Addressing Food Poverty
Three members of staff at Bangor University attended the inaugural meeting of The North Wales Food Poverty Alliance (NWFPA) in The OpTIC Centre St Asaph recently.
The North Wales Food Poverty Alliance NWFP is a round table of multi-sector organisations chaired by Flintshire County Council, which aims to address the multiple challenges of food poverty in North Wales.
A lively and open conference discussing the impacts of food poverty across the region marked the launch.
Representatives on community groups, trust and public bodies shared ideas, experiences and projects on future direction for the Alliance though developing a collective approach.
Dr David Beck spoke about Food Banks- Understanding the Experience, Dr Beck recently completed his PhD on the subject of the growth of food banks in Wales under the co-supervision of Dr Hefin Gwilym (Social Sciences) and Dr Eifiona Thomas Lane (Geography).
Dr Eifiona Thomas Lane, presented ‘Te a Coffi – a food access project’ based in Caernarfon, on behalf of GISDA. The project positively show-cases support for young people and also addresses food access. She also facilitated later workshop to feed into the Alliance’s future direction.
Dr Gwilym commented:
"The conference marked an important moment for the region. A great deal of work has been done to reach this stage. It is only by working together that communities can face the challenge of food poverty.”
Dr Thomas Lane said “The GISDA project, I described shows how young people’s food access can be improved alongside training activities, whilst creating a lively warm community café hub with tasty food.”
Drs Beck, Gwilym and Thomas Lane also all sit at on the steering group for the North Wales Food Poverty Alliance and represent Bangor University.
The NWFPA is one of two alliances across Wales (North and South), and forms part of 22 national alliances across the UK. Part of a Sustain and Big Lottery funded programme, the North Wales Food Poverty Alliance is chaired by Flintshire County Council and aims to highlight work which is currently being undertaken by members and their respective organisations in tackling the rise of food poverty across Wales.
Publication date: 7 December 2018