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.

Breaking Barriers in the Field: How Good Nature Agro (GNA) is Boosting Women’s Leadership in Agricultural Extension

Good Nature Agro (GNA), a Zambia-based enterprise with presence in Malawi and South Africa, produces high-quality groundnut and bean seeds and commodities, distributed across Southern and Central Africa, including Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Namibia. Founded in 2014, GNA has supported over 20,000 smallholder farmers this season with seeds, training and market access to improve incomes and livelihoods. From its early years, GNA set a target of 40% female farmer representation and invested in key programs to improve female farmers’ experience. Initiatives included co-farmer registration for digital payments, family financial literacy training, pre-harvest payments and loans, asset financing, and gender training for all field staff. These efforts created measurable impacts on productivity and strengthened women’s engagement in high-value markets. Recent surveys confirmed that female farmers continue to experience increased production efficiency and have a positive experience with GNA, reflected in a 60 Decibels net promoter score of 57 (the likelihood of farmers recommending GNA to others, on a scale from -100 to +100).

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.

Jack Bean Tempeh Enhanced Resilience of Aceh Food Systems During Disasters

By the end of 2025, The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) of Indonesia recorded extreme rainfall, with intensities reaching 300–500 mm per month, occurring in 3 provinces in Sumatra. Indonesia is facing a combination of relatively complex atmospheric dynamics, including the active Asian Monsoon, the Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO), atmospheric waves, the formation of tropical cyclone seeds and tropical cyclones, as well as the influence of a weak La Niña and a negative Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). These conditions increased rainfall intensity, particularly from mid-December 2025 to early January 2026. 

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

GAIN Working Paper n°62: Alternative Sources to Improve Sustainability and Resilience of Tempeh Supply Chains

- 13/02/2026

Tempeh is a popular traditional plant-based protein that plays a vital role in Indonesian diets. Indonesia’s reliance on imported soybeans (2.6 million tons/year) for tempeh production, however, creates market instability and food vulnerabilities, particularly regarding cost and supply fluctuations. This paper analyses the technical, economic, and market feasibility of alternative legumes—specifically, jack beans, mung beans, and peanuts—as sustainable substitutes for soybeans in tempeh production. The aim is to identify the most viable option for immediate scale-up to support local food systems and improve nutritional outcomes.

GAIN Working Paper n°61: Small fish: An Untapped Opportunity for Improving Nutrition

- 06/02/2026

Fish offer a potentially sustainable solution to food security and nutrition challenges in Indonesia. Despite abundant aquatic resources, per capita fish consumption remains lower than in neighbouring countries. Factors such as overfishing, pollution, and unsustainable aquaculture practices limit growth, while climate change poses additional threats to fish stocks.

GAIN Joins the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty

GAIN is pleased to announce its membership in the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty (GAAHP) bringing on board a nutrition and food systems lens for global efforts

Pakistan Climate – Nutrition Integration Assessment

- 02/02/2026

Pakistan faces a dual crisis of climate change and malnutrition, with floods, droughts, and other climate shocks driving some of the world’s highest rates of child stunting (over 40%) and wasting (around 18%). Most climate and nutrition policies operate in silos, offering limited integrated action, while regions like Sindh and Balochistan face the greatest vulnerabilities. Integrating nutrition into climate adaptation—such as promoting climate-resilient, nutrient-rich crops—can deliver “win-win” outcomes, but urgent, coordinated action from policymakers, donors, and civil society is needed to protect the most at-risk populations.