The University of Ghana and twenty-five partner organizations have been awarded 12 million euros by the European Union to transform Africa’s urban food environments.

According to the university, the award is the culmination of a strategic collaboration with international partners across Europe and Africa. The University of Ghana Research Lead is Prof. Amos Laar of the School of Public Health.

Code-named ‘AFRIFOODLINKS’, it is primarily about “transforming Africa’s Urban Food Environments Through Strengthening Linkages Between Food Systems Stakeholders in Cities Across the Continent and Europe”. The program is coordinated by ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability-Africa (ICLEI Africa) and the partnership aims to improve food and nutrition security within planetary boundaries.

The scope includes more than sixty-five cities made up on five African Hub cities such as Cape Town in South Africa; Kisumu – Kenya; Mbale – Uganda; Ouagadougou – Burkina Faso; Tunis – Tunisia). The tenAfrican Sharing Cities, which includes Tamale in Ghana).

Additionally, the university stated that five European Sharing Cities and over 30 African Network Cities will include Accra, Kumasi, Cape Coast, and Oforikrom. The other Network Cities include ten Global South Cities and five from Europe which will join the African Cities on a mutual learning journey to share their work on innovative food systems and co-design specific pilot projects.

AfriFOODLinks commits to create a thriving network of cities

Essentially, AfriFOODLinks aims to create a thriving network of cities in Africa and beyond, in which food systems and nutrition are firmly established in the local governance agenda. AfriFOODlinks is supported and led first and foremost by African institutions allied with European institutions.

AfriFOODLinks is supported by the unique convening power of ICLEI and the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (MUFPP) that brings cities into engagement and learning with each other. Additionally, it brings together the best scientific teams on the African continent, with leading food system practitioners, internationally connected advocacy organizations, and committed local governments, all of whom have been working for several decades in the urban food systems space.

To achieve this vision, AfriFOODLinks will be implemented through seven Work Packages to deliver on four cross-cutting objectives which includes promoting public shifts to sustainable healthy diets and transforming urban food environments through real-world socio-technical experiments.

Furthermore, AfriFOODLinks will promote inclusive multi-actor governance to empower public officials, established and informal small businesses, communities, youth and women with ownership and agency to shape their food systems and accelerating innovative, women- and youth-led agri-food businesses to support local value addition and inclusive economic participation.

On its part, the University of Ghana will contribute to Work Package 1 which includes Knowledge validation, amplification, creation and uptake. In its Work Package 4, the university will improve food environments for urban consumers, schools and food retailers, through real-world experimentation.

It will be recalled that last year, the Netherleands Food Partnership indicated that half of Ghana’s population are currently living in urban areas and face imminent food and nutrition security challenges.

According to the organization, this exist but are not limited to food availability, safety, quality, and affordability. Diets, it noted, are changing with cheap, unhealthy packaged foods replacing more expensive, fresh, healthy, and safe options.

On this basis, the organisation revealed that the Ghanaian Urban Food Environments (GUFE) collective impact coalition came as a stitch in time, with little attention paid to the urban dweller’s food environment to enable them to make healthy dietary choices.

It explained that the Ghanaian-Dutch multi-stakeholder coalition aims to shape and improve the environment in Accra, by connecting activities within the total food system, with a particular focus on nutrition outcomes.