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Topic: Indigenous

2024 March – 5 grants – Australia, Hungary, Italy, Switzerland, Trinidad & Tobago

The ICDA SFS Toolkit awarded a total of 12 Nutrition/Dietetic Associations (NDAs) grants from 2022-24. For more information about the grants, see: NDA Sustainability Grants. These are the final set of grants that were awarded in 2024 and finalized in 2025.

🇦🇺 Dietitians Australia (DA)

DA developed information, education and communication materials for the Pathway to Planetary Health (link to article).  The process was led by member Kristen MacKenzie-Shalders, along with members of the Dietitians Australia Food and Environment Interest Group and others listed on the website.

They aim to empower D-Ns to undertake pro-environmental change in their personal and professional lives and foster positive behaviour change through evidence-based education, information, and communication strategies. The outputs include a user-friendly, professional PowerPoint slide deck and a 30-minute recorded webinar, with accompanying materials; a workshop; an online participatory webinar; and a case-study summary submitted to the Focus on Health Professional Education Journal.

There are 6️⃣ dimensions that form the positive change process. They all interact & people move within & between each. They are ALL important:
🦈 AGENCY – vision, self-belief, confidence, strength, and responsibility
🐢 ACTION – start, shift, translate, achieve, and commit
✨ ACENSION – build, overcome, manage, challenge, and progress
🐚 ALIGNMENT – leadership, transparency, diplomacy, values, and systems
💐 ALLIANCE & ALLYSHIP – support, collaborate, represent, community, and citizenship
🐠 ADVOCACY & ACTIVISM – disrupt, co-design, transform, empower, and urgency

Click through and look at the amazing artwork by artist Jessie Mordey of Zomered Style (which are much better than the emojis I found!). Jessie is a First Nations woman and likes to create traditional symbolic images that connect strongly with her Torres Strait Islander Heritage. These images represent identity, Torres Strait Heritage, connection to ancestors, cultural storyline, community, and connection to natural elements.

The symbolism for each dimension is her interpretation of the dimension. For example:
🦈 For ACTION, the shark keeps moving forward and can adapt
🐢 The turtle in AGENCY includes stamina and survival with the sun for growth
✨ The stars in ASCENSION act as a compass to guide Islanders home
🐚 The clamshell for ALIGNMENT symbolises direction and connection to self
💐 For ALLIANCE & ALLYSHIP, the flower and plant represent peace, trust, relationship, and communication
🐠 The woven fish is meaningful for strength in bonding and moving together (ADVOCACY & ACTIVISM)

➡️ Access the Paths to Planetary Health Toolkit on the Dietitian Australia’s website.

🇭🇺 Hungarian Dietetic Association

The Hungarian Dietetic Association (HDA) is working on supporting Hungarian dietitians in using key resources from the ICDA-SFS Toolkit, adapted into their own language and culture. This project will raise the awareness of the Hungarian dietitians towards including the aspect of sustainability in their practice, regardless of their working fields. The HDA has 712 members but can potentially reach 2,100 colleagues with the newsletter, and there are 32,000 followers in their social media accounts. English is a serious barrier for more than two-thirds of the dietitians; therefore, they will translate and adapt tools. They will provide these tools and education opportunities to academic colleagues, as well as to those working in the clinical field, food service, or public health. 

The outputs of the project for Hungarian dietitians are still underway, with the three shared below already completed. Other outputs are still in progress and will be shared shortly. As materials are released, social media posts about the #ICDAsfsToolkit and adapted materials will be circulated. When all materials are complete, a workshop will be held about the ICDA SFS Toolkit, and the adapted materials will be used during the Annual Congress of the Hungarian Dietetic Association.

1) Printable Glossary adapted & translated
Also available on the HDA’s website.

2025.02 glossaryready hivatkozva

The version below was translated back into English to give readers an idea of the adaptations the team made to the original #ICDAsfsToolkit Glossary.

2025.02 glossaryready hivatkozva translated englishDownload

2) infographic translated in partnership with Nourish

2025.04 Hungarian Nourish mapDownload

3) Daily Dietary Cycle
This version is in English.
The Hungarian version is part of this HDA newsletter on Sustainability.

