The Nutrition in City Ecosystems (NICE) project is supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and implemented in a consortium together with the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture (SFSA), the Sight and Life Foundation (SAL) and the Swiss Federal Institute for Technology (ETH). The NICE project facilitates locally led actions to improve nutrition for vulnerable populations in six cities across Bangladesh, Kenya and Rwanda through agricultural, food and health sector collaborations, and public-private engagements. The project puts a strong emphasis on women and youth empowerment and works in a gender-transformative way.   

Women play an essential role in food systems, often leading growing, processing, and marketing of food. When women are given equal opportunities to succeed, they can be powerful agents driving economic growth, peace, and improved quality of life.  

The NICE project works across four areas in the food value chain:   

1. Policy and Governance
2. Production and Supply
3. Demand generation
4. Knowledge transfer   

In close collaboration with the city authorities, NICE facilitates strong urban food systems governance involving women and youth in a platform that incentivizes improved nutrition. The initiative empowers women and youth as agri-entrepreneurs and involves women and youth in increasing the production of nutritious, agroecologically produced foods, and in post-harvest activities directly affecting food availability, distribution and improvement of livelihoods.   

In tandem, NICE increases knowledge of, and demand for, nutritious and agroecologically produced food. Women play a major role in determining the quality and content of a family’s diet, consumer research contributed to an understanding of women’s behavior to target respective marketing campaigns and policies. Through city-knowledge hubs the project ensures such learning is exchanged, thereby shaping urban-rural food environments, and informing national policies.   

During this session attendees will hear from:  

1. Women actively engaged in food systems platforms sharing their thoughts about incentivizing nutritious food value chains. 
2. Women/youth entrepreneurs sharing their stories as small-scale farmers and the opportunities of farmers’ hubs
3. Consumer insight specialists presenting results from formative research on consumption patterns in Rwanda and Kenya and describing how these insights supported a social marketing strategy aiming at nudging targeted women to more nutritious food production and choices.