Community food online peer session one: Building a more resilient community food sector: ensuring access to affordable, acceptable, sustainable and nutritious food. 

On 23rd September we ran our first community food online peer session. The aim was to provide an informal non-judgemental networking space for people working within the community food sector and those supporting them.

During the introduction we covered some of the issues that we heard as part of our stakeholder engagement findings last year, through four regional events delivered by members of our community food national reference group. These findings helped inform how we ran this session and what we focused on. Key findings that were relevant to session’s theme included:

• Nutritional quality of food: e.g. balancing appeal with healthy options, including issues with relying on surplus food.
• Access to food barriers: Transport, affordable venues for community food initiatives, and how stigma can limit participation.
• Cash-first approaches to reducing the need for food aid: there were mixed views about how to implement this- support and training are needed.
• Funding and evidence: Issues with core funding, sustainability and measuring impact remain difficult.
• Local partnerships and co-ordination: these are valuable but time-intensive to build.

The online group split into two breakout groups to discuss:

Group 1: What challenges do you have to overcome when helping communities to access and take up good food?

The three main areas of discussion were:

Practical, operational and resource

• Volunteer/staff capacity (including training and skills for things like cooking or food education)
• Funding issues specifically related to volunteer/staff capacity (needed to maintain motivation and retain commitment)
• Storage/cooking facilities (limited facilities such as kitchens, fridges, storage)
• Sourcing affordable, good quality food

Engagement and access

• Encouraging people to try new foods and/or healthier options difficult (e.g. people not taking fruit and veg options as they’re not sure how to cook/prepare)
• Language barriers can make communication (spoken and written) difficult
• Cultural or dietary preferences often not being met because specific/niche items come at a cost
• Pantries etc. can often be frantic, busy, and fast paced (with people queuing outside for a long time prior to opening), so opportunities for engagement are often minimal. Volunteers may not have the time or confidence to engage with customers.
• Lack of centrally held/nationally recognised resources to support with some of this (although acknowledgement that solutions and examples of good practice exist in some areas – how do we harness this and make available to all?)

Project sustainability and partnerships

• Keeping projects going long-term due to funding is an ongoing challenge (avoiding reliance on short-term funding)
• Gap in policy into practice e.g. Good Food Nation is being prioritised, but unsure about  what funding is attached to this.
• Re-establishing networks and local/national partnerships is still an issue post-Covid (when a lot of NHS staff went to support clinical response). How do we overcome this?

Group 2: What challenges do you have to overcome to make sure your community food work reaches and responds to your local community’s food needs? 

The three main areas of discussion were:

Understanding diverse and changing community food needs

• Communities are diverse, evolving and complex: individuals may have complex health needs.
• Regular, meaningful engagement helps keep services relevant and inclusive.
• Food support should be framed around dignity, choice, and empowerment—not charity.

Accessibility and inclusion

• Barriers include location – the breakout group discussed the challenges in rural areas, culture, language, and inconsistent terminology. Inclusive spaces and shared language are key.

Coordination across sectors to maximise reach

• Cross-sector coordination: Joined-up working across housing, health, education, etc. is vital but requires time and capacity. The Good Food Nation local Plans may help but significant community engagement will be required.
• Funding and sustainability: Short-term funding and volunteer burnout threaten long-term impact. Embedding food work in policy and budgets is essential.

Next steps for our community food online peer sessions:

We are planning to hold further online peer sessions this winter and will advertise these in the CFHS e-bulletin. If you would like to get involved or would like to suggest community food topics that you would like to discuss, please get in touch with kim.newstead@phs.scot