2025.06 daily menu cycle ready (Mariann Aradvári-Szabolcs)Download

🇮🇹 Italy: The Scientific Association for Food, Nutrition, and Dietetics (ASAND)

ASAND’s Foodservice Study Group developed the project to:
— promote sustainable nutrition through a participatory approach and the tools of nutritional counseling;
— strengthen the empowerment of citizens (users, parents, teachers);
— activate a network of municipalities interested in renewing the school food service by valuing local experiences and promoting the exchange of best practices; and
— share a toolkit of practical and replicable tools for use by other local municipalities and professionals.

The project worked with school canteens in a network of 11 Italian municipalities in 3 Provinces. The team planned activities in co-design with users, implemented experimental initiatives together, and interacted with the involved municipalities. Following the initial meetings and online discussions, they decided to organise and start the following “challenges”, which are now completed.

1 – Climate-Friendly Menus:

With the selection of local, sustainable, and low CO₂-emission recipes, proposed and discussed within school meal committees. On the experimental menu day “Farmer’s Dish”, among a total of 462 students, the following outcomes were recorded: the “legume soup with pasta” recipe was consumed and appreciated by 81% of the children, while the “Fettunta” was consumed and appreciated by 85%. Overall food waste remained well below the 30% target threshold.

2 – Educational Workshops:

The activation of a nutritional education path through practical workshops on healthy eating was tailored to the specific needs of each school, engaging students actively with ongoing support from teachers and parents. Designed as a food education tool for primary school children, the initiative involved 93 children and 125 adults (teachers and parents).

3 – Standardized Food Waste Recording System:

We created a poster about our work which highlights the importance of reducing food waste in school canteens through practical preventive and corrective actions. It details the data collection, key findings, and strategies to reduce waste. This poster won the award for best contribution at the spring 2025 national nutrition conference hosted by SINPE (the Italian Society for Artificial Nutrition and Metabolism) and ASAND (the Italian Association of Dietetics and Nutrition).

4 – Dietitian’s Help Desk:

A free listening and consultation service for families and educators, managed by trained dietitian staff. Sessions were held every month from January to May 2025, as detailed in the attached flyer. The help desk addressed nutritional concerns and fostered direct dialogue with families.

For any information on the project:
Ersilia Troiano, ersilia.troiano@asand.it
Gianna Marchi, dietista.marchigianna@gmail.com

🇨🇭Switzerland: Schweizerischer Verband der Ernährungsberater/innen, ‘SVDE’

SVDE co-created a position paper titled “Sustainable food systems and the role of dieticians in Switzerland”. The position paper directs the professional development of Swiss dietitians in terms of sustainable diets from SFS. The position paper is an instrument that serves to communicate ‘internally’ so that dietitians can use it as a guide. Furthermore, it empowers dietitians to position themselves ‘externally’ towards other actors in the field of the food system in terms of strategy, expertise, and politics.

This requires an evidence- and value-based vision and concrete, action-based measures on three levels:

  1. Positioning Dietitians’ existing professional skills in SFS, opening up new fields of activity and development opportunities for dietitians
  2. Defining sustainable nutrition and nutritional advice in SFS in the curricula of dietitians, strengthening training and further education on SFS
  3. Positioning dietitians as an important professional voice in political discussions and decisions on SFS

The project had five key outputs:

  • 1 – A consultation workshop was held with dietitians at Switzerland’s NDA ‘SVDE’ annual meeting in spring 2025
  • 4 – Distribution to Swiss dietitians in June 2025
  • 5 – Report of the process and changes in plans (download PDF in the sidebar)

Contacts:
Gina Tüfer, gina.tuefer@bfh.ch
Sonja Schönberg, sonja.schoenberg@bfh.ch

🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago Association of Nutritionists and Dietitians (Facebook link)

Jessica Carmila John is leading the development of two products:

1) An Introduction to Sustainability for Nutrition Professionals that seeks to enhance awareness and practical knowledge of sustainable food systems among nutritionists and dietitians in Trinidad and Tobago by hosting a series of three workshops based on ICDA Sustainability in Nutrition learning modules. These workshops, featuring guest lecturers and open to both local and external practitioners, will promote networking and information exchange on sustainability within the profession. The initiative will culminate in a comprehensive resource package, providing participants with all workshop materials.

2) A draft SFS position brief for Trinidad and Tobago. To do this, they have created a working group of participants who meet regularly over the 12 months to discuss what has been learnt and how it can be applied in the local context.

Watch this space!

