Sister alliances we work with
The Sustain alliance works to influence government, local authorities, businesses, organisations and decision-makers in a position to influence or achieve change. We advocate for transparency, legal responsibilities, good governance and accountability. We work with sister alliances and organisations in the UK Nations, and support experts and groups working on specialist issues where we can lend our weight. We also work with leaders, food partnerships and communities in places across the UK – and internationally – to improve health and sustainability through the mobilisation and celebration of local action on food.
The main sister alliances that we currently work with include:
Alliance to Save our Antibiotics
The Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics convenes health, medical, civil society and animal welfare groups and campaigns to stop the overuse of antibiotics in animal farming. It was founded by Compassion in World Farming, the Soil Association and Sustain in 2009. Our vision is a world in which human and animal health and well-being are protected by food and farming systems that do not rely on routine antibiotic use.
Sustain's Chief Executive Kath Dalmeny serves on the steering group for the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics, and Sustain's Head of Public Affairs Orla Delargy and Head of Sustainable Farming Vicki Hird support the work of the alliance on agriculture and trade policy
Eating Better
Sustain is a founding member of Eating Better, a movement for change of sixty organisations working to accelerate the transition from producing and eating too much meat and dairy to a fairer, healthier and more sustainable food system that is better for animal welfare and for nature.
Food Sense Wales
Food Sense Wales is built on the foundations of Food Cardiff, a multi award-winning food partnership and founding member of the Sustainable Food Places Network managed in partnership by the Soil Association, Food Matters and Sustain. Food Sense Wales delivers pioneering programmes such as Sustainable Food Places, Peas Please, Food Power – bringing people together through food.
Sustain's Deputy Chief Executive Ben Reynolds serves on the Programme Management Board for Sustainable Food Places.
Green Alliance
Green Alliance is an independent think tank and charity focused on ambitious leadership for the environment. It works with influential leaders in business, NGOs and politics to accelerate political action and create transformative policy for a green and prosperous UK. Sustain has worked extensively with Green Alliance members, and during the Brexit process with the Greener UK coalition hosted by the Green Alliance, to integrate food and farming into key environmental, fisheries and agriculture policy initiatives.
Sustain's Chief Executive Kath Dalmeny, Head of Sustainable Farming Vicki Hird, and Head of Public Affairs Orla Delargy work with the Green Alliance on a range of policy initiatives.
Green Care Coalition
Sustain is a founding member of the Green Care Coalition, established in 2016 to promote the commissioning and use of Green Care services, and to give voice to the many organisations in the UK who are committed to delivering or supporting the delivery of high quality and cost-effective Green Care services. Green Care refers to structured therapy or treatment programmes that take place in natural surroundings and recognise the instinctive connection between nature and health.
Sustain's Director of Programmes Sarah Williams attends the working group for the Green Care Coalition and advises on next steps for the coalition's work.
A range of colleagues in Northern Ireland
There is currently no national alliance of food and farming organisations covering the whole of Northern Ireland; Sustain works with a range of local, city-based and issue-specific organisations, including as part of Sustainable Food Places Network and Food Power.
Nourish Scotland
Nourish Scotland is a charity focusing on food policy and practice. Nourish works across Scotland for a fair, healthy and sustainable food system that truly values nature and people. Nourish takes a systems approach to food. This means they work across a wide range of issues and levels: from production to consumption, from practice to policy, from grassroots to national. They champion integrated approaches to solving the big challenges of the current food system: hunger and malnutrition, diet-related disease, exploitation, loss of biodiversity, and climate change.
Sustain and Nourish Scotland work on a range of collaborative initiatives, including the Right to Food, promotion of agroecological farming in policy and practice, and the Glasgow Food and Climate Change Declaration.
Obesity Health Alliance
The Obesity Health Alliance is a coalition of over 40 organisations working together to reduce obesity by influencing government policy. The goal of the Obesity Health Alliance is to prevent obesity-related ill-health by supporting evidence-based population level policies to help address the wider environmental factors that lead to excess bodyweight.
Sustain's Deputy Chief Executive Ben Reynolds sits on the Obesity Health Alliance steering group and Sustain's Children's Food Campaign Coordinator Barbara Crowther attends the regular OHA policy working group.
Sustainable Soils Alliance
The Sustainable Soils Alliance is a partnership of farming organisations, businesses, NGOs, applied science and academia working together to restore our soils to health within one generation. The alliance pursues this aim by bringing together the community of stakeholders interested in soil management to debate the scale and nature of the problem, agree the appropriate indicators and determining factors and identify the relevant policy mechanisms and levers for reform. They engage media and stakeholders, educate the general public and lobby government for a policy framework that will bring about the transformational step change needed to support the development of healthy soil for generations to come.
Sustain's Head of Sustainable Farming Vicki Hird serves on the strategic advisory board for the Sustainable Soils Alliance.
Trade Justice Movement
The Trade Justice Movement is a UK coalition of nearly sixty civil society organisations, with millions of individual members, calling for trade rules that work for people and planet. Trade Justice Movement members include trade unions, aid agencies, environment and human rights campaigns, Fair Trade organisations and consumer groups.
Sustain's Head of Public Affairs and Good Food Trade Campaign coordinator Orla Delargy works with the Trade Justice Movement on food standards in international trade.
Wildlife and Countryside Link
Wildlife and Countryside Link is the largest environment and wildlife coalition in England, bringing together 57 organisations to use their strong joint voice for the protection of nature. Link's members campaign to conserve, enhance and access our landscapes, animals, plants, habitats, rivers and seas.
Sustain's Head of Sustainable Farming Vicki Hird and Sustainable Farming Officer James Woodward work with Wildlife and Countryside Link on agricultural and environmental policy.
