{"id":9491,"date":"2025-02-05T12:13:30","date_gmt":"2025-02-05T04:13:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/icleiseas.org\/?p=9491"},"modified":"2025-02-05T12:13:30","modified_gmt":"2025-02-05T04:13:30","slug":"forum-highlights-multi-sectoral-collaboration-for-food-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/icleiseas.org\/index.php\/2025\/02\/05\/forum-highlights-multi-sectoral-collaboration-for-food-security\/","title":{"rendered":"Forum highlights multi-sectoral collaboration for food security"},"content":{"rendered":"

Panelists of the discussion on \u201cHow Can Food Systems Researchers, Development Specialists, and City Networks Contribute to Building More Resilient Food Systems?\u201d during the Urban Food Systems Policy Forum last November 6, 2024 at Park-Inn Radisson, Quezon City, Philippines: (L-R) Mae Valdez-Irong, ICLEI Southeast Asia (SEA) Regional Program Manager; Dr. Julian Gonsalves, International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) Advisor; Dr. Gordon Prain, CGIAR’s Resilient Cities Initiative (RCI) Senior Advisor; Emmanuel Hugh Velasco II, Quezon City Food Security Task Force Co-chairperson; and Atty. Edmundo Bacatan, Quezon City Market Development and Administration Department (MDAD) Assistant Head. (Photo from the CGIAR Resilient Cities Initiative)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFood systems actors and challenges transcend geographical boundaries and require holistic, collective responses. Better coordinating urban food policy and planning from local to national level is key to avoid siloed and fragmented action and to share capacities, expertise and resources,\u201d said Mae Valdez-Irong, ICLEI Southeast Asia (SEA) Regional Program Manager, in a panel discussion at the Urban Food Systems Policy Forum.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Forum, held last November 6, 2024 at Park-Inn Radisson, Quezon City, Philippines, gathered local and national government officials, urban food systems experts, civil society and community leaders, and the private sector represented by urban food vendors and producers to share insights, experiences, and innovative solutions to build resilient and sustainable food systems in urban areas.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Valdez-Irong served as a panelist in a discussion on how food systems researchers, development specialists and city networks can help cities build more resilient food systems.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Mae Valdez-Irong, ICLEI Southeast Asia (SEA) Regional Program Manager, delivers her response on the topic, \u201cHow Can Food Systems Researchers, Development Specialists, and City Networks Contribute to Building More Resilient Food Systems?\u201d as a panelist at the Urban Food Systems Policy Forum last November 6, 2024 at Park-Inn Radisson, Quezon City, Philippines. (Photo from the CGIAR Resilient Cities Initiative)<\/p><\/div>\n

During the discussion, she emphasized the importance of a collaborative and coordinated approach among various sectors and cities.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSuch approaches are particularly needed in a context of growing food insecurity and climate change, which call for coordinated management of food supply chains and emergency food planning,\u201d she said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

ICLEI\u2019s CityFood<\/strong><\/p>\n

Valdez-Irong also highlighted ICLEI\u2019s experience in facilitating city-to-city learning and collaboration, particularly in sustainable food systems through the <\/span>CityFood Program<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

CityFood is a global, flagship program of ICLEI that aims to accelerate local and regional government action toward sustainable food systems transformation. It spans a number of projects and initiatives across all of ICLEI\u2019s Regional Offices, including ICLEI SEA. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cICLEI\u2019s work involves coordinating different actors\u2014cities, academe and other development partners\u2014to share capacities, expertise and resources that aim to catalyze food system transformation,\u201d said Valdez-Irong.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

CityFood supports local and sub-national governments through the \u201cTriple H Approach\u201d: Healthy People, Healthy Climate, and Healthy Landscape.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This approach, said Valdez-Irong, aims to address the complex challenges that the food systems present and provides guidance on how those challenges could be addressed from a city\u2019s perspective and in a systemic and combined way.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCityFood wants to unlock the potential of multi-level food governance, both vertically\u2014 bringing together governments at different scales\u2014and horizontally\u2014involving different sectors, departments and stakeholders in food policy development to improve food system transformation in a holistic and integrated way,\u201d she added.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The panel discussion also included insights on how city governments like Quezon City leverage partnerships with research institutions, civil society organizations, and international networks to inform evidence-based policymaking and scale up best practices.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Jing Castaneda-Velasco (leftmost), journalist and host of the Urban Food Systems Policy Forum, moderates the panel discussion on \u201cHow Can Food Systems Researchers, Development Specialists, and City Networks Contribute to Building More Resilient Food Systems?\u201d last November 6, 2024 at Park-Inn Radisson, Quezon City, Philippines, with the following panelists: (seated, L-R) Mae Valdez-Irong, ICLEI Southeast Asia (SEA) Regional Program Manager; Dr. Julian Gonsalves, International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) Advisor; Dr. Gordon Prain, CGIAR’s Resilient Cities Initiative (RCI) Senior Advisor; Emmanuel Hugh Velasco II, Quezon City Food Security Task Force Co-chairperson; and Atty. Edmundo Bacatan, Quezon City Market Development and Administration Department (MDAD) Assistant Head. (Photo from the CGIAR Resilient Cities Initiative)<\/p><\/div>\n

Resilient, sustainable food systems in urban areas\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Organized through a partnership between the Quezon City Local Government Unit (LGU) and CGIAR’s Resilient Cities Initiative (RCI), the Forum aimed to explore ways to strengthen urban food systems by fostering multi-sectoral collaboration and innovative approaches and served as a platform for dialogue on best practices and supportive policies that will help create more sustainable, equitable, and inclusive urban food systems in the Philippines.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Urban Food Systems Policy Forum included discussions on the following key topics: the vital role of food vendors in the urban food system and the transformative impact of capacity-building programs that aim to enhance their skills and livelihoods; the role of urban farming in food security, community resilience, and sustainable livelihoods; and the essential role of policy and partnerships in strengthening urban food systems.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Through the Forum, the Quezon City LGU and CGIAR RCI also shared learnings from their food system initiatives, such as the Vendor Business School program and urban community garden.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>CGIAR Resilient Cities research initiative<\/span><\/a> is an international urban agri-food system research network that seeks to harness the dynamism of urban societies and economies to catalyze technological, institutional, and social change.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Quezon City LGU, a member of ICLEI, has actively pursued initiatives to enhance food systems and urban food production, and address the challenges of food security and economic development in the city.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Participants of the Urban Food Systems Policy Forum last November 6, 2024 at Park-Inn Radisson, Quezon City, Philippines. (Photo from the Quezon City Government Facebook page)<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Panelists of the discussion on \u201cHow Can Food Systems Researchers, Development Specialists, and City Networks Contribute to Building More Resilient Food Systems?\u201d during the Urban Food Systems Policy Forum last November 6, 2024 at Park-Inn Radisson, Quezon City, Philippines: (L-R) Mae Valdez-Irong, ICLEI Southeast Asia (SEA) Regional Program Manager; Dr. Julian Gonsalves, International Institute of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":9486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,51],"tags":[2334,2340,2338,2339,405,2335,648,2337,846,1620,2336],"class_list":["post-9491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-news","category-news","tag-cityfood","tag-food","tag-food-governance","tag-food-production","tag-food-security","tag-food-systems","tag-forum","tag-policy-forum","tag-resilience","tag-sustainable-food","tag-urban-food"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/icleiseas.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/icleiseas.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/icleiseas.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icleiseas.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icleiseas.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9491"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/icleiseas.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9493,"href":"https:\/\/icleiseas.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9491\/revisions\/9493"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icleiseas.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/icleiseas.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icleiseas.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icleiseas.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}