NICE: a must-have for cities

©Alice Kayibanda/Swiss TPH/Fairpicture

Countries: Bangladesh, Kenya, Rwanda

The Nutrition in City Ecosystems (NICE) project connects the demand and supply side of food systems, engages women and youth, and builds local governance capacity in two secondary cities (SCs) each in Bangladesh, Kenya, and Rwanda.

Sight and Life is a partner in a Swiss consortium alongside the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zürich and the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture (SFSA) supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). Together, this partnership will implement the NICE project, working across the agricultural, health and education sectors to improve urban diets in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Emphasis is placed on increasing the production and demand for local, diverse, and agroecologically produced foods, and on making food value chains more nutrition-focused. This multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral collaboration brings together city authorities, local businesses, and civil society, and creates a dynamic network of city learning hubs for dissemination and scale-up.

Key details

NICE was launched in 2021 in six SCs – Bungoma and Busia in Kenya, Rubavu and Rusizi in Rwanda, and Dinajpur and Rangpur in Bangladesh.
The Swiss partners work closely with city authorities, local businesses, markets, and civil society to create healthier urban food systems.
The SCs will also have the opportunity to engage with cities such as Geneva, Lausanne, Basel, and Zürich, which are working on innovations to confront food systems challenges in Switzerland.
At Sight and Life, we are taking the lead on all demand generation activities in the three countries, applying our expertise as a global nutrition think-tank which delivers science-based solutions to vulnerable populations. Furthermore, we act as the project coordinator for all NICE activities in Rwanda.

Visit the NICE website for more information