Questions? Ideas? Feedback? Contact: ICDAsfs.coordinator@acadiau.ca

The ICDA SFS Toolkit is made to be used & shared freely.
Please cite the authors of the resources you use, and the ICDA SFS Toolkit if you are able:
InternationalDietetics.org/Sustainability
Subscribe to GROW
the SFS Toolkit’s monthly updates

2023 January – 3 Grants – Nigeria, South Africa, Sri Lanka

The ICDA SFS Toolkit awarded a total of 12 Nutrition/Dietetic Associations (NDAs) grants from 2022-24. For more information about the grants see: NDA Sustainability Grants. These are the second set of grants that were awarded in 2023 and finalized in 2024.

🇳🇬 The Dietitians Association of Nigeria (DAN) 

DAN promoting Sustainable Nutrition.

DAN is increasing the knowledge of local dietitian-nutritionists about indigenous foods to promote consumption as part of a sustainable diet. The study was carried out in the six geo-political zones North Central, North East, North West, North South, South East South West and South South of Nigeria. The study highlights the available and diverse indigenous foods across the zones including fruits and leafy vegetables, cereals/grains, roots and tubers, and spices. It enumerates the importance of indigenous foods as well as current threats to local food systems and makes recommendations on how to preserve our food heritage. 

Some Nigerian Foods verge of extinction

It was deduced that despite the differences in the types and varieties of indigenous foods found in different localities or cultures in Nigeria, only 8.4% of six hundred and five respondents had a high consumption of indigenous foods, 4.3% moderate, and 87.3% had low consumption of indigenous foods.

The benefits of producing and consuming indigenous foods have been shown in this work. Some of these local foods, however, are getting eroded due to various challenges. Consequently, the Dietitian-Nutritionists in Nigeria through this work are called to action to ensure that indigenous foods are consumed, as well as to achieve a sustainable, equitable food system for Nigerians. 

This link is for a 1-page flyer summarizing the study on Indigenous Foods in Nigeria.

🇿🇦 Asssociation for Dietetics in South Africa (ADSA)

Zeroing on Household Food Waste Infographic -Afrikaans and –English

South Africa generates approximately 10 million tonnes of food waste throughout the supply chain each year. The project aimed to increase the knowledge and awareness of local nutritionists and dietitians on household and institutional food waste to promote literacy on food waste among consumers and institutional managers.

The Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 target is that by 2030 we should halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses.

A symposium was held at the 2023 Nutrition Congress which 48 Nutritionists and Dietitians attended. Each received a multi-lingual food waste awareness infographic created by the project, which was also shared at a conference exhibition stand.

Dietitians and nutritionists can use the infographic with consumers to improve food literacy on household food waste that documents household food waste breakdown (amount, types of foods, cost and environmental impact) and how to reduce household food waste through cook smart tips, zero waste recipes, upcycling etc.

Participants were encouraged to complete the ICDA SFS online modules through a PowerPoint explaining how to navigate the toolkit.

The presenters also developed other tools, including plantable coasters with zero-food waste messages and a “Compleating” (complete eating) zero-waste recipe book for consumers. These resources are shared here to further promote sustainable zero-waste food practices.

Contacts:
Dr Ashika Naicker ashikan@dut.ac.za
or the President of the Association for Dietetics in South Africa, ADSApresident01@gmail.com

🇱🇰 Dietitians’ Association of Sri Lanka (DiASL)

DiASL reduced food waste and associated food costs in selected hospitals by 33% within 12 months through the development and introduction of a “Minimum food waste tool kit.”

Sri Lanka’s private hospitals are taking significant strides toward sustainability by introducing the Minimum Food Waste Toolkit, an innovative initiative designed to reduce food waste while improving patient satisfaction and nutrition. Spearheaded by the Dietitians Association of Sri Lanka and funded by ICDA-SFS, this initiative addresses the pressing issue of food waste, which constitutes 10-15% of hospital solid waste, contributing to environmental degradation and economic inefficiencies.

Key Features of the Toolkit:  The toolkit implements a patient-centered and sustainable food service approach by integrating nutritional science, operational efficiency, and real-time waste tracking. It focuses on key areas such as staff training, patient engagement, and individualized nutrition plans.

