Urban food policies

Since 2000, the relationship between food and cities has been at the centre of a wide-ranging international debate, which has developed increasingly in the last 15 years thanks to networks established partly by the United Nations system (WHO, FAO, UNDP) and partly by an extensive world-wide technical and scientific community. Various urban food strategies – known as urban food policies – have emerged, globally, drawing the attention of the local authorities on food and nutrition issues, from agriculture to processing, logistics to distribution, consumption to waste, according to a systemic approach that can build the capacity of cities to act through innovative policies.

From Mozambique to Cuba, from Burkina Faso to Colombia, the Italian Development Cooperation, through its Rural Development – Food Security Office, is working to integrate, wherever possible, urban components into development cooperation projects to enhance food security in partner countries, in partnership with local authorities. Like the international community, the Agency aims to contribute to eradicating hunger, achieving food security, improving nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture, objectives that are increasingly relevant in urban and peri-urban areas.

Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (MUFPP)

In 2014, the mayor of Milan launched an international protocol addressing food issues at urban level, to be adopted in as many cities around the world as possible. The Milan Urban Food Policy Pact, as it was called, was signed on 15 October 2015, in Milan, by more than 100 mayors, representing one of the most important legacies of EXPO Milan 2015.

The Pact is not just a voluntary declaration but a concrete working tool for cities, facilitating knowledge sharing and best practices, for support in the development of ad hoc urban food policies, and helping to form a community of food professionals, through activities such as training programmes, joint advocacy actions, workshops, and seminars.

The Pact consists of a Preamble and an Action Framework with a list of 37 recommended actions, grouped into 6 categories: Governance, Sustainable Diets and Nutrition, Social and Economic Equity, Food Production, Food Supply and Distribution, and Food Waste. Specific indicators are provided for each recommended action to monitor progress in implementing the Pact.

By signing the Pact, the mayors committed to:

Develop sustainable, inclusive, resilient, secure and diverse food systems.
Promote coordination among departments and sectors at the municipal and community levels, by fostering the inclusion of urban food policy issues within social, economic and environmental policies, programmes and projects.
Promote coherence between municipal food-related policies and programmes and the relevant sub-national, national, regional, and international policies and processes.
Involve all sectors of the food system in the development, implementation and evaluation of food policies, programmes and projects.
Review and amend existing citywide policies, plans and regulations to encourage the creation of equitable, resilient and sustainable food systems.
Employ the Framework for Action in each city as a starting point to develop tailored urban food systems.

One of the key goals of the MUFPP is to encourage the exchange of practices and skills building among signatory cities. Since 2016, to foster this collaboration the City of Milan and the Cariplo Foundation launched the Milan Pact Awards (MPA) with the aim of acknowledging the most creative efforts and monitoring which cities are effectively implementing the commitments they made by joining the Pact. These accolades serve as a means of incentivizing action by promoting good practices in each of the 6 categories, highlighting their importance within the community and becoming an inspiration for other signatory cities.

In May 2022, AICS entered into a three-year agreement (2023-2025) with the City of Milan to consolidate the MUFPP as an initiative of interest for the Italian cooperation. This agreement led to the approval of the AID 012739 initiative “Consolidation of the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (MUFPP),” managed by Office VI, with the aim of strengthening the MUFPP in support of the urban food policies implemented by cities within the countries of competence of Italian Development Cooperation.

The project’s goal is to strengthen the skills within the MUFPP and to engage and improve the training of officials of the signatory cities, as well as the staff of AICS field offices and in Italy, and voluntary workers, development cooperation staff in general and researchers.

The activities planned and developed in partnership, by MUFPP and AICS, are:

Webinars, workshops and training programmes on urban food policy issues.
Joint events presenting food policy issues and the MUFPP.
Training and support missions to signatory cities to develop their respective food strategies and policies.
Drafting of publications, reports and policy briefs on the sustainability of food systems and food security at the urban scale (to date, the following have been published: Report of 8th MUFPP Global Forum Rio de Janeiro, Milan Pact Awards 2022 Report, School Meals: the transformative potential of urban food policies).
Relations with other “Italian System” players (Universities, CSOs, Local Government Associations, ICE, Italmercati, etc.) operating in the countries of competence of the MUFPP and AICS, and other strategic actors.
Fostering contacts and relationships with AICS field offices to support urban/peri-urban food policies, by promoting, where possible, the expansion of signatory cities in Italian cooperation priority countries (in 2023, collaboration with AICS field offices led to 6 new cities joining the AICS priority countries, namely, Amman and Al-Salt in Jordan, Chimoio in Mozambique, Kisumu in Kenya, Havana in Cuba, and Jericho in Palestine).
Joint presentation of European projects.