Delegates celebrate the vital inclusion of food policies in mayoral agendas at this year’s Milan Pact Awards

Under the theme “Food to Feed the Climate Justice”, the City of Rio de Janeiro and the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact hosted local governments, civil society and international organisations as they came together to exchange, debate and learn about climate justice seen through the food lenses at the 8th MUFPP Global Forum held 17-19  October 2022. The Forum has been the occasion for celebration of the 6^th edition of the Milan Pact Awards, with which the most outstanding food practices from MUFPP cities have been awarded.  

The Milan Pact Awards was launched in 2016 by the City of Milan and the Cariplo Foundation and still is the most powerful tool to innovate the food policies of the 250 signatory cities worldwide. 

This year set a record with more than 250 practices represented, demonstrating the increasing importance of food policies in the mayoral agendas. Furthermore, more than 60 cities presented a practice for the first time, acknowledging the desire for MUFPP members to share experiences and lessons learned with the network. 

The international Evaluation Committee of experts assessed the practices and awarded six cities with the highest score in each category of the Milan Pact: Governance, Sustainable Diets & Nutrition, Social & Economic Equity, Food Production, Food Supply & Distribution and Food Waste. 

The winners of the Milan Pact Awards 2022 are:

• Governance: NEW YORK (US) – A New York City Framework for Good Food Purchasing
• Sustainable Diets & Nutrition: ADDIS ABABA (Ethiopia) – Addis Ababa school feeding program
• Social & Economic Equity: ROURKELA (India) – E-Cool Mandi
• Food Production: ROSARIO (Argentina) – Agro-ecological food production in Rosario
• Food Supply & Distribution: YEOSU (South Korea) – Strategy for securing our talents and small farms
• Food Waste: LONDON (UK) – London’s food waste reduction programme

Considering the impressive number of submissions received this year and the high quality of such contributions, the Evaluation Committee recognised three additional Special Mentions for each category. They are:

• Governance: Araraquara (Brazil), Mouans-Sartoux (France), Vancouver (Canada)
• Sustainable Diets & Nutrition: Copenhagen (Denmark), Paris (France), Torres Vedras(Portugal)
• Social & Economic Equity: Los Angeles (US), Melbourne (Australia), Wroclaw (Poland)
• Food Production: Bandung (Indonesia), Curitiba (Brazil), Mexico City (Mexico)
• Food Supply & Distribution: Baltimore (US), Barcelona (Spain), Lyon (France)
• Food Waste: Cincinnati (US), Guelph (Canada), Quelimane (Mozambique)

The winning cities are awarded an all-expense paid trip to Milan to attend the MPA Retreat. At this special meeting, winners come together, do various field visits and are provided with the training and skills for their winning practices to be adapted, replicated and rolled out across the Milan Pact community.

The MPA Retreat will be the foundation for the development of the MUFPP Fellowship Programme, a structured framework of exchanges among MUFPP cities that will learn from each other through meetings, webinars, field visits, networking, partnership, trainings and joint projects throughout 2023 and 2024. The MUFPP Fellowship Programme will be enriched by the collaboration with MUFPP’s partners. 

The Evaluation Committee, composed of experts from all over the world, played a crucial role in connecting strategies and cities’ engagements on food system transformation. The organisations that contributed with their extensive expertise to this edition include:

• City of Milan (Founder and Co-chair)
• Cariplo Foundation (Founder and Co-chair)
• Cape Town University
• City University of New York
• EAT Foundation
• EIT Food
• European Commission
• FAO
• GAIN
• Guangzhou Institute for Urban Innovation 
• Italian Agency for Development Cooperation
• National University of Rosario
• Singapore University of Technology and Design
• the Earthshot Prize
• UNESCO Chair in World Food Systems
• WHO
• World Bank
• World Economic Forum
• World Food Programme
• World Union of Wholesale Markets

Quotes: 

“Finally we can award the Milan Pact cities for their innovative actions in the food system and with this edition of the Milan Pact Awards, new interesting trends emerged from urban contexts that today more than ever need to face the challenge of a sustainable future. We are very proud of the participation and we hope it will be of support to our community of cities. A special thank you to the City of Rio that welcomes us and for the first time hosts a MUFPP Global Forum in South America” said Ms Scavuzzo, Vicemayor of Milan.

Giovanni Fosti, President of Cariplo Foundation affirms “We have supported the Secretariat of the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact since its inception, convinced that to innovate it is essential to stimulate and connect experiences. The results presented and the extraordinary participation in the Rio event confirm that working together is the way to combat food poverty, the development of proper food education and the reduction of waste: all elements that aim to improve quality of life and health of individuals, in an inclusive way and with a view to environmental sustainability”.

“The Milan Pact deals with hunger, but also with changes in food production processes. It is an honor for us to host an international event that deals with such an important topic. With Prato Feito Carioca, with the Carioca Community Kitchens, we are seeking to expand public policy for those who need it. And we also have a very important program, Hortas Cariocas, which we are expanding” – said Eduardo Paes, Major of Rio de Janeiro.

The Director of the Italian Agency for international cooperation Luca Maestripieri said: “It is the first time that the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation takes part as evaluator to the Awards. Thanks to the intense process of evaluating practices, it has been an occasion for us to learn even more about food systems transformation and what a city can do to create a favourable environment for its citizens. A great experience that marks the beginning of the precious cooperation among our Agency and the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact”.

This is adapted from the MUFPP website. Visit: the Milan Pact Awards 2022