  1. Staff Training: A comprehensive training program equipped food and beverage staff with skills in disease-specific diets, natural flavor enhancement, and standardized portion control. Ward coordinators and nursing staff were educated on effective communication and supporting patients’ nutritional needs, and chefs and kitchen helpers were guided in preparing visually appealing, disease-specific meals in correct portion sizes to suit patient requirements.
  2. Raising awareness:  A short video was displayed in the patient waiting area on the impact of edible food waste and the importance of sustainability.  Watch the video here.
  3. Screening and Monitoring Tools: The toolkit incorporated a validated Visual Analog Scale (VAS) appetite screening tool, aligned with the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy (FACT), to identify patients with reduced appetite. Combined with malnutrition screening, these tools facilitated the development of tailored dietary plans to address individual nutritional needs effectively. 
  4. Customized Nutrition Plans: Personalized meal plans were designed based on patient preferences, medical conditions, and appetite levels. The flexibility of portion sizes and meal options, along with adjustments in texture and flavor helped improve patient satisfaction and compliance with their dietary regimens.
  5. Real-Time Food Waste Monitoring: The toolkit used digital imaging and the modified Comstock method for accurate visual assessment of leftover food, providing insights into waste patterns. Weekly tracking of garbage bin usage further helped measure the impact of the toolkit, highlighting significant reductions in food waste.

Notable Outcomes

  • Waste Reduction: Implementation of the toolkit reduced the number of food waste bags used in a 100-bed hospital by 33%, from 60 to 40 bags weekly.
  • Improved Patient Compliance: Approximately 70% of patients with reduced appetite completed their meals, significantly decreasing waste.
  • Operational Efficiency: Enhanced meal preparation and delivery processes led to better alignment with patient needs and reduced waste.

Challenges and Future Directions: Despite the toolkit’s success, challenges persist, such as limited dietitian resources as personalized care requires significant time and effort. Proposed solutions include integrating AI-driven meal planning tools and increasing the dietitian workforce. Accurate waste segregation remains another hurdle, with issues stemming from non-edible waste and external food contributions, necessitating improved segregation systems and patient education. Future efforts will focus on adopting advanced technologies, expanding staff capacity, and refining food service systems to enable broader implementation across hospitals in Sri Lanka.

Conclusion: The Minimum Food Waste Toolkit sets a benchmark for sustainable healthcare practices, aligning with global efforts to minimize waste and enhance operational efficiency. By addressing environmental and nutritional concerns, this initiative demonstrates how Sri Lanka’s healthcare sector can lead by example, inspiring similar reforms across the country and beyond.

Submitted by Ms. F.A.Z. Firouse, President of the Dietitians’ Association of Sri Lanka. Contact: FirouseAmal@gmail.com

Questions? Ideas? Feedback? Contact: ICDAsfs.coordinator@acadiau.ca

The ICDA SFS Toolkit is made to be used & shared freely.
Please cite the authors of the resources you use, and the ICDA SFS Toolkit if you are able:
InternationalDietetics.org/Sustainability
Subscribe to GROW
the SFS Toolkit’s monthly updates

2022 March – 4 Grants – Australia, Germany, Greece, Spain

The ICDA SFS Toolkit awarded a total of 12 Nutrition/Dietetic Associations (NDAs) grants from 2022-24. For more information about the grants see: NDA Sustainability Grants. These are the first set of grants that were awarded in 2022 and finalized in 2023.

🇦🇺 Dietitians Australia (DA)

DA created PlanEATary Quest to promote planetary health, one bite at a time. The PlanEATary Quest encourages dietitians to choose their own adventure to modify your own diet-related practices in line with current evidence regarding planetary health outcomes. 

Visit the PlanEATary Quest Google site to take your own quest in 4 easy steps:

👣 Step 1: Complete the quiz – Complete a 12-question PlanEATary Quiz to see where you’re kicking goals, and where you can improve.

Infographic Download

🐾 Step 2: Design your Challenge – Select from over 100 tasks to design a challenge that will help you improve your score. We suggest choosing 3 – 10 tasks, focusing on the questions where you scored the lowest on the Quiz.

👣 Step 3: Complete your Challenge – Time to get your hands dirty! Spend 2-3 weeks completing your chosen tasks. As you go, you may like to reflect on what helps or hinders your quest for planetary health.

🐾 Step 4: Repeat the Quiz – Repeat the PlanEATary Quiz to see whether you’ve improved your score and are interacting with our food system more sustainably.

