THE FUTURE OF FOOD BANKS IN EUROPE
Quantifying the Impact of European Food Banks
From farm to fork
In 2018 FEBA launched the project “The Future of Food Banks in Europe. Preparing the 20s”, awarded with a grant by DG Health and Food Safety, European Commission. The project aims to expend and strengthen the network of the European Food Banks Federation (FEBA) in the EU.
In 2018 and 2019 FEBA focused on expanding the knowledge and improving the skills of its membership mainly sharing best practice and knowledge amongst FEBA members to support the recovery and redistribution of surplus food to feed people in need. FEBA organized a skill-sharing session on “Food Rescue: the New Future of Food Donation” (Dublin, 10-11 December 2018), a skill-sharing session on “Impactful data for social good” (Brussels, 4-5 February 2019), a skill-sharing session on “Partnerships for the SDG 12.3” (Rome, 7-8 November 2019) and attended the Food Bank Leadership Institute 2019 (London, 27-29 March 2019).
This year FEBA will start working on quantifying the impact of European Food Banks. The activity will be made of three milestones:
- Definition of common KPIs, dataset structure and data collection strategies;
- Development of an Observatory on food donation;
- Promotion and dissemination of the Observatory on food donation.
Kick-off Meeting
- When: 2 March 2020
- Where: Brussels (Belgium)
On 2 March FEBA organized the Kick-off Meeting of the project “Quantifying the impact of European Food Banks – From Farm to Fork”. Nine Food Banks representatives from different European countries participated in person. Moreover, for those who were unable to be physically present at the meeting due to the COVID-19 outbreak and to facilitate participation as much as possible, the meeting was broadcasted in live streaming with the possibility of interacting via e-mail.
The main objective was to present the project which mainly consists in: 1) identifying common KPIs, 2) sharing a standardized and consistent methodology for data collection across Food Banks, and 3) defining how to make sense of the information of impact management and measurement.
Workshop 1 - Laying solid foundations
- When: 6-7 April 2020
- Where: Online meeting
Eight participants from the selected Pilot Group (Belgium, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Norway and Spain) actively participated in the online workshop. The workshop was guided by the leading team of the project (FEBA Team, Laura Gavinelli, Fabio Fraticelli and Chiara Grassi) with inspiring insights from external experts.
Following the launch of the project during the kick-off meeting on 2 March 2020, the first online workshop for the Pilot Group took place with the main objective to identify common KPIs, share a standardized and consistent methodology for data collection across Food Banks, and define how to make sense of the information of impact management and measurement.
Workshop 2 - Make Data Speak
- When: 5 May 2020
- Where: Online meeting
- Make data speak means first of all boost internal awareness, benchmarking and benchlearning (within FEBA network)
- Data should speak the language of recipients; this means planning dedicated communication to the diverse stakeholders.
- Good Information with sound data and effective stories can help fund raising.
Workshop 3 - Economic indicators
- When: 23 June 2020
- Where: Online meeting
From this point on, the Pilot Group will concentrate on 4 areas of indicators of Food Banks: economic, social, environmental, and nutritional. The objective is to define common results to create an online observatory of food donation.
The third online workshop focused on the economic area. The topic was addressed from the perspective of Food Banks but also with the support of external experts.
Mid-Term Plenary Session
- When: 15 July 2020
- Where: Online meeting
The online meeting was open to the entire FEBA membership to take stock of the evolution of the project and inform Full and Associate Members on the work carried out by FEBA, a Pilot Group of 8 Members (Belgium, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Spain, UK), together with external experts.
Workshop 4 - Updates on the platform
- When: 30 October 2020
- Where: Online meeting
Food, no Waste!
FEBA DATA CENTRE
On 29 September 2020, FEBA organized a virtual event on the occasion of the first-ever International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste. The event offered many possibilities to the online visitor to discover the work of FEBA and the European Food Banks in the prevention of food loss and waste.
One of the main area of the virtual platform was the FEBA Data Centre. On this virtual stand, online visitors could discover about the project “Quantifying the impact of European Food Banks – From Farm to Fork” through reports, videos, quizzes and a live chat.
With the support of
in Europe
This event has received financial support from the European Union through the Grant Agreement SANTE/2019/E1/FEBA/SI2.823068.
The opinions expressed in this event do not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Commission.