When we think about improving nutrition, our minds often jump to the dinner plate: the colourful vegetables, the lean proteins, the whole grains. We focus on consumer choices, dietary guidelines, and the individual responsibility to eat healthily. But what if the most critical decisions shaping our nutrition have already been made long before the food reaches our plate? What if the very food environments where we buy our food are the true starting point for a healthy diet?
 

This is the reality for billions of people worldwide. Nutrition is not simply a matter of personal choice. It is a complex outcome shaped by the food environments people navigate every day. These environments, particularly the bustling local and traditional markets in cities in low- and middle-income countries, serve as the backbone of local food systems. It is in these market systems and places that the availability, affordability, convenience, and safety of food are determined. Underscoring these markets as critical intervention points, is the burden of two-thirds of urban and peri-urban residents who struggle with moderate to severe food insecurity – many of whom are dependent on food purchasing [1, 2].
 

The Market as a Critical Nutrition Space
 

Local and traditional food markets are far more than just places to buy and sell produce. They are vibrant, complex ecosystems where social, economic, and cultural forces converge. They are where vendors and market officials, through their daily routines and decisions, directly influence the quality and safety of the food supply. The journey of food from farm and fisheries to market is fraught with potential for nutritional degradation. Poor handling, inadequate cool chains and dry storage, and exposure to heat can all diminish the vitamin and mineral content of fresh produce long before it is ever consumed. This is a key insight that has been reinforced through technical workshops on leveraging local food markets for healthier diets. [3, 4]
 

Furthermore, these markets are often a blend of healthy and unhealthy food environments. Processed foods, and those high in salt, sugar, and unhealthy fats, are frequently more affordable and convenient than their fresh, nutritious counterparts. According to FAO, a healthy diet is unaffordable for more than 3 billion people globally [2]. When faced with widening socio- economic inequalities in cities alongside the pressures of daily life, the choice between a cheap, filling snack and more expensive, perishable fresh fruit becomes difficult.
This is where the interconnectedness of nutrition, food hygiene and safety, and food waste becomes starkly apparent. Food that is handled unhygienically can introduce pathogens, making consumers sick and potentially fatally so, a concern addressed by the Codex Alimentarius guidelines for traditional food markets [5, 6]. Food that is wasted represents not only a loss of income for vendors but also a loss of production resources and nutrients embedded in the food system [4, 6]. Addressing these challenges in isolation is limiting.  A systemic approach is needed, one that recognises these markets as central hubs of food and people in the food system.
 

From Local Action to Global Transformation
 

The ONE Nutrition tool is part of a broader agenda to recognise and support the vital role and agency of city governments and local and traditional markets in food systems transformation. For example, initiatives like the Community of Interest for Cities and Markets, co-convened by ICLEI CityFood and GAIN, bring together hundreds of participants from dozens of cities, across the world, to share knowledge and best practices [8]. This community expands beyond the 31 cases presented in the CityFood Market Handbook for Healthy and Resilient Cities developed by ICLEI, GAIN and the World Farmers Markets Coalition, to be a living peer to peer inspiration-  offering immense potential to deepen and scale locally led action for healthier, more resilient, and more equitable food environments [9].

The journey to better nutrition does not begin on the plate. It begins in the fields, lakes and oceans where food is grown and fished, on the trucks that transport it, places of aggregation and storage, and, most critically, in the bustling markets where hundreds of thousands of low income vendors operate and where millions of people make their daily food choices. By empowering market actors with the knowledge and tools to think systemically, and by learning nutrition together from the market floor outward, we can strengthen access to healthy diets, livelihoods, and local food systems governance.
 

References

1. HLPE. Strengthening urban and peri-urban food systems to achieve food security and nutrition, in the context of urbanization and rural transformation. Rome: CFS HLPE-FSN; 2024.
2. Food and Agriculture Organization, International Fund for Agricultural Development, United Nations Children’s Fund, World Food Programme, & World Health Organization. (2023). The state of food security and nutrition in the world 2023: Urbanization, agrifood systems transformation and healthy diets across the rural–urban continuum. FAO. https://doi.org/10.4060/cc3017en
3. Food and Agriculture Organization, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, & Rikolto. (2024). Leveraging local and traditional food markets and public food procurement: Technical workshop summary report. FAO.
4. Beuving, M., McNabb, W. C., & Smith, N. W. (2024). Global nutrient content embedded in food losses and waste: Identifying the sources and magnitude along the food supply chain. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 51, 519–531.
5. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, & World Health Organization. (2024). Guidelines for food hygiene control measures in traditional markets for food (CXG 103-2024). Codex Alimentarius Commission.
6. DeWaal, C. S., & Trevenen-Jones, A. (2025). Guidelines for food hygiene in traditional markets: Improving access to safe, healthy foods and livelihoods (Discussion Paper No. 17). Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). https://doi.org/10.36072/dp.17
7. Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). (2025). ONE Nutrition implementation reporting and country training summaries, 2023–2025 [Unpublished internal report].
8. Minja, D., Trevenen-Jones, A., Phala, B., & Emmanuel, S. (2026). Shared learning, inspired action: Insights from global exchanges on strengthening urban food markets (Convening Paper No. 22). Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). https://doi.org/10.36072/cp.22
9. ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability. (2025). The CityFood market handbook for healthy and resilient cities (2nd ed.).

This Inspirational Kongamano webinar brings together city and market actors who are actively working to build more just, sustainable, and resilient food systems — with a clear focus on improving access to healthy diets.

You’ll hear practical insights on:
 

• Innovative approaches to market investment
• Inclusive models for food systems governance
• Strengthening nutrition capacity at city level
• The session will also draw from lessons emerging from GAIN’s food systems governance programme and its partnerships for impact.
  
  We’re joined by speakers from ICLEI World Secretariat, ICLEI Africa, Nutrition in City Ecosystems (NICE), GAIN, and other leading organisations working at the forefront of urban food systems transformation.

Inspiration Kongamano
📅 24 March 2026
⏰ 12:00 CET
💻 Online – Zoom 

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