This grant was managed by Dr Liza Barbour and Sandy Murray, both active members of Dietitians Australia’s Food and Environment Interest Group. They established a working group of 7 members and met monthly for the first 8 months of this project, during which time we reviewed the existing materials (the ‘Eco-Friendly Food Challenge) and, based on our expertise in the field, developed an updated, evidence-based version.

The PlanEATary Quest was piloted with a group of practising dietitians and health promotion practitioners (n = 47) from Sep–Nov with a group of 5 Master’s of Dietetics during their 8-week public health placement. They recruited PlanEATary Quest participants, monitored their level of engagement throughout the intervention, and followed up with a series of interviews and focus groups (n = 14). See the infographic of key findings from this pilot.

While their placement focused on more ‘process evaluation’, they will also be analysing and writing up further results for publication in 2024. A pilot with nutrition and dietetic students is planned for February – June 2024.

🇩🇪 German Association of Dietitians (VDD)

Germany increased awareness for German-speaking dietitians in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland towards sustainable achievements in the field of nutrition and dietetics and how to present these within the ICDA SFS-Toolkit. (2022 Sept – 2023 Aug)

Manuela Thul led the project and produced several products in a participatory manner, and spread them via the toolkit and local structures such as Webinars, Social media, NDA congress, and reaching out to schools and universities.

Manuela promoted the grant and the #ICDAsfsToolkit on the Junior_Dietitian Instagram, on the digital chat at the 64th NDA congress 13-14 May 2022, and in an article in the NDA Newsletter and the Annual Business Report 2022 of the German Association of Dietitians. These are great ways to help your NDA know the #ICDAsfsToolkit and the resources it contains.

Another result of this promotion is the #ICDAsfsToolkit Advisor for Germany, Elina Zwickert, who was also highlighted in the March issue of GROW — we hope you are subscribed!

🇬🇷 Greece: Hellenic Association of Dietitians and Nutritionists

Greece improved and spread the “Straight from Nature” YouTube Channel, which teaches about foods as they come from nature, aiming to support food sustainability.

Despina Varaklas created a YouTube channel by the name of Straight from Nature. The purpose of the channel is to create videos that talk about food products. Every video talks about a different product, e.g., olive oil, garlic, onions, cinnamon, etc. As dietitians, we learn about foods, nutritional values, etc, but often we don’t know enough details about each one, keeping our clients and patients short of valuable knowledge that can make for the benefit to their health. Using this channel, dietitians can learn about each product of nature, where it comes from, its health benefits, and how it can be easily incorporated into the diet.

The grant helped promote the channel through Social media, the dietetic association, webinars, interviews, workshops, and conferences, and was able to assist in the tools needed to make the videos a reality. The subscribers and watch hours of the channel have increased, but mainly the feedback is joyfully positive.

Dietitians and other health professionals are advised to listen to these videos and make use of the content. Sharing the videos is a way of you contributing to the project as well.

You can also subscribe to a private Facebook group, “Living Healthy: Learning how to balance Food, Thoughts, and Emotions”, where safe conversations can take place with discussions and comments.

🇪🇸 Spain: Consejo General de Colegios Oficiales de Dietistas-Nutricionistas (El CGCODN)

Spain worked on a project titled “Transitioning to sustainable diets: a tool to identify people’s barriers and motivators for following a sustainable diet”.

Júlia Muñoz-Martínez led the development and validation of a questionnaire to identify the motivators and barriers to following a sustainable diet among Spanish citizens sensitive to socioeconomic differences.

The tool is called the SALSA questionnaire (Sustainability and Healthy Diets, as its acronym in Spanish) and intends to provide the means for dietitians and other stakeholders involved in public health, for the development interventions aiming to equitably promote healthy and sustainable diets.

The process was to identify all the barriers and facilitators for following a sustainable diet among different socioeconomic groups in Barcelona to develop a first draft of SALSA. This was administered to 9 Spanish experts in the fields of sustainability, nutrition (including a member from the Spanish NDA), psychology, and sociology to validate the content. By March 2023, the survey pre-test was done with citizens from the city of Barcelona and its urban surroundings through 3 focus group discussions and 5 individual interviews.

Between April and June, they administered the online survey to a sample of more than 700 citizens across Spain.  They then conducted data cleaning and psychometric analysis (item reduction, extraction of factors, test of dimensionality, test of reliability, and test of validity).  Exploratory Factor Analysis revealed four final dimensions of the SALSA questionnaire, which corresponded to personal factors, external factors, sociocultural factors, and consumption of animal and plant-based protein. These dimensions were validated through Confirmatory Factor Analysis. 

