Problem statement Various district municipalities across the Baltics have put food and sustainability as a theme in their long term regional strategic plans. Essential involvement, collaboration and having a common goal from district, metropolitan and local municipalities are key to advancing food systems sustainability and to tackle the challenges that come with it. However, the lack of knowledge, experience and competencies in sustainable food, food security and how to work with the SDGs at the municipality level, and the bottom-up collaboration scarcity, have become impediments on the development of resilient and sustainable food regions.

Three important entry points that need to be addressed urgently and could be solved:
- Smallholder farmers are very important to food security, and increasing agricultural productivity is closely linked to reducing rural poverty and hunger. Yet, food continues to be lost and wasted, instead of reaching school meals.
- Organic food is always part of the sustainable school food and the demand for it is increasing in the Baltic States but the supply is weak and unorganised.
- Getting smallholder farmers closer to schools.

What we specifically are going to tackle?
We will tackle the lack of…
• methodological support
• working methods
• awareness of existing tools

The municipalities will be able to see and map out new challenges that are not clear now, gain knowledge and the know-how to be pro-active and resilient.