Danone Institute North America recently hosted a training for grant winners of its “One Planet. One Health” Initiative. The in-person training program in Boulder, CO focused on helping teams develop their projects to support local, sustainable, and resilient food systems.
The Initiative, launched by the Danone Institute North America in 2019, awards teams in the United States and Canada US$30,000 to develop food systems solutions that serve people and the planet.
“The ‘One Planet. One Health’ Initiative helps amplify sustainability efforts by empowering action among communities and individuals at the local level and using communications strategies to raise awareness,” says Leslie Lytle, President, Danone Institute North America.
During the program, teams participated in workshops and heard from leaders in the sustainable food movement. The programming was intended to help participants refine their community-based projects and strengthen communications to share efforts with a broader audience. Participants also had the chance to learn from one another by sharing the challenges and successes they have experienced.
The projects represented in the training include Juntos en el Jardín from Oregon, the Farmers Market Navigators Program for a Healthy Planet and Healthy People in San Luis Obispo County from California, Building a post-pandemic sustainable food system: Starting in Edmonton from Alberta and Delivering on sustainable food systems: Evaluating a good food box program in Nanaimo, British Columbia from the British Columbia.
These four projects, addressing challenges in each team’s local community, are working to ensure that residents can access healthy food options.
Lytle hopes the “One Planet. One Health” Initiative will help to drive change by “taking advantage of the passion of local people in their communities and helping them become the thought leaders and the innovators.”
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Photo courtesy of Markus Spiske, Unsplash