Tag: food for all
The Food For All group is launching resources and workshops that are designed and delivered by people with lived experience of the asylum process. The Food For All: Dignity In Practice workshop is aimed at staff and volunteers delivering community food services, and provides space to reflect and learn from the very people who use those services.
This workshop is being offered at a time when there is a human crisis right here on our doorstep. Asylum seekers are navigating a maze of barriers and obstacles to employment, education and food. The Food For All group raises awareness of the specific challenges people in the asylum process face, building understanding and empathy for those in that system, and inspires food providers to embed dignity in the heart of their practice.
Philippa Roloff, Food for All Project Lead, said: “We believe that everyone deserves dignified access to food. We believe that everyone working in community food provision should have the opportunity to gain knowledge and understanding of the asylum process, to adapt their practice and break down the barriers faced by community members in the asylum process.”
Through collaboration with Nourish Scotland, the Food For All group has been working on the Dignity In Practice Project since 2020. We are delighted to finally be sharing the expertly created workshop with community food providers. Our FREE, certified workshops are an opportunity for teams to come together with people with lived experience of the asylum system in a safe space to reflect and learn from each other.
By better understanding each other’s needs, we can help build capacity in community food settings and the communities they serve, to support each other and promote the dignity of everyone.
This month, the Scottish Government finally published its much-anticipated plan to end the need for food banks in Scotland. “Cash-First: Towards Ending the Need for Food Banks in Scotland” sets out a human rights approach to tackling food insecurity and outlines nine collaborative actions the government will take over the next three years to improve the response to financial hardship and start to reduce the need for emergency food parcels.
The paper summarises the range of preventative actions the Scottish Government will take that will help realise the long-term vision of ending the need for food banks by improving incomes and reducing costs. Below is the summary of the nine actions identified by the government to improve the response to the crisis.
Govan Community Project’s Food for All Group has been involved in the consultation process, providing testimonials and advice from experts by experience, particularly around food insecurity in the asylum process.
Philippa Roloff, Food Projects Lead at Govan Community Project, said:
“The plan is undoubtedly groundbreaking- it’s the first of its kind not only in the UK, but across the world. We applaud the Scottish Government’s unflinching and explicit condemnation of the UK government’s policies that have ‘inflicted’ poverty and harm. However, mention of the UK government’s hostile environment policies is notably absent, as are any meaningful actions that will benefit the thousands of people in the asylum process in Scotland who are forced to rely on food banks long term, because of the shamefully low asylum support payments.
“Given the involvement of GCP’s Food for All Group in the Scottish Government’s Direct Experience Reference Group and the consultation process, we are especially disappointed that the plan does not go further to end the need for food banks for all.”
