Decent food for all
The Decent Food for All (DFfA) project is led by the Armagh and Dungannon Health Action Zone. It is a research pilot project in its fourth year and is funded by Food Standards Agency, Northern Ireland and Safe food. DFfA is a partnership-based project committed to addressing food poverty issues such as the inequalities in access to decent, healthy and affordable food for all.
Aims and Objectives
The Decent Food for All mission statement is:
To improve the provision and consumption of affordable, safe and healthy food in order to protect and improve public health particularly among the disadvantaged and vulnerable.
The Aim of the DFfA program is:
To encourage and support local communities, families and individuals to achieve a balanced, safe diet by providing practical, community-based and focused help and advice on food issues and nutrition.
Methodology
The project incorporated four essential elements:
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community education
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individual empowerment to permit healthy lifestyle choices
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regeneration of local communities and markets
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sustainability
The DFFA project has identified 3 barriers to access healthy, nutritious, affordable food. These are access to information; financial access and physical access.
The community food team consists of a community food coordinator and 2 community food workers. They offer practical community-based help and advice on food, nutrition and money issues to tackle food poverty – locally.
The community food team work within 12 target wards across Dungannon and Armagh council districts, which were originally identified based on Noble indices of deprivation (2001). The project has a range of programs and workshops which will apply to various groups within the community and therefore we do not target one sector of the community in particular. To date the DFfA project has involved over 11,500 participants.
The main prompt for the initiative came from a national, regional and local focus upon food and health, by various agencies including Safefood, Food Standards Agency, The General Consumer Council (NI), Investing for Health (IFH), The Armagh and Dungannon Health Action Zone (HAZ) partnership, South Tyrone Foodlinks which have a common purpose to address food and health issues, and in particular the health inequalities caused by food poverty. The DFfA project was a result of research by the various agencies listed above.
Pilots of all individual programmes to be rolled out under DFfA were undertaken. These proved to be useful in highlighting which methods of delivery worked the best with different groups & in different settings (e.g. community, school). They also identified which food issues/topics were of greatest interest to particular groups & allowed programmes to be modified accordingly to maximise delivery in terms of content & process.
The DFfA scheme was initiated in September 2002, followed by the introduction of the programs and workshops. The supporting projects were developed through securing funding from various funding bodies throughout the timeframe of the project.
Organisations Involved
The Armagh & Dungannon Health Action Zone is a community health partnership organisation – funded by DHSSPS
The DFfA project is run by an operational group comprising 24 members, representing Local Authorities (Environmental Health, Local Agenda 21), Community Health, other Community Agencies, Volunteer groups, Charities and the Safefood and Food Standards Agency.
The role of the group is to:
1. Provide approval & agreement of intersectoral partnership working within ‘DFfA’ project.
2. Provide direction & guidance including objectives, target setting etc.
3. Promote & reflect organisational commitment to the ‘DFfA’ programme.
4. Monitor the overall performance of the ‘DFfA’ programme in terms of targeting need & tackling inequalities in health & well-being in its broadest context.
5. Ensure appropriate evaluation of the ‘DFfA’ programme in terms of process, impact & outcome.
Funding
The project has 4 Year Funding and Support (2002/2006) from:
Safefood
Food Standards Agency, NI
All funding is guaranteed only for a limited period of time.
Promotion
DFfA programs and workshops are promoted by posters, information flyers, ADHAZ Food News, community newsletters, parish bulletins, press releases in local newspapers, through local active community groups & representatives, schools/nurseries and word of mouth.
DFfA is operating in twelve electoral wards within the Armagh and Dungannon HAZ, which is located within the Southern Health & Social Services Board. The selection of areas in which to implement the DFFA programme was determined, in part, by the factors that are known to influence food poverty, namely, material disadvantage and geographical access to healthy food.
All programme activities are provided free of charge.
Activities / Sessions
There are 4 programs delivered under the Decent Food for All project, which are tailored to meet the needs of the group/individual to ensure the maximum benefit. Examples of some of the programs provided are highlighted below:
Cook It!
A six week programme aimed to support anyone who is interested in enhancing their cooking skills and healthier eating. This program was developed through the Health Promotion Agency NI.
Balanced Beginnings
A two-week programme is geared towards all young mothers or anyone who is interested in learning about the nutritional needs in the early years of childhood, concentrating on healthy eating for 1-5 year olds.
My Body
An interactive programme most suitable for children aged 5-11years old. It extends over six weeks to encourage children to think about looking after their bodies in a healthy way
Looking Good Feeling Better
A 4 week programme to help those who want to make a shift towards a healthy lifestyle.
One off workshops are also delivered on the topics of Balance of Good Health; Food Safety in the Home; Oral hygiene; Understanding Food Labels; Budgeting & Money Management.
