Name of PCP / Central West Gippsland Primary Care Partnership (CWGPCP)
Case Study Title / Baw Baw Food Movement – Building the ‘mid-stream’ pillar of the Baw Baw Food Security Coalition to enable community led food solutions.
Which PCP program Logic domain does your case study relate to? / Early intervention and integrated care
Consumer and community empowerment
Prevention
What was the need? / Promoting access to nutritious food has been a priority of the CWGPCP since 2007. Extensive local research has demonstrated significant evidence of food insecurity within Baw Baw Shire, and in order to guide coordinated local action and planning for improvingfood security, the Baw Baw Food Security Recommendations report was put forward by the CWGPCP in 2012. The report recommended taking a multi-level and multi-sectoral approach to address the continuum of food insecurity causes- from policy and planning through to emergency food provision. This lead to the establishment of the Baw Baw Food Security Coalition with a strategic “upstream” pillar, community driven “mid-stream’ pillar, and a “downstream” emergency food provision pillar. The ‘mid-stream’ community led working group was intended to meet the specific recommendation to “support community led food solutions” (see appendix a). This report details the involvement of the PCP in building on this pillar of the food security coalition and the food security work reported in 2015 (see appendix b).
What was the aim of the initiative/action? / Increase access to, and consumption of, healthy and nutritious food for the Baw Baw community, especially children and people on low incomes who are at higher risk of food insecurity, through enabling and empowering community action.
Who was the target group? / Anyone living in the Baw Baw local government area, with a focus on those most at risk of food insecurity.
What was the setting? / Baw Baw Shire is located in the West Gippsland region, approximately 100km east of Melbourne, with an estimated resident population of 45,9451. In 2008, approximately 5.6% of Baw Baw residents were reported to have experienced food insecurity. Local research has also shown that households in the catchment were going without food, rationing food and compromising food quality to meet essential living costs including rent, electricity, transport and medications.
Who did you work with? / Local government,community health, and a diverse range of community groups, food producers, food retailers and community members.
How did you do it? / Based on the recommendations from the CWGPCP Food Security Recommendations Report, the CWGPCP established a Food Security Coalition. The Coalition consists of an overarching steering committee and three working groups including a Strategic Planning Working Group, Baw Baw Food Movement(BBFM), and an Emergency Food Relief Network. Each working group engages agencies from specific areas to work collaboratively and implement initiatives to improve food security at all levels across the spectrum of Health Promotion, from policy and planning through to emergency food provision. In partnership with Baw Baw Shire Council (BBSC) a successful launch event for the BBFM was held in June 2015 attended by approximately 130 people. Investment was also made at this time into branding and establishing a social media presence. From here, a series of planning meetings were facilitated by the CWGPCP, resulting in a shared vision, objectives, and 12 month action plan for the group. Bi-monthly meetings continue to be held to facilitate the delivery of the work of this plan, which compliments and supports the work of the two other working groups of the Food Security Coalition.
What was achieved?
(Consider whether results were benefits for clients and/or for service providers and/or for the system) / The BBFM is a community owned and driven group. Since finalising their action plan in February 2016, themomentum of the BBFM is growing and members have commenced delivery on a number of projects that are contributing to food systems and community culture change around food. Key outputs to date include:
- Increased connectivity of community between the people and places that produce their food through hosting of two (of a planned series of 4) “A Day on The Farm” events.These events attracted approximately180 participants. A dairy farmer forum in response to the dairy crisis was also held at the Warragul Farmer’s Market.
- Increasing awareness and knowledge related to food production and food through hosting of two film nights, attended by over 160 people in total.
- Increased accessibility to Community Gardens through mapping and updating of contact details.
- Advocacy efforts including a verbal briefing to BBSC on a potential Baw Baw Food Policy, and a collective written and verbal submission into the BBSC Rural Land Use Review, supported by 184 community members.
- Strengthening and promoting a number of existing initiatives including the Baw Baw Food Hub, local farm gate sales, farmer’s markets, healthy eating and budgeting workshops, the Achievement Program, community gardens, school kitchen & edible gardens, school breakfast clubs, the Secondbite food rescue and relief initiative, and other emergency food initiatives.
- Increasing public awareness and driving a culture change around purchasing and consuming healthy and local food through speakingon ABC Gippsland, invitationsto speak to a number of existing groups in Baw Baw, and growing an active social media presence, including over 1400 Facebook followers.
- The achievements of the BBFM and Coalition were presented at the National Australian Health Promotion Association Conference in June 2016, with interest from Health Promotion practitioners across Australia.
- BBFM community owned and driven actions are included in the 2016-17 BBSC MPHWP action plan, and BBFM is listed as a partner to the plan.
- BBFM community members called uponto host a Gippsland wide event to increase capacity of people interested in small scale commercial farming.
What is the status and sustainability? / BBFM has a current membership of 162 people, with a core group of approximately 20 active members. They are currently progressing the work of their action plan (facilitated and supported by the CWGPCP) and continue to hold bi-monthly meetings to progress this work, build their networks and identify new opportunities.The CWGPCP will continue to support and build the capacity of the BBFM, as well as ensure the necessary foundations are in place to ensure a successful, gradual transition of the group to becoming entirely community driven and sustainable. A number of community initiatives are already 100% sustainable and fully community owned and run, including Community Gardens, the Secondbite initiative, Baw Baw Food Hub, Farmer’s Markets, Food Films and the “Day on the Farm” events.
What was the specific role of the PCP? / The PCP established the BBFM, and played a key role in facilitating the vision setting and community planning process. This process successfully brought together an extensive and diverse range of community passions and perspectives, whilst maintaining the population health foundation of the project.The PCP continues to facilitate the group, and guide the strategic direction to ensure the focus of the group caters for diverse interests across the broad scope of the food system, whilst working towards their shared objectives and goals.This has been an important factor in enabling and maintaining engagement, input & commitment from such a broad membership, and enabling a wider scope of work to be undertaken and supported.
The PCP also have an important role in demonstrating to members and partners the collective impact of the group, and acting as a conduit between the BBFM, the Emergency Food Relief Network, and the BBSC council working group to enable synergies and collaborationwherever possible.
What lessons have you learnt? / Embedding healthy and accessible food in the MPHWP has been a key enabler of this work, as has long term investment in this priority area. Early investment in branding and generating an active social media presence has played an important role in gaining traction for the group and expanding reach. The community planning process was also important in clearly defining the collective purpose of the group, and has given the group clarity around their direction and scope,as well asgiving each member an understanding of the place of their contribution in working towards the group’s shared goals. Having a clear vision, objectives and action plan has also facilitated a positive group culture, and assisted the group in establishing themselves as an organised, reputable community group. This has strengthened their ability to advocate to council and become a partner on the next MPHWP.
PCP Contact Person / Shantel Morsink
Position/Title / Prevention Coordinator
Appendix a: The 3 pillars of the Baw Baw Food Security Coalition
Continuum of Health Promotion
Appendix b: CWGPCP Food Security Case Study 2015
CWGPCP Prevention Case Study 2016 - Baw Baw Food Movement 1