Food Power strengthened the ability of local communities to tackle the root causes of food poverty and transform the way people experiencing food poverty access support so they can create long-term, sustainable lives free from hunger.
About Food Power
Food Power was a people-powered programme that established a network of over 80 food poverty alliances around the UK. These alliances were supported to:
- Coordinate action to tackle food poverty in their local areas with guidance on how to establish alliances and action plans, a peer mentor network support in every region of the UK, financial support to turn commitments into a reality
- Exchange ideas, learning and best practice across the network through programme staff, peer-to-peer learning, regional learning networks, webinars, guides, toolkits and an annual conference
- Give voice to people experiencing food poverty through piloting models of involvement, capacity-building training, mentoring, guides, toolkits and creative tools such as films and podcasts.
- Evaluate and evidence the local impact of their work through robust monitoring and evaluation methodologies developed by staff, academics and programme teams.
Led by Sustain and Church Action on Poverty and funded by the National Lottery Community Fund, Food Power ran between 2017-2021.
Find a food poverty alliance
Food Power supported over 80 food poverty alliances across the UK. From Moray to Manchester and Cardiff to Cornwall. Find an alliance on this map.
Food Power’s impact
Food Power had big ambitions for supporting communities to tackle food poverty on the ground, which were measured by the University of Cardiff in an independent evaluation. After four years of surveys with alliances and stakeholders the results are in: it programme worked! Food Power helped alliances to develop and coordinate action to reduce food poverty; support alliances to share learning across the UK to enhance responses to food poverty; promote involvement of and give a platform to people with experience of food poverty; and influenced how how food poverty is addressed locally.
More about the impact
- More of a visual learner? Take a look at this infographic.
- Looking for a summary? Read the executive summary in English or Welsh.
- Keen eye for detail? Read the full evaluation report.
- Want to see some case studies? Read more about peer mentoring, the Covid-19 response or local evaluation.
- Want to know what this means for the food poverty movement? Read Food Power: Lessons learnt, a summary report incorporating some of the wider lessons identified by members of the network, allies and programme staff.
