Briefing:Food Justice Campaign Officer Briefing From: James Butler For attention of: All Party Officers Published: 27th March 2019 Last updated: 20th May 2019 Printed: 8th November 2024 Other formats: Print Background The Co-operative Party’s Food Justice Campaign has national and local asks. There are specific asks for Westminster, Holyrood and Welsh Assembly Government – click here to find out more. There are common asks of local government: asking councils to consider nominating a lead member for food poverty, developing a “food plan” and working with (or setting one up if it doesn’t exist) a Food Partnership. Often Labour and Labour and Co-operative councils will be doing some of this already. This briefing explains what officers and branches can do to support our Food Justice Campaign. Sign up to the campaign - and share it online Sign up to the campaign and encourage others to also. Hold a meeting - invite a speaker Hold a meeting with a speaker on food justice. The Co-operative Party is happy to try and find you a speaker If you have Labour or Labour and Co-operative Party councillors in your area, invite them to come and talk to you about what the Labour Group or Council is doing to tackle food injustice Or alternatively, invite someone from a local organisation which is delivering food justice to come and tell you about what they are doing and how the branch might be able to help them. Use our petition Use our petition, either at Labour Party meetings when discussing our template motion, on a streetstall, or take it along to any community meetings that you attend. Food Justice Campaign generic petition Scottish Co-operative Party petition Take our motion to a Labour Party meeting Table our Food Justice motion for branch and CLPs at your local Labour Party branch (or GC/AMM). Take along a copy of our petition along with you. Also, do raise the issue of food poverty and encourage the local Labour Party unit to put in a submission to Labour’s National Policy Forum consultation on sustainable food policy. We will be supplying some points that branches may wish to include. Food Mapping Community Food Mapping involves finding out where people can buy, grow, and eat food in an area. It’s really very simple and can be done by one or more volunteers in an area. The information collected can be displayed on a physical map, or on an online map. Food Mapping is a great first step, establishing the extent of the problem in a local area. It’s a fun thing to do, and has led to the emergence of numerous community responses to food poverty and food deserts. It might be something that you can carry out with local councillors, candidates, or a community group. It also provides an evidence base for lobbying statutory agencies as you will be able to demonstrate very easily the problem in your community or ward. It’s also something which the local press should be extremely interested in once the results are collated. Celebrate existing best practice There is an incredible amount of great work already being done to tackle food poverty. Some of this involves Co-operative Party members and Labour and Co-operative councillors and we are asking you to let us know about it, so that we can help promote awareness of it. In many cases you will be aware of community-led organisations working in your patch, and we would very much like to hear from you about what they are doing. The aim here is to publicise the amazing work that is going on, and at the same time raise awareness of the extent of food poverty and food insecurity. Practical support Talk to and visit one of the many organisations which are delivering food justice and see what practical support you can offer. It will vary from organisation to organisation and area to area. You might end up spending a few hours encouraging donations to the local food bank, it might be helping to raise awareness about the project locally, it might be helping to recruit volunteers, or even fundraising. Reach out and see what practical help you can offer. For more information James Butler Campaigns Officer