The final SALSA questionnaire investigates the barriers and facilitators for people to adhere to a sustainable and healthy diet through a set of 27 questions, grouped into four dimensions (listed above). Respondents are asked to rate their level of agreement on a scale from 1 to 5, with 1 indicating ‘completely disagree’ and 5 indicating ‘completely agree.’ This tool is a step forward towards the promotion of SHD as it can be applied in multiple scenarios. It could be used in the planning and assessment of interventions with such an aim, as well as by dietitians in one-to-one consultations at the individual level.

Questions? Ideas? Feedback? Contact: ICDAsfs.coordinator@acadiau.ca

The ICDA SFS Toolkit is made to be used & shared freely.
Please cite the authors of the resources you use, and the ICDA SFS Toolkit if you are able:
InternationalDietetics.org/Sustainability
Subscribe to GROW
the SFS Toolkit’s monthly updates

Chef Rodrigo Pacheco’s Biodiverse Edible Forest and Bocavaldivia (Ecuador)

Rodrigo Pacheco
Executive Director and Chef
Bocavaldivia
Rockefeller Fellow bio

At a Glance:

  • Rodrigo Pacheco is a world-famous chef, and FAO National Goodwill Ambassador for Ecuador. 
  • He created the world’s largest biodiverse edible forest (food forest) located on the coast of the Ecuadorian province of Manabi, where he sustainably grows ingredients for the food served in his restaurant Bocavaldivia. He also founded the Bocavaldivia Foundation. 
  • Chef Pacheco is a Rockefeller Fellow and a frequent speaker at international events that focus on climate change, agro-biodiversity, and sustainable gastronomy. 

Big Bet:

“Create the world’s largest Biodiverse Edible Forest to protect nature, ancestral knowledge and create economic opportunity for local communities to put biodiversity on the plate.”

Project:  

“Create the largest cross-country corridor of regenerated forest producing edible native species. This innovative approach leverages downstream food systems to protect, strengthen, expand, and reconnect natural ecosystems and cultural diversity of indigenous peoples across northern Latin America. 

This project conserves primary forest in its pristine state; monitors biodiversity; restores deforested areas with regenerative methods; promotes sustainable gastronomy and ecological tourism as sources of transversal economy; and trains future generations to continue the work.”

Bocavaldivia is the art of culinary expression as an instrument for transformation. 

Contact Information

Questions? Ideas? Feedback? Contact: ICDAsfs.coordinator@acadiau.ca

The ICDA SFS Toolkit is made to be used & shared freely.
Please cite the authors of the resources you use, and the ICDA SFS Toolkit if you are able:
InternationalDietetics.org/Sustainability

Created 2021, updated 2025 May

Agroecology Case Studies

The importance of Agroecology to Nutrition

The 13 agroecology principles provide a comprehensive framework that directly supports improved nutrition by promoting sustainable, diverse, and locally adapted food systems.

Key principles such as input reduction, biodiversity, and economic diversification enhance the availability of diverse and nutrient-rich foods by fostering ecological balance and varied production. Principles like social values and diets, fairness, connectivity, and participation emphasize culturally appropriate, equitable access to healthy diets and strengthen local food economies and community involvement, which are crucial for food security and nutrition.

For nutritionists, this means agroecology not only improves the quality and diversity of food supply but also addresses social determinants of nutrition by supporting small-scale producers, respecting cultural food traditions, and promoting fair, localized food systems. Nutrition thus acts both as a critical outcome and a driver of agroecological practices, helping to transform food systems toward sustainability, equity, and better health outcomes.

About the Agroecolgy Coalition and Case Studies

Agroecology case studies
Access the case studies through this link.

The Agroecology Coalition is a free membership organization. The coalition brings together countries and stakeholders to accelerate the transformation of food systems through agroecology.

Members implement a variety of projects and initiatives to promote agroecology, which are continually being captured in case studies (see link in the side panel).

At the same link you can also read/share/print the pubication “Agroecology in Action: Stories from the Ground”! It showcases ten projects making the case for agroecology and illustrates how the Agroecology Principles and Elements can be operationalized in various contexts. From Asia (India, Nepal, Himalayas), Africa (Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania, Tchad, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger), the Middle East (Lebanon), to Latin America (Colombia, Nicaragua, Ecuador) and Europe many organizations work together to implement projects and initiatives to transform the food systems through agroecology.

