Beyond Food Banks? Growing a Food Justice Movement in Scotland

Beyond Food Banks? – Growing A Food Justice Movement in Scotland

Programme

10amWelcome (Sally Foster-Fulton)

10.05Setting the Scene (Linda de Caestecker)

10.15“On the Receiving End” (a conversation about using food banks)

10.35Keynote Speaker: Rachel Gray (with buzz groups + questions)

11.40Food Banks and Beyond

Panel Session with Bill Gray (Community Food Scotland), EwanGurr (Trussell Trust), Pete Ritchie (Nourish) and Helen Sturrock (Maryhill Food Bank)

12.40 Lunch (a chance to explore the stalls and/or share in an “Open Space” session)

1.40Workshops: See separate sheet for workshop options

All workshops will finish with a short discussion of “where do we go from here?”

2.30Workshops:Second round

3.20“What I Heard Today” (quick-fire feedback)

3.40“Where Do We Go From Here?” (Mike Small)

Today’s conference has been planned by the Church of Scotland (Church & Society Council), Faith in Community Scotland and the Centre for Human Ecology.

We are grateful for the financial support of the Scottish Government.

Today’s Speakers

Sally Foster-Fulton

Sally Foster-Fulton is Associate Minister at Dunblane Cathedral and Convener of the Church and Society Council for the Church of Scotland. The Church and Society Council is responsible for facilitating interface between the Church of Scotland and wider civic society. It works with the government, scientific bodies, and the voluntary sector to open up debate on issues of importance to Scotland and its global neighbours. The Council is quite intentional in its focus on social justice, and uses those lenses to frame its work. Sally is married to Stuart and they have two daughters, Alex and Gracie.

Linda de Caestecker

Linda de Caestecker is Director of Public Health with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. She is a joint Director of Public Health with Glasgow City Council. She was previously a consultant in public health with a special interest in maternal and child public health. She has also held the post of Head of the Child and Maternal Health Unit of the Scottish Executive Health Department. Her clinical background is in obstetrics and gynaecology and she held a variety of posts in this specialty in the UK and in West Africa. She is an Honorary Professor of the University of Glasgow.

Rachel Gray

Rachel Gray is Executive Director of The Stop Community Food Centre, an organization which works to increase access to healthy food, build community and challenge inequality. Prior to joining The Stop she was the Director of Eva’s Initiatives, National Program, supporting capacity building nationally among organization working with homeless youth. She helped develop the ground-breaking Eva’s Phoenix, Canada’s first transitional housing for homeless youth. In addition to other front-line community work, Rachel has also served as a special assistant to the Minister of Health for the Province of Ontario.

About The Stop Community Food Centre: Located in Toronto’s west end, The Stop Community Food Centre works to increase access to food in a manner that maintains dignity, builds health and community, and challenges inequality. From its origins as one of Canada’s first food banks, The Stop has blossomed into a thriving community hub where neighbours participate in a broad range of programs that provide healthy food, foster social connections, build food skills, and promote civic engagement. Underlying all of The Stop’s efforts is the belief that food is a basic human right.

Bill Gray

Following eight years in a voluntary sector community development team in Edinburgh, I worked for a community-run health project in Paisley for a further eight years before moving to my current post in 1997. Community Food and Health (Scotland) supports low income communities tackling inequalities in health and promoting social inclusion through the medium of food and is now part of NHS Health Scotland, the country’s national Health Board tasked with reducing health inequalities and improving health.

Ewan Gurr

“Ewan Gurr is responsible for managing the network of Trussell Trust foodbanks that have been launched in Scotland, providing food to several thousand men, women and children each month. He is the former Project Manager of Dundee Foodbank, which is currently Scotland’s busiest operation.”

“The Trussell Trust partners with communities across Scotland to launch foodbanks that provide a minimum of three days nutritionally-balanced food to men, women and children experiencing crisis. People are referred to foodbanks by frontline statutory and voluntary organisations and supported towards sustainable living. All food is donated by the public and sorted by volunteers, who also prepare food parcels as well as offering a listening ear. Foodbanks also signpost people to other services that help tackle the underlying causes of food poverty. The simple, practical gift of food and support at the point of crisis changes lives.

The use of a highly effective and pioneering social franchise model has enabled The Trussell Trust to respond incredibly quickly, sensitively and effectively to the growing need for emergency food in the UK by helping communities to start foodbanks. We currently have 48 foodbanks in Scotland and over 400 foodbanks in the network. Our vision is to create a nation where no-one has to go hungry.”

Pete Ritchie

Pete Ritchie Executive Director of Nourish Scotland had abackground in community development and social enterprise. He leads Nourish's work to build civil society alliances and influence food policy at different levels of government. He also runs Whitmuir, an organic farm and rural hub in the Scottish Borders. Nourish Scotland is a non governmentorganisation working for a fairer and more sustainable food system.

Helen Sturrock

I have a Nursing and midwifery background, having worked in hospital and GP settings mainly in Glasgow and London. I retired a few years ago. I am married with three daughters and have eight grandchildren. I am an Elder in the Church of Scotland and involved in Glasgow Presbytery as Convener of the Community Responsibility Committee. I am also a Trustee of Greater Maryhill Foodbank. I also volunteer as a trained advisor at Glasgow Pregnancy Choices.

Mike Small

Mike Small is the co-founder of the Fife Diet project, Europe's largest local food movement. He is the author of 'Scotland's Local Food Revolution' and 'Food, Land, Power' Freight Books (forthcoming). He is a food activist, venture communist and Social Ecologist.'