The Decent Food for All project, through the securing of additional funding, have also delivered supporting projects, in partnership with other organisations (including statutory and community groups). These have included the Fresh Fruit in Schools scheme, funded by DHSSPS;
RI:SE and Shine breakfast Club, funded by the Lotteries NOF;
The South Tyrone Community food gardens project and the Armagh community food garden project, funded by the Local Strategy Partnerships;
Ballygawley Road and Milltown Community Food Co-op, funded by the Local Strategy Partnership
The range of programs and workshops under the DFfA project, although follow a set format and content, the delivery and activities can be adapted to suit the needs of the groups involved. It is run on request as a result of local advertisement in group, schools or youth groups in community settings.
Ideally each program and workshop should attract "new" participants. However if a particular community group, school or youth group would request that the programme is repeated with the same group after a time-frame of 6/9 months to reinforce the lessons learned this would not be a problem.
Sessions are led by the community food worker. The programs are structured to cover a topic a week, and the workshops are delivered in one sessions.
The participants really enjoy sessions that includes fruit tasting & making fruit smoothies – especially when they get to taste fruits they’ve never had before, as well as interactive activities.
The ratio of staff to participants is dependant on the age range involved and the program/workshop that is being delivered. On average most programs would have a 1:20 ratio, except the Cook it program which would have a 1:6 ratio on average.
Management & Staffing
The DFfA project requires 3 full-time members of staff (37.5hrs per week) – community food coordinator and 2 community food workers
1 Community Food Co-Coordinator & 2 Community Food Workers on a Full Time basis are employed specifically to run the whole DFfA scheme.
Staff have been trained in nutrition, oral health, food hygiene training & training in facilitation skills.
Other Resources
The resources required depend on the program / workshop that are being held.
Room for facilitation, which is big enough to comfortably house group
c) Equipment:
E.g. Smoothie maker, Balance of Good Health Plate Model & Food Models
d) Other materials:
Food ingredients, aprons
e) Training materials:
Worksheets to accompany each session.
Flipchart & paper
Good sports equipment could enhance the physical activity session.
Sustainability
The DFfA project was initiated in 2002.
Funding was secured for a four year research pilot project. This phase of the project will be completed on 31st March 2007
Evaluation
The Decent Food for All programs and workshops are evaluated by each group who complete the sessions, through the completion of evaluation forms and feedback from those involved in the project.
The overall project evaluation is currently being completed by the Institute of Public Health, Ireland.
Feedback from participants attending sessions – written & verbal.
Feedback from youth leaders/teachers involved.
Long term:
Observational studies of attitude & behaviour change of programme participants.
An in-depth evaluation framework for the whole ‘DFfA’ programme is being undertaken by ADHAZ in partnership with the Institute of Public Health in Ireland. The aims of the evaluation are:
1. to contribute to the development of all phases of the DFfA Programme.
2. To assess the effect of the programme on:
(i) Knowledge and awareness of food nutrition, safety and hygiene issues;
(ii)Availability of healthy foods;
(iii)Financial and physical access to healthy produce;
(iv)Local regeneration;
(v)Local partnerships for health;
(vi)Social inclusion.
3. To identify aspects of the programme which do, and do not, increase food knowledge and reduce food poverty in rural communities
4. To identify aspects of the programme which can be applied across Northern Ireland and the island.
5. To identify aspects of the programme which can be used to support all-island communication and marketing campaigns across the island and amongst marginalised groups.
The programs and workshops work towards achieving specific Key Outcomes (see objectives) of the overall DFfA programme.
The DFfA project has been positively received from both the children & teachers/youth workers/community group leaders involved in its facilitation by the Community Food Team.
Lessons Learned
In communities where there is weak infrastructure, finding a suitable venue, which is accessible to the community, can be the biggest problem.
This has been overcome through sourcing a suitable venue as close as possible as well as arranging community transport to & from this venue.
We would encourage other groups to seek advice from an organisation like ADHAZ who has been running such a programme at the initial planning stages so that lessons learned can be shared & subsequent initiatives minimise the difficulties they may have to encounter & benefit from the opportunities to share experience and lessons learnt.
DFfA has used different methods and resources to develop, educate and meet the identified needs of community groups / organisations on health promotion and healthy eating issues at community level. This intervention provides information and education as well as hands on skills development to put the information into practice and make positive, informed decisions about the food purchased and consumed. This will inturn impact the target groups' health as well as working towards decreasing the barriers of finance, access and knowledge. It is important to acknowledge that every group is different, with different backgrounds and objectives. Therefore the community food team have remained flexible and community led in their delivery to ensure maximise impact and progression in tackling these issues.
Future Developments
The project plans to train community leaders/teachers/youth leaders in the delivery of the DFfA programs and workshops so that there is a resource left within the communities involved in the DFfA project to carry on the beneficial work, this has been undertaken when the DFfA project comes to an end.