Why Nutrition Starts Long Before the Plate

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?

Webinar: From Market Stalls to City Government Halls

24 March 2026- 24 March 2026Global

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. If you are working on, or interested in, how cities can better deliver healthy diets, this session offers grounded perspectives and real-world examples to learn from.

GAIN Working Paper n°65: Cities Accelerating Transitions to Regenerative Food Systems

- 09/03/2026

Transformation towards just and sustainable food systems is needed to ensure the health of people and the planet. Current large-scale industrial agri-food systems practices across an increasingly urbanised system are increasing soil degradation. These practices, alongside intersecting environmental challenges and widening socio-economic inequalities, are negatively impacting food security and access to healthy diets and increasing interest in climate-smart, agroecological, and regenerative food production. Cities are dynamic places of human settlement where food systems innovation can be catalysed. This makes them key to food policy and delivering nourishing, just and sustainable food systems. In 2024-5, the Transforming Urban Rural Food Systems (TURFS) Consortium conducted a mixed-methods exploratory inquiry in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to explore how cities can incentivise regenerative agricultural transitions.

GAIN Working Paper n°64 Worker Nutrition In Bangladesh And Opportunities For Integration Into Occupational Safety and Health

- 02/03/2026

Many adults spend most of their waking hours in the workplace, making it an important—yet underappreciated—leverage point for change. In the context of food systems, workplaces can contribute to significantly improved nutrition through employer-provided nutrition programmes (also known as ‘workforce nutrition programmes’ (WFN)). However, the process of gaining support for these initiatives and the potential for institutionalising them within policy remain underexamined. This case study aims to address this by examining the development of WFN in Bangladesh, including at the factory level and through the government-led National Workforce Nutrition Alliance (NWNA). It also considers opportunities for integrating nutrition considerations into occupational safety and health (OSH) policies, regulations, and practices in Bangladesh.

Asia and the Pacific Food Systems Forum 2026

16 March 2026- 19 March 2026Global

Agriculture remains a strong driver of livelihoods and economic growth in Asia and the Pacific. However, the region’s food systems are increasingly vulnerable to floods, droughts, heat stress, glacier melt, land degradation, and biodiversity loss. The Asia and the Pacific face a converging crisis of climate change, eroding natural capital, and rising food & water insecurity.

I-CAN Policy Brief: Bridging Climate And Nutrition Policies In Tanzania

- 26/02/2026

I-CAN Policy Brief, June 2025. This policy brief highlights the challenges and opportunities arising from the need to better integrate climate and nutrition policies in Tanzania. Despite growing recognition of their interconnectedness, policies remain largely fragmented and operate in silos, particularly across health, nutrition, and other food systems sectors. Food and agriculture policies lead in climate-nutrition integration by including concrete strategies and accountability mechanisms. However, outdated legacy policies, weak institutional coordination, and fragmented financing and data systems hinder effective integration and implementation. Key barriers include limited cross-sectoral collaboration, under-resourced coordination structures, and lack of shared data and financing mechanisms. Recommendations include establishing a national Climate–Nutrition Coordination Committee, implementing integrated financing tracking, adopting joint monitoring indicators, and promoting inclusive stakeholder engagement to strengthen policy coherence and accelerate impactful climate-nutrition action in Tanzania.

GAIN Convening Paper n°22: Shared Learning, Inspired Action: Insights From Global Exchanges on Strengthening Urban Food Markets

- 13/02/2026

To strengthen evidence and practice about local fresh food markets and food systems governance, in 2025, ICLEI CityFood, the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), and World Farmers Markets Coalition published two editions of a handbook about markets and resilient cities. The second edition comprises 31 city-market case studies and is structured around the CityFood Market Action Framework. Between May and December 2025, following the launch of the first edition, ICLEI CityFood and GAIN co-convened eight online sessions of a Community of Interest focused on markets and cities. The sessions were structured around four thematic areas: an introduction to how cities shape food markets; gender and social intersectionality; managing food waste; and access to nutrition. Across all eight sessions, a total of 327 participants from 27 cities and 56 organisations took part. This paper shares a summary of those prior sessions and signposts upcoming sessions