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World Urban Forum FAO-RUAF training event: Integrating food systems into local planning

Training Event: Integrating food systems into local planning

12 February 9-12 am, Room CS 7, Abu Dhabi Exhibition Center (ADNEC), Khaleej Al Arabi Street, Abu Dhabi, UAE

FAO and RUAF Global Partnership organise a training session at the 10th session of the World Urban Forum, Abu Dhabi, 8-13 February 2020.

Food governance mechanisms, already established in 400 cities around the world, are social innovations born to make the decision-making process related to food policy more inclusive and context-specific. This training will introduce food system planning in urban and city region contexts, including the mobilisation of multiple actors and the use of innovative analysis tools.

The training will emphasise systemic thinking and the importance of dialogue and partnership within local governance mechanisms, and building the relationships among the various departments and sectors within the local administration, as well as with private sector, civil society, and consumers in the food agenda.

The course is open to a maximum of 50 participants, primarily national and local government officials and urban actors from different disciplines involved or aspired to be involved in food related issues at city and / or regional level.

Training team

Yves Cabannes is an urban planner and Emeritus Professor of Development Planning, Chair of Development Planning (2006–15) at the Bartlett Development Planning Unit at UCL. He was previously a lecturer in urban planning at Harvard University Graduate School of Design and the Regional Coordinator of the UN Habitat/United Nations Development Programme Urban Management Program for Latin America and the Caribbean and worked for many years with local governments, NGOs and social movements in various countries. He has worked as a researcher and practitioner in urban agriculture and food sovereignty, collective and communal forms of land tenure, local currencies, participatory planning & budgeting and municipal public policies.

Cecilia Marocchino is an urban planner with more than 10 years experience in urban research and urban development planning in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. Currently she works for FAO Headquarters in Rome as an urban food planning expert, involved in various projects and initiatives relating to the urban food agenda. She has previously worked in various cities around the world providing technical support to local governments on urban development planning and participatory multi-stakeholder engagement processes, urban agriculture, and food distribution including formal and informal market and street vendors.

René van Veenhuizen is a senior programme manager with Hivos, and Coordinator of the RUAF Global Partnership. He has over 30 years professional experience, including in FAO, and RUAF over the past 20 years, on sustainable agricultural development, urban agriculture and food systems. He has been the editor of the Urban Agriculture Magazine, and co-author of several books, and graduated from Wageningen University.

For more information read the training session outline. For registration, visit the WUF website or contact RUAF.