Food Smart Cities in Latin America: healthy, sustainable and nutritious food for all

Healthy food environments and inclusive supply chains favor access to healthy and nutritious food produced sustainably by farmers for urban citizens, especially those in vulnerable situations (women, children, youth, indigenous communities and migrant populations). By the end of 2026, our ambition is to have catalyzed collective action among local food system actors (governments, farmers, food retailers and distributors, citizens, thematic experts, financial institutions, civil society organizations) to make urban food environments and food supply chains more conducive to healthy, sustainable and nutritious (HSN) diets for all citizens as part of resilient and inclusive food systems across Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, Peru and Ecuador in eleven city-regions. To accomplish the outcome, we will work in 3 result areas: sustainable food production (SFP), inclusive markets (IM), and enabling environment (EE), mobilizing 4 key approaches: food systems, sustainable and resilient landscapes, inclusive business facilitation and evidence for impact. Under SFP, Rikolto will work on building farmer’s capacities on regenerative agriculture, on management skills to access commercial and financial opportunities, and the design of a sustainable landscape management model. Under IM, we will demonstrate the business case for companies to source HSN produce from smallholders and we will support the development of inclusive business models on food distribution, including traditional wet markets and public institutions. Under EE, we will work with local governments (right bearers), civil society organizations and farmers organizations (right holders) to build evidence for decision-makers on initiatives that deliver socioeconomic and environmental benefits to improve local food environments. We will work through multistakeholder platforms to ensure that all the actors in the food system are represented, and no one is left behind, promoting peer to peer learning. The improvement of a monitoring mechanism to ensure integration among local and national food policies as well as the articulation with the voluntary guidelines on food systems and nutrition (VGFSyN) at the global level is considered.