Food Matters supported 10 London based Food Partnerships to grow, develop and move beyond emergency food provision following the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the significant benefits of partnership working to address food insecurity. At the start of the pandemic, London local authorities and civil society partners came together rapidly to respond to Covid-19’s impact on London’s food system. 

What We Did

We were asked to develop a curriculum to support the development and existing work of food partnerships in 10 participating London boroughs.

Food Matters worked with Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming funded by the Greater London Authority to support these food partnerships to move beyond emergency food provision and towards a more sustainable food system that addresses the root causes of food insecurity.

Before drawing up a curriculum, Food Matters first listened to the project teams in each of the boroughs to understand their needs. We supported individual organisational reviews which determined the different topic-based group learning sessions and bespoke support needed for each borough. The topics included:

  • partnership working
  • structures and processes
  • representation and engagement
  • visioning and strategy development

We learnt how important it was to really listen.  Before developing a curriculum, we listened to each food partnership to determine their individual needs and experience so the curriculum we delivered was fit for purpose.

We also learnt that although Food Matters was able to draw on and share extensive experience and resources from the Sustainable Food Places programme, we found that creating the opportunity for peer learning between project cohort members was a valuable experience for us and them.

“Food Partnerships often form in response to a need for emergency food, but once they are connected in their community, they are capable of so much more”

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Get In Touch

Reach out to the Food Matters team to find out more about what we do, get involved or to collaborate with us on a future project.

Get In Touch

Get in touch with the Food Matters team to find out more about what we do or get involved. We also want to hear from you if you would like to collaborate with us on a future project.