ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability has launched the second edition of the CityFood Market Handbook for Healthy and Resilient Cities under the project “Strengthening Local Fresh Food Markets for Healthier Food Environments within Planetary Boundaries”.

Funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and supported by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the initiative forms part of GIZ’s Global Programme on the Transformation of Food Systems and is coordinated globally by ICLEI’s CityFood Programme. The initiative aims to leverage food markets to promote healthier and more diverse diets, facilitate city-to-city exchange on best practices related to food markets, and support local governments in assessing food-related challenges and opportunities.

Under ICLEI’s CityFood Programme, Phase I of the project concluded in October 2024 resulted in a handbook featuring 16 case studies that demonstrated how food markets can be transformed into inclusive, sustainable, and people-centred spaces.

Building on this foundation, Phase II of the initiative, that concluded in December 2025, brings the handbook featuring 31 real-world case studies from cities across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, offering concrete examples of how markets can be reimagined as inclusive, sustainable, and people-centered spaces, showcasing how food is accessed, consumed, and valued in cities. It also highlights strategic planning approaches that help shape interventions for inclusive, resilient, and safe market systems.

From South Asia region, three successfully implemented initiatives have been selected for inclusion in the global handbook:

Rourkela, India: The case study highlights the E-cool Mandi Project, which involves establishment of solar-based decentralised cold storage facilities to reduce vegetable wastage. The initiative has benefited over 1,650 farmers and residents in the city.

Sandhikharka, Nepal: The handbook features the ‘Co-producing a Shock-Resilient Business Ecosystem for Women-led Enterprises (CREW)’ project which brings together Vegetable Production and Marketing Group (VPMG) representatives, municipal officials, researchers, and the private sector to ensure the smooth functioning of the weekly haat market, which connects the rural farmers with urban consumers in the town.

Dhaka North, Bangladesh: The case study documents a pilot market project implemented by Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), which has demonstrated improvements in infrastructure, hygiene, safety, consumer satisfaction, and access to fresh produce.

Through these and other global examples, the handbook equips local governments with practical, case-based guidelines to transform food markets and enhance urban food security, nutrition, and resilient livelihoods.

Read the CityFood Market Handbook for Healthy and Resilient Cities, here.