PROJET ALIMENTAIRE TERRITORIAL DU COEUR DU HAINAUT

About PROJET ALIMENTAIRE TERRITORIAL DU COEUR DU HAINAUT

The Projet Alimentaire Territorial du Cœur du Hainaut is a territorial food initiative in Wallonia, centered on the Centre and Mons-Borinage regions. It brings together producers, distributors, local authorities, associations, educators, citizens, and other stakeholders around a shared goal: accelerating the transition toward a more sustainable food system.

The initiative grew out of the earlier “Alimentation durable au Cœur du Hainaut” project and the creation of a local Food Policy Council, which became the core of its governance. It now operates as a collaborative platform for diagnosis, coordination, action, and dialogue on food-system issues, with a strong focus on relocalizing food and improving access to quality food for all.

Core Values

• Sustainability: The initiative is explicitly oriented toward building a durable food system, with attention to environmental, social, and territorial dimensions.
• Collaboration: It relies on collective governance and cross-sector cooperation, bringing together diverse actors to define priorities and test solutions.
• Accessibility: A recurring objective is to make quality, sustainable food accessible to everyone, including through social and geographic access.
• Relocalization: The project promotes shorter supply chains, local production, and stronger links between producers and consumers.
• Knowledge sharing: It values mutual learning, practical experimentation, and the circulation of tools, methods, and good practices.

Unique Aspects

• Built from a long-running territorial process: The PAT is the continuation of the earlier “Alimentation durable au Cœur du Hainaut” project, which ran from 2021 to 2024 and laid the groundwork for the current governance model.
• Broad local coalition: The Food Policy Council has brought together around 50 stakeholders from across the food system, including producers, processors, distributors, public bodies, associations, institutions, and citizens.
• Strong track record of collective action: The earlier project produced a local food-system diagnosis, thematic working groups, a local aid-food consultation platform, a podcast series, and multiple editions of the Nourrir festival.
• Territorial anchoring in a defined Walloon area: The initiative covers the 25 municipalities of the Centre and Mons-Borinage regions, serving a territory of roughly 540,000 inhabitants.
• Recognition by Wallonia: In 2026, the PAT was officially recognized by Wallonia, marking a new phase for the initiative and confirming the value of the collective work already carried out.