Lunchtime Open Space

During lunchtime, you may simply want to chat to the friend you came with, or the one you haven’t seen for ages, or even today’s new friend; you can also browse the stalls while doing some serious networking; or you can join in the “Open Space” session in the Mary Barbour suite – this will be similar in form to World Café and participants will be invited to share their thoughts on going beyond foodbanks with room for as much creativity as possible.

Afternoon Workshops

(A)North Lanarkshire Food Aid (Ian Shankland)

This workshop will outline and discuss a North Lanarkshire wide programme called North Lanarkshire Food Aid (NLFA). This initiative is managed by LanarkshireCommuity Food and Health and operates in partnership with their network of around 20 Community Food Co-ops. NLFA attempts to offer clients a wide range of support from emergency food, links to the subsidised produce at the co-ops and an advice and information booklet. The programme also employs a qualified nutritionist who is able to offer advice and support on issues around cooking, safe storage and food waste reduction.

Ian Shankland is Manager of Lanarkshire Community Food Partnership (LCFHP), a 3rd sector organisation which has been working across Lanarkshire for the past 25 years addressing issues around food poverty and healthy eating. LCFHP runs a number of food and healthy eating programs, including North Lanarkshire Food Aid. Ian has worked in the Community Food Sector for the past 15 years having previously managed Edinburgh Community Food. Before moving to the 3rd sector he worked for 27 years in heavy engineering with British Steel.

(B)Social Bite (Josh Littlejohn)

The workshop will explore how Social Bite as a social enterprise can contribute to tackling food poverty. Social Bite is a sandwich shop with a difference. Social Bite are looking forward to taking part in the Beyond Food Banks Conference. We sold enough meals to feed 36,000 homeless people this Christmas and will be feeding people throughout 2015 as a result. Food poverty is an important issue and we look forward to playing our part in addressing it.

Josh Littlejohn is one of Scotland's leading young Social Entrepreneurs. Inspired by the Nobel Peace Prize winner Prof Muhammad Yunus, he has created a chain of high street sandwich shops Social Bite - 2 in Edinburgh and 2 in Glasgow. Josh has ambitions to replicate and franchise the shop to become a large chain of sandwich shops to compete with Pret a Manger and Eat - but to do it 100% for a social mission. Social Bite donates every penny of its profits to social causes and employs 25% of its workforce from the homeless community. Josh is also the founder of The Scottish Business Awards also brought world leaders to Scotland to speak at his events including Sir Bob Geldof, Prof Muhammad Yunus, President Bill Clinton and Sir Richard Branson and has raised circa £1 Million for charity in three years.

(C)“Reset the System: why food justice matters and what communities can do about it”(Luke Devlin)

Food banks and other forms of emergency food aid do not address the underlying causes of food poverty. Learn more about our broken food system and how communities can take leadership to improve their own food security, and hear from colleagues and activists about what works.

Luke Devlin is executive director of the Centre for Human Ecology and works in community development for Faith in Community Scotland’s Transformation Team. He carries out participatory action research with communities across the West of Scotland experiencing food poverty and works alongside them to build grassroots community-led projects that increase social and environmental justice. He lives in Govan, Glasgow

(D)“The Tin and Pen Project” (Sally Foster-Fulton)

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” (Margaret Mead). The Referendum on Scottish Independence has, in many ways, reignited public engagement. By capturing collective energy, our voices together have the power to change the landscape.

Food-banks are becoming an increasingly familiar response to food insecurity in Scotland. If we are not careful they may become a fixture, and, while a product of incredible generosity, they are neither a sustainable nor just response to hunger. How do we at the sharp edge of food-bank delivery empower both volunteers and clients to campaign for a better answer? Come and share your ideas.

(E)Rights Not Charity: Food, Poverty and Human Rights(Kait Laughlin)

(Or…Everything you’ve always wanted to know about Economic, Social & Cultural Rights, but were Afraid to Ask)

This Workshop takes a Human Rights Approach to Food Justice, and starts from the position that Poverty is a Violation of Human Rights – both morally and under International Law

It consists of 3 parts:

A Presentation of what a Human Rights Approach to Food Poverty looks like and could mean – what it is, why it’s important and what difference it could make
Discussion and Questions - from the Presentation, or just Bring Your Own..!
Round-up and Feedback - what can we do with this?

Kait Laughlin is a final year PhD researcher and associate lecture in the School of Media, Culture & Society at the University of the West of Scotland, where her current work investigates the potential for an anti-poverty Human Rights culture in Scotland - and why it matters.

Kait previously worked in the charitable and voluntary sector for over twenty years, during which time she co-founded a grass-roots anti-poverty charity in Glasgow and was involved in a wide range of anti-poverty and other social justice initiatives. Currently she is a member of the Scottish Parliamentary Cross-Party group on Human Rights, Glasgow Human Rights Network, and Human Rights Consortium Scotland.

Against a background of increasing interest in the usefulness and relevance of a Human Rights Approach as a positive alternative to the discredited ‘Austerity’ agenda, Kait is keen to contribute to raising public awareness of both Economic, Social & Cultural Rights and Government responsibility to ‘Respect, Protect, and Fulfil’ them.

Stalls

Amnesty International Centre for Human Ecology

Church of Scotland Faith in Community Scotland

Fareshare Scotland Locavore

North Glasgow Community Food Bank Nourish

Poverty AlliancePoverty Truth Commission

Trussel Trust Urban Roots