Food systems, important for food security, nutrition, prosperity, and environmental well-being, are integral to all 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Traditional food markets are strategic entry points for food systems transformation, since a diversity of stakeholders (including local producers, vendors, consumers, and government), interact routinely in these spaces. These markets connect millions of stakeholders within and across local food systems and levels of government mandates. As food-insecure regions like sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) rapidly urbanise, most urban, low-income, vulnerable communities are reliant on food purchased from markets. As such, markets are key spaces to guide vendor practices, influence consumer food choices, and strengthen inclusive governance. Despite their critical value, markets’ ‘hard’ (structures and equipment) and ‘soft’ (capacities and resources) infrastructure are significantly under-supported. Investment efforts have been challenged by a lack of understanding of how markets are embedded in the wider food system and markets’ wholesale and retail dynamics, inadequate financial models, insufficient public budgets and capacity, and limited empowerment of key stakeholders.
This paper introduces and illustrates GAIN’s Inclusive Food Systems Governance Model and supporting tools. The model is designed to strengthen investment and empower voices, alongside increased efforts to ensure sustainability and resilience in traditional food markets. It has been shown to support effective market infrastructure investments, to foster local agency and inclusive and equitable food systems transformation, and to be adaptable across different contexts. The case of Marikiti Market, Machakos County (Kenya) shows the model in action, including details of specific investment components and costs. As infrastructure investments are limited, the importance of making a sound business investment case for public and private (and philanthropic) partnerships and banks to invest in traditional markets is critical.
UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohamed calls for bold action to accelerate food system transformation.
She highlights two key priorities:
1. Helping governments craft high-impact, investible actions.
2. Leveraging aid to unlock concessional loans and mobilize private sector resources for nutrition, food security, climate, resilience, and jobs.
Watch the video to hear her full message
As cities around the world grapple with rising food insecurity, climate pressures, and deepening inequalities, food markets play a critical role in building healthier, more equitable, and climate-resilient urban food systems.
The Private Service Provider (PSP) knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAPs) assessment was done to see how well PSPs who were trained by the CASCADE project and worked with the National Home-Grown School Feeding Program (NHGSFP) remembered and used what they learnt about basic nutrition, food safety, hygiene, and handling raw materials.
The NHGSFP aims to provide daily nutritious meals to public primary school pupils using locally grown farm produce, thereby enhancing children's health, increasing school attendance, and supporting local farmers while contributing to the overall economic and social development of Nigeria. The program was suspended in January 2024 for nine weeks; however, since the suspension by the president, the program has yet to kick off, even with budgetary allocations in the 2024 and 2025 budgets. This suspension has hindered the effective application of the knowledge and skills gained during the training.
This event will build on the momentum of the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit and the first Stocktake in 2023 (UNFSS+2), focusing on accelerating sustainable, inclusive, and resilient food systems transformation.
2025 Theme : FAO’s 80th Anniversary
World Food Day is an international day celebrated every year worldwide on October 16 to commemorate the date of the founding of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in 1945.
Stay tuned for GAIN’s contributions to World Food Day 2025.
At GAIN, sustainability is at the heart of everything we do. This year, we're marking Earth Day (April 22) as part of Green Week 2025, a dedicated time for reflection, action, and engagement on environmental sustainability across our global offices.
Healthy beginnings, Hopeful futures
World Health Day, celebrated on 7 April 2025, will kick off a year-long campaign on maternal and newborn health. The campaign, titled Healthy beginnings, hopeful futures, will urge governments and the health community to ramp up efforts to end preventable maternal and newborn deaths, and to prioritize women’s longer-term health and well-being.
WHO and partners will also share useful information to support healthy pregnancies and births, and better postnatal health.
Stay tuned for GAIN’s contributions to World Health Day 2025.
In a significant step towards addressing malnutrition, the United Nations adopted Minimum Dietary Diversity as a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator. Globally, almost 3 billion people are unable to access and afford a healthy diet. Micronutrient deficiencies, caused in large part by inadequate diets is one of the leading factors in malnutrition globally. Poor diets also account for a global rise in non-communicable diseases and contribute significantly to premature mortality, worldwide.
Despite the central importance of healthy diets, until recently, global efforts towards addressing malnutrition lacked standardised metrics to effectively track diet quality. The adoption of Minimum Dietary Diversity in the SDG framework will now give governments, policy makers and international organisations a key tool to formulate evidence-based strategies that can improve diets and help reduce malnutrition.
