CITIZEN EMPOWERMENT

Knowledge Base > Citizen Empowerment

Welcome to Citizen Empowerment!

Citizen empowerment is based on informing, consulting, involving and empowering citizens to get involved in their local food system.

Transforming our food system to address urgent challenges such as unhealthy diets, malnutrition and undernutrition, insufficient reduction of GHG emissions and a widening urban-rural gap is necessary. Citizens play a crucial role in this transformation, for example through their increasing demand for healthy and more plant-based food, engaging in food related NGOs, setting up food sector SMEs and grassroots organizations, influencing the food system in their city-region by engaging in local food strategies and policies, etc. 


 The FoodSHIFT 2030 project aims to empower citizens to take up an active role as co-stakeholder and decision-maker in the food system. To reach this goal, a ‘Citizen Empowerment Scheme’ was developed by ILVO (Flemish Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food); a guideline that outlines different steps and actions local governments, research institution, local food initiatives and citizens can take to facilitate this role.  

Citizen Empowerment Tools

Want to find out how you can improve citizen empowerment in your local food system?
Want to learn more about citizen empowerment?

Citizen Empowerment in the FoodSHIFT 2030 Cities

You can read about our cities (or living labs as well call them) below to find out how each city region is supporting citizen empowerment:
Focus on consulting citizens through the community garden in the city and informing on how to reduce food waste
Focus on involving citizens in the city's food strategy and short food supply chains and healthy diets, consulting on high quality education and empowering on combating poverty
Focus on consulting citizens on urban-rural cooperation and involving citizens in procurement for public canteens & schools, and through citizen engagement platforms
Focus on informing citizens on promoting local products and on "Food Vision Young People"
Focus on involving citizens through food hubs and consulting on food strategy & policy 
Focus on involving citizens on food strategy & policy and informing on education
Focus on involving citizens through food tech acceleration and community building (FabLab network)
Focus on involving citizens on school meals
Focus on consulting on food & education in schools