, and Climate Crisis. The dialogue consists of seven teams: 1. sustainable agriculture and food production; 2. climate crisis and food security, and agriculture; 3. Livestock food systems; 4. native food security (Arab sector); 5. Nutrition and food security for all; 6. Local and municipality food systems; 7. Food waste and food loss. The compass of our FSD was the 17 SDG's and the right to food. Proposals were focused on ensuring food security for all: assuring healthy and sustainable diets at all times, including tim... Read morees of crisis. Read less

One solution provided for youth and women to better engage in the food system was the lowering of standards or the contextualization of standards for food products / agricultural produce. Some felt this would limit the ability of agribusinesses from the country to effectively engage in regional and global food systems that have set standards that all must adhere to in order to have their goods enter those markets.

YES Malawi discussion topic 3 (Off-line): How to empower youths and women in Food Systems in relation to Health? 1. Conduct action based research as an entry to programme planning and design on food and nutrition programs targeting youth and women 2. Involve youth and women in the design and targeting of all food security and nutrition action plans. this should include the provision of education about the links between nutrition and good health for individuals, groups and their families and food systems 3. Develop local food security networks to discuss and share information on food systems an... Read mored nutrition and the role of youths and women. 4. Need for good leadership and political will to have youth and women empowerment programs. 5. Need for changes to policy, legislation and planning in order to: - protect girl children from teen marriages and pregnancies - safeguard and increase women’s access to, and control over, incomes and other resources - enhancing women’s and youth and women’s participation in microfinance facilities - explore creative approaches to reduce women’s time constraints e.g. provision of improved water supply - increase women’s involvement in decision making at all levels Read less

YES Malawi discussion topic 2: What actions need to be taken in the next 3 years to ensure the empowerment of women and youth for better participation in the food system? 1. Government support needed in various areas: - Setting up business incubation schemes for women and youth - Review existing relevant policies and ensure that youth and women roles / challenges in food systems are mainstreamed, which should the strengthening of youth and women groups and the deliberate provision of income earning opportunities for them. - Establish special loan facility for youth and women agri-entrepreneurs... Read more, but ensure effective management, accountability and impact. 2. Development practitioners and local organisations (such as YES Malawi) to facilitate the creation of cooperatives among women and youth in the food system for better financial inclusion 3. Financial institutions to develop youth focused finance packages, such as those with lower interest rates, non-traditional collateral and re-payment terms that are contextualized to the type business that women and youth are engaged in the food system. 4. Women, youth, all participants and citizens: need to play our part for a radical mindset shift. Children should be trained and groomed by families to have a better understanding of the food system and what actions they and all can take (at the local level) for resilience and sustainability. Local organisations (such as YES Malawi) need to work with community groups, traditional leaders and families to make information available and to create tools that families can tap into, tools should be relevant and in the vernacular to allow understanding. 5. Government/private sector/ Academia and Research/ private entities (such as YES Malawi): Work collaboratively to develop, market and make available low cost technologies or the mechanization of agriculture and other processes within he food system. this will make engagement tin food systems attractive for youth and less tedious for all including women (involved in the primary production stage). Read less

YES Malawi discussion topic 1: How can youth and women be empowered today be empowered today to ensure access to safe and nutritious food for all in the future? Participants views are provided below: 1. Advocacy: Field practitioners should carry out massive awareness campaigns to understand the gap of women and youth exclusion in the food system; 2. Practitioners, government and private sector stakeholders should provide information to women and youth to build their knowledge and capacity to enable them to better engage in the food system. This should be with the aim of changing mindsets and e... Read morequipping them with knowledge and skills to effectively participate in the food system; 3. Government should make deliberate efforts to incentivize women and youth to participate in the food system. This can be done in various way: -Legal frameworks should have a special focus on women and youth smallholder farmers for example in Malawi this can mean enforcement of the Cooperative Act to ensure the effective engagement of women and youth - Government should set up institutions to govern the marketing of agricultural products - Ensure the financial inclusion of women and youth - Government should monitor integration of the operating framework of state and non-state actors as disintegration leads to contradicting [agricultural advisory] messages at grassroots level - Promote the engagement of women and youth in seemingly simplistic innovations such as backyard vegetable farming and home Irrigation farming, which for the poorest members of society can be very empowering. Read less

The main finding of the Youth Enterprise Services (YES) Malawi independent dialogue is that no single solution, especially on its own is a panacea to the challenges faced by youth and women in the food system. However there are game changing solutions that can go far in empowering youth and women to effective actors in transforming food systems, these include: 1. Increased access to affordable tech solutions. Current cost for access to the internet and to technological based solutions in the developing world is prohibitive. Youth and women cannot leverage technology to overcome many of the cha... Read morellenges they face because these are expensive. 2. Establish local information hubs that provide up to date and emerging information, in the relevant vernacular language for communities, practitioners, and traditional authorities on all various aspects of food systems and for various players (farmers, agri-SMEs, consumers, field practitioners). 3. Need for more tailored finance that is responsive to the unique needs of youth and women in developing context food systems. 4. Strong political will that facilitates the implementation of all these solutions above and which works towards putting in place a policy environment that enables creativity and the implementation of solutions that are practical and tangible. Read less

The YES Malawi Independent Dialogue brought together women and youth from Malawi engaged in agriculture and the food system. This included Malawian youth and women engaged in farming and agribusiness, policy makers from both the agriculture and health sectors, agricultural researchers and scientists and youth still in education. The dialogue built upon the practical work of Youth Enterprise Services (Yes), and highlighted the pervasive challenges hindering youth and women from fully contributing to transformation of the food system into one that is sustainable. Participants then engaged in dis... Read morecussing game changing solutions focus on a key question: How can the youth and women, in Malawi, be empowered today to ensure access to safe and nutritious food for all in the future? Read less

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- There's a huge issue with expired food being sold to young people in school canteens across the US this has caused a distrust of young people towards people supplying food to them. They don't believe some organisations have their best interests at heart. - Refrigerators have been set up where community members can stock food and people who need the food can take it but how can these be scaled up globally? For this to work it needs to be backed by the community. - Food needs to be linked more widely to health and wellness - Community gardens are a great solution to food insecurity and e... Read moreducation around food. This gave the community a voice in what they wanted on their plates during the week and it gave them more choices for meals as they didn't have to pay for the food. - When food banks had to close due to under funding the community ensured that the gardens stayed open. This also allowed for inter generational learning, the longer the garden stayed open. - Indigenous participants talked about the community not having access to shops as they are just too far away so they have no choice but to eat food that lasts the longest which are the unhealthy foods. - A lot of young people only get their food meals from school so not having access to school has hindered their food security. - Some students still maintain their school garden as it give them an income as locals can buy from them. - The need for community initiatives to be supported but not to be scaled up too much as they have to stay local and not be taken over. - A lot of school feeding programmes are run t a federal level which results in a lot of food going to waste we need to make federal guidelines more flexible to local situations. - In schools before covid there were sharing tables set up so any student who had food they didn't want put it on this table and anyone could take it, this decreased food waste dramatically in canteens. Read less