FoodCLIC’s Broadening Phase is officially underway!

As the FoodCLIC Living Labs in the eight Pilot city-regions progress with implementing their real-world interventions, the Broadening city-regions are embarking on their own exciting journey with FoodCLIC.

In April 2024, eight additional city-regions joined the project as Broadening city-regions. They will focus on the first three phases of the FoodCLIC process: Mapping and Baseline Assessment, Visioning, and Designing Pathways of Change – with the overarching aim of adapting and testing the FoodCLIC approach in diverse urban and urban-rural contexts.

The Broadening city-regions include five European cities - Freiburg (Germany), Tbilisi (Georgia), Thessaloniki (Greece), Tirana (Albania), and Wrocław (Poland), and three African cities - Ebolowa (Cameroon), Fort Portal (Uganda), and eThekwini (South Africa). These cities were selected for their compelling applications, which demonstrated a strong commitment to addressing food policy and governance, fostering citizen engagement, and working collaboratively to transform their food environments.

FoodCLIC’s Broadening approach recognises that each city is at a different stage of its food system transformation journey. Some cities are relatively new to this work and see it as an important emerging priority, while others have already made significant strides and wish to focus on specific challenges. This diversity adds richness to the project, as cities can learn from one another’s experiences and expertise.

At its core, the Broadening approach is about more than just testing the feasibility of the FoodCLIC methods; it’s about understanding how the project’s tools, guidelines, and lessons can be adapted to diverse contexts, it’s about creating an environment in which cities can exchange and learn from each other. The Broadening city-regions and the project team work closely together to determine how best to apply the FoodCLIC approach in ways that address the unique needs and opportunities of each city.

In October 2024, the Broadening cities joined the project partners in Berlin for the FoodCLIC mid-term international workshop. This marked their official onboarding and provided an opportunity to learn from the progress of the Pilot city-regions. It also launched the first of many peer-to-peer learning exchanges - a cornerstone of the Broadening approach. During the conference, ICLEI convened an interactive peer-to-peer session where cities and partners shared challenges and aspirations. The session focused on the Mapping and Baseline Assessment phase, which the Broadening city-regions are about to begin. The FoodCLIC Living Labs shared insights from their own experiences with implementation since the start of the project and with going through the FoodCLIC process, offering valuable lessons and practical tips for the new cities.

Following the workshop, the Broadening city-regions officially launched the first phase of their journey - Mapping and Baseline Assessment. To support this, the ICLEI team hosted a workshop to introduce the FoodCLIC guidelines, methods, and examples for mapping different aspects of the food system. These include stakeholder and policy mapping, food environment mapping, and socio-economic dynamics analysis at both city-region and neighbourhood levels. The workshop aimed to equip Broadening city-regions with a flexible set of tools, allowing them to tailor their mapping efforts to their specific contexts and needs. This phase, running from November 2024 to April 2025, will lay the foundation for the subsequent phases: ‘Visioning’ and ‘Designing Pathways of Change’.

The journey of the Broadening city-regions is just beginning, but the energy and commitment they bring to the FoodCLIC project are already inspiring. As they navigate the Mapping and Baseline Assessment, their unique perspectives and contexts will enrich the collective learning and innovation at the heart of FoodCLIC. With peer-to-peer exchanges and tailored support guiding their efforts, these cities are poised to uncover transformative pathways for their food systems. The months ahead promise to be filled with discoveries, challenges, and inspiring stories. Stay tuned as we explore how these cities reshape their urban food environments and pave the way for a more sustainable future!

- Written by our guest author and consortium member Ivan Pauw (ICLEI African Secretariat)

Publishing date: 25 November 2024