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Local food strategy Gent en Garde
Published on 25 March 2021
Belgium
Prov. Oost-Vlaanderen
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About this good practice
In 2013 the City of Ghent launched its local food strategy ‘Gent en Garde’, with five strategic goals to make the food system more sustainable. These goals were decided upon various stakeholder discussions and input from the city administration:
• A shorter, more visible food chain
• More sustainable food production and consumption
• The creation of more social added value for food initiatives
• Reduce food waste
• Optimum reuse of food waste as raw materials
The 5 strategic objectives were later refined translated into concrete operational goals.
The City of Ghent also set up a ‘food council’, consisting of about 30 members from various sectors of the food system, to help achieve these goals. Our policy work has been an ongoing experiment with co-creative governance. Since 2018, the food policy council has its own budget to support innovative food projects.
Over the years our actions and projects have had a clear impact on the local food system, eg.:
- Via the “Thursday Veggie Day” campaign, we have influenced diets and reached a level of 7% of vegetarians in our city, outperforming Belgium’s average.
- We serve sustainable meals to over 4500 students in public schools every day. 24% of the meals are organic and every meal contains maximum 50% animal protein
- The “Foodsavers” platform has redistributed 1000 tons of food surpluses to people in poverty in 2 years’ time.
• A shorter, more visible food chain
• More sustainable food production and consumption
• The creation of more social added value for food initiatives
• Reduce food waste
• Optimum reuse of food waste as raw materials
The 5 strategic objectives were later refined translated into concrete operational goals.
The City of Ghent also set up a ‘food council’, consisting of about 30 members from various sectors of the food system, to help achieve these goals. Our policy work has been an ongoing experiment with co-creative governance. Since 2018, the food policy council has its own budget to support innovative food projects.
Over the years our actions and projects have had a clear impact on the local food system, eg.:
- Via the “Thursday Veggie Day” campaign, we have influenced diets and reached a level of 7% of vegetarians in our city, outperforming Belgium’s average.
- We serve sustainable meals to over 4500 students in public schools every day. 24% of the meals are organic and every meal contains maximum 50% animal protein
- The “Foodsavers” platform has redistributed 1000 tons of food surpluses to people in poverty in 2 years’ time.
Resources needed
3 FTE working on the food policy in the climate and environment department
1 FTE in the economics department working on agriculture
Many others inside the organisation are involved in specific actions and projects like sustainable school meals, foodsavers…
1 FTE in the economics department working on agriculture
Many others inside the organisation are involved in specific actions and projects like sustainable school meals, foodsavers…
Evidence of success
Ghent en Garde has brought significant change to the local food system. Over the years Ghent’s food policy has moved from launching small scale initiatives to bringing structural change.
Potential for learning or transfer
Our food policy and the governance model have been an inspiration for many cities in Belgium and worldwide, and many of our projects have been replicated by other cities.
As a city we value knowledge sharing and mutual learning, and we actively participate in national and international networks (like RUAF, Eurocities and the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact) to learn and share good practices.
Our food strategy and policy work have gotten a lot of international recognition. In 2018, Ghent won ICLEI’s transformative action award, and in 2019, Ghent received a Global Climate Action Award from the United Nations for its pioneering and engaging climate actions via the “Ghent en Garde” food policy.
As a city we value knowledge sharing and mutual learning, and we actively participate in national and international networks (like RUAF, Eurocities and the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact) to learn and share good practices.
Our food strategy and policy work have gotten a lot of international recognition. In 2018, Ghent won ICLEI’s transformative action award, and in 2019, Ghent received a Global Climate Action Award from the United Nations for its pioneering and engaging climate actions via the “Ghent en Garde” food policy.
Further information
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Good practice owner
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Organisation
other
Belgium
Prov. Oost-Vlaanderen
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