NeverEndingFood Permaculture, Malawi (2025)

At a Glance

  • NeverEndingFood (NEF) Permaculture is a home and community outreach that demonstrates approaches to all aspects of sustainable living, focused on resources indigenous to Malawi.
  • People create sustainable designs for their homes, offices, schools, churches, cities, etc. such as food forests, fuel efficient kitchens, water harvesting, composting toilets etc. for diverse production of foods, fuel, fodder, fibres, medicines, etc. for better nutrition, water and soil conservation and to transition away from synthetic seed and chemical inputs.
  • Ripple effects: Organizations such as the Permaculture Paradise Institute in Mchinji were started by Malawians who learned with NeverEndingFood. The Nordins actively participate in governance structures, having an influence on policies and programmes at many levels.

In April of 1997, Stacia and Kristof Nordin came to Malawi through the U.S. Peace Corps to do HIV prevention work. Stacia is a Registered Dietitian, and Kristof is a social worker by training. Over time, they came to see HIV in the way that the village they were in saw it—as part of a whole. They began to see that a disease that attacks the immune system is connected to malnutrition that compromises the immune system, which is connected to the diversity of foods being grown locally, which is connected to soil fertility and fresh water availability, and so on—an interconnected cycle.

During this time, they were introduced to the concepts of Permaculture, which emphasize:

  1. Care for the Earth
  2. Care for people
  3. Fair share of all resources
Some of the products from the Nordin’s home in Malawi

The Nordins, joined by their daughter Khalidwe in 2001, integrate Permaculture into all aspects of their life. They created NeverEndingFood (NEF), their home in Chitedze, a small village about 30 km from the capital city, Lilongwe. Their home serves as a Permaculture demonstration as well as a space to train interns and host visitors.

At NEF, they implement a well-designed system that provides perennial, year-round access to diverse and nutritious foods and medicines. This approach helps families be more self-sufficient, have access to better nutrition, save money by reducing dependency on expensive agricultural inputs, have better soil, sanitation, and water management, and access additional income through food processing, diversified markets, and unique product ideas. They multiply indigenous resources and share them for others to multiply further.

The advent of input-dependent, mono-culture farming on much of Malawi’s agricultural land led to an agricultural focus and dependence on maize as the primary crop, which isn’t native to Malawi. In spite of being blessed with a tropical climate and plentiful water, and indigenous biodiversity, most people now produce primarily one maize crop a year, leading to malnutrition due to the reliance on a single crop for the bulk of people’s nutritional needs.

In line with traditional farming practices around the world, Permaculture diversifies agricultural production to include local legumes, nuts, fruits, vegetables, starches, fats, animals, medicinal species, spices, fodder, fuel, and fibres. This improves nutrition while conserving water, improving soil fertility, providing for energy, converting organic matter into a resource, and much more!

The Nordins believe that all solutions come from the people themselves, which helps to provide the self-confidence and ownership that it will take to address future problems sustainably. Along with the work happening in Chitedze, the efforts and relationships at NEF have initiated and inspired many other projects that use an integrated Permaculture approach to address sustainability and nutrition. Recognizing and incorporating these interconnections means that many of the initiatives simultaneously contribute to healthier and more diverse ecosystems, better human health and nutrition, community wellness, and economic resilience.

Other Relevant Examples

Food for Thought

  • What indigenous species do you know and use where you are?
  • How are the global, industrialized food and agriculture systems influencing food systems in your area?
  • Keeping these broader systems in mind, what solutions do you see that offer synergistic improvements in human nutrition and environmental sustainability? 

Contact Information

A church’s yard in the Nordin’s Community before Permaculture
The church’s yard after Permaculture design, harvesting water & healing soil

Questions? Ideas? Feedback? Contact: ICDAsfs.coordinator@acadiau.ca

The ICDA SFS Toolkit is made to be used & shared freely.
Please cite the authors of the resources you use, and the ICDA SFS Toolkit if you are able:
InternationalDietetics.org/Sustainability

Created 2021, updated 2025 May

Food as Medicine Global (website)

Food as Medicine Global (FAMG) has active online spaces, a resource directory, and hosts an annual, eco-friendly online conference highlighting community leaders working at the intersection of food, health, social justice, and planetary well-being.

