Liège Sustainable and Inclusive Food Houses (MAdiL)
The commune of Liège, under the direction of the College and the Communal Council, carries out legal missions and implements policies in various fields. The Director General oversees a policy of proximity, ensuring accessibility to quality public services, with the support of dedicated departments and municipal staff.
Overview of the project
MAdiL raises awareness among citizens of the Liège metropolitan area of the issues and benefits of healthier, more sustainable food accessible to all.
Our actions :
• Activities and training for the general public (table d’hôtes, culinary workshops, walks, meetings, conferences, etc.).
• Raising awareness among school audiences in coordination with partners.
• Activities and training for people in precarious situations (beneficiaries of social assistance, integration trainees, etc.).
• Networking of actors and initiatives working in favor of healthy, local and sustainable food
Accompanied by the ESPRIst platform of the University of Liège (for the methodological aspect and for the evaluation), the Aldermanate of Ecological Transition, the Liège Food-Earth Belt and the Social Cohesion Plan of the City of Liège responded and won a call for projects from Minister Tellier entitled “Supporting the relocalization of food supply in Wallonia”. This funding enabled the recruitment of a coordinator (1 FTE) and a facilitator (1/2 FTE) for a period of 3 years.
Inaugurated in May 2021, MAdiL today brings together around forty partners committed to building actions and activities in favor of more sustainable and inclusive food. The activities proposed are aimed at the population of the Liège metropolitan area with particular attention to schoolchildren and disadvantaged people.
The aim of MAdiL is to enable the entire population to gradually improve the quality of their food.
Ongoing research
Project still in progress
Since its inauguration in May 2021, MAdiL has organized 128 activities for the general public, 40 days for school groups and 41 activities for people in precarious situations. In addition, MAdiL plays an active role in meetings and events dedicated to food issues in the Liège region (Festival Nourrir Liège, Festival Alimenterre, Court-Circuit market) and organized, for the 3rd consecutive time, the Social Cohesion Plan’s Sustainable and Inclusive Food Day, held this year on October 19, 2023. MAdiL is also represented on the Liège Borough Food Policy Council, and organizes 3 to 4 meetings with its partners each year.
After more than two and a half years in existence, the results are very positive. MAdiL has succeeded in positioning itself in relation to existing operators aiming for a more sustainable and inclusive food supply in the Liège region, acting as an interface, a showcase for initiatives and a laboratory for social innovations. It also responds to a clear demand from citizens and schoolchildren on this theme, thereby actively contributing to accelerating the transition to a sustainable food system in Wallonia.
The project was launched in response to Minister Tellier's call for projects entitled "Supporting the relocalization of food in Wallonia". It is co-financed by the City of Liège.
organisation
The Commune of Liège carries out its statutory duties, and develops and implements concrete policies in many areas of daily life: social action, housing, civil status, education, land-use planning, environment, culture…
Under the authority of the Town Council and the Municipal Council, the Administration, through its General Manager, implements a policy of proximity and ensures that everyone has access to quality public services.
In carrying out these missions, the General Manager is supported by various departments made up of municipal employees who work daily to provide citizens with a wide variety of services.
A dozen partners with complementary skills have been involved since the project’s inception, and have signed a framework agreement: the City of Liège, Ceinture Aliment-Terre liégeoise, the ESPRIst platform at the University of Liège, CPAS Liège, Ferme des Enfants, Centre Liégeois de Promotion de la Santé (CLPS), Liège Ville Santé asbl, Vaincre la Pauvreté asbl, Intradel and the Province of Liège. Today, the network of partners has grown considerably.