The next Annual Food Justice Conference
Saturday, November 8, 2025, from 8 am – 3 pm PT

Explore their Food as Medicine Global Resource Directory (link below), featuring organizations and community initiatives driving positive food system solutions. The directory serves to foster awareness, collaboration, and active engagement to support individual well-being, strengthen communities, and promote a healthier planet!

Vision – A collaborative global community of farmers, health care providers, healers, hospitals, clinics, educators, schools, academic centers, students, cooks, and consumers united in a vision for a healthy world.

Mission – To facilitate educational conversations and collaborative engagement for unifying agriculture and medicine to promote health and healing for all. Food as Medicine Global (FAMG) is about community. We facilitate conversations leading to increased collaborations and individual actions to promote health and healing for all. We host events for continued cooperative engagement, brainstorming, and learning from each other to advance the Food as Medicine movement.

Why? Many of our current world challenges have a common root: the way food is grown and consumed. Farming practices impact the health of people, animals, and the environment. Healthier soil leads to healthier food, healthier people, a healthier ecosystem, and a healthier climate. There is already a great deal of work happening globally in these areas; however, much of it is in isolation. Our intent is to gather information, build bridges, advance conversations, strengthen engagement, highlight success stories, and amplify efforts to energize a global movement. 

Please direct any questions to Heather@FoodAsMedicine.global

udpated 2025 Mar

Sustainable Food Systems Network (EUFIC)

European Food Information Council (EUFIC)‘s Global Sustainable Food Systems Network facilitates communication and collaboration amongst stakeholders in sustainable food systems (SFS) across the globe. In this community, you will find policy makers, business professionals, civil society organizations, researchers, NGOs/non-profit organizations, funding agencies and interested citizens. The network allows members to:

  • Add to and use the resources section
  • Reach out to members through the chat in a field/topic you are interested in. Network, ask questions, build bridges. Chat conversations are private and confidential!
  • Publish about events you are organizing regarding SFS (on average, 30-120 members attend events shared in the feed!)
  • Peruse the calendar of events shared by other members.
  • Share calls, documents, reports, papers, etc. that you think are interesting for the whole community.
  • Ask the community for feedback and start a conversation, e.g. by creating a poll!
  • Share job openings as “opportunities”. The network currently spans 2000+ people, and their personal networks spread much further.

The SFSN Community leaders send a biweekly newsletter with featured shared events, opportunities, posts, and new members for further dissemination.

If you have any feedback, questions or would like to get more involved, email sfsn@eufic.org or contact us directly through the chat (search Community Managers).

JHND Special Issue: Sustainable Food Systems and Dietary Patterns in Nutrition and Dietetic Practice (2023 Dec)

The British Dietetic Association’s Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics (JHND) published a Special Issue on Sustainable Food Systems and Dietary Patterns in Nutrition and Dietetic Practice edited by: Liesel Carlsson, Angela Madden, and Kalliopi-Anna Poulia (Volume 36, Issue 6, Pages: 2121-2350, December 2023).

Twelve of the sixteen articles are open access and cover a wide range of practice settings.

  • Open Access – Conceptualising sustainability in Canadian dietetic practice: A scoping review – Dietitians are well-positioned to promote sustainable food systems and diets. This research identifies practice activities described in the Canadian published literature and compares these with dietetic competency standards. Increasing practitioners’ ability to analyse issues using systems thinking will help address complex challenges. Updates to competency standards and curricular supports are needed to support this area of practice.
  • Open Access – Local food procurement by hospitals: a scoping review – There is a paucity of peer-reviewed studies describing local food procurement by hospitals. Details of local food procurement models were generally lacking: categorisable as either purchases made ‘on-contract’ via conventional means or ‘off-contract’. If hospital foodservices are to increase their local food procurement, they require access to a suitable, reliable and traceable supply, that acknowledges their complexity and budgetary constraints.

Pollinator Friendly Cookbook

Use this cookbook by Pollinator Partnership to create culinary masterpieces that honor pollinators and the work that they do.

Food is a basic human need, and without pollinators, humans would go hungry! 🦅 🦇 🐝 🦋 🪲 🪰 Birds, bats, bees, butterflies, beetles, flies, and small animals that pollinate plants are responsible for bringing us one out of every three bites of food. More than 200,000 species of pollinators are critical to the stability of our food supply.

In your search for ingredients, we encourage you to support local farmers that practice pollinator-friendly management techniques. Learn more at the Pollinator Partnership website.

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