Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CULTIVATE (CULTIVATE: CO-DESIGNING FOOD SHARING INNOVATION FOR RESILIENCE)
Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2024-06-30
In 2024 the High Level Panels of Experts of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) report focused on “strengthening urban and peri-urban food systems” as a critical area for action as epicentres of multiple health and sustainability challenges. Food system transformation demands action beyond the dominant commercial models (Jackson et al., 2021), to include niche activities that adopt sustainability drivers, diverse business models and alternative organisational forms, such as food sharing initiatives (FSIs). FSIs support collective actions around food and food related items, operating across the food system. Preliminary research has established the sustainability practices and potential of contemporary UPU FSIs (Davies, 2019) but identified challenges for FSIs related to: a lack of awareness of FSI landscapes; limited knowledge about the investments needed for, and impacts of, FSIs; policy contexts which have evolved with commercial imperatives not sustainability as key drivers; unclear pathways to expanding citizen engagement in food sharing; and a lack of collective voice for FSIs in food systems transformations. CULTIVATE will co-design an online social innovation support platform – The Food Sharing Compass (KER 6) – with FSIs, local authorities, food supply actors, researchers and citizens which comprises tools to: map, track and monitor UPU food sharing landscapes (KER1 SHARECITY200 Database); identify the costs, benefits and impacts of FSIs (KER2 Food Sharing Calculator); help actors navigate governance architectures and ensure appropriate policies and regulations of food sharing (KER3 Menu of Good Governance); support increased citizen engagement in UPU food sharing (KER4 Library of Citizen Engagement); and build a Community of Practice (CoP) for FSIs to amplify learning and exchange experiences/expertise (KER5). CULTIVATE will generate significant impact at scale, mapping, tracking and monitoring the landscapes of FSIs across >100 EU MS/AC UPUs; providing validated methodologies to establish the sustainability impacts created by FSIs at individual and UPU scale; identify the type of investments needed to expand them in an EU context; establish a CoP of at least 100 FSIs; guidance for evolving multiscalar policy infrastructures to achieve sustainable and resilient UPU systems that recognise and support the sustainable practices of diverse FSI economies will be developed; and supporting tools for expanding engagement in sustainable food sharing.
CULTVATE has developed a food sharing dictionary in 25 languages; a search and categorisation manual for manual mapping of food sharing landscapes; selection criteria to identify diverse UPU locations in EU MS/AC to add to the existing SHARECITY database and project locations. The hub cities food sharing landscapes have been manually mapped: their comparative analysis complete. Hub city reports (Barcelona, Milan, Utrecht) have been developed and translated into local languages. Additional cities have been manually mapped using the protocol (Cork, Galway, Dublin, Turin, Bordeaux) assisting with the training of the automated approach underdevelopment, the testing and validation of the manual approach and providing training to researchers beyond the Consortium. CULTIVATE is tracing costs, investments, challenges, drivers and success factors to establish and maintain FSIs. A research protocol has been developed with CULTIVATE partners, activated through the Barcelona mobile research lab to capture business models, the evolution, and experiences of local food sharing practices. In addition to assessing social, economic, and environmental impacts of FSIs using Sharing Solutions, the only SIA tool developed with and for food sharing initiatives. The tool collates FSI impacts at individual level, with reports produced for municipalities on predicted impacts from FSIs considered at a municipal scale and insight reports for food supply actors who wish to understand the impacts of their current donations or are considering donating surplus food. A UPU food sharing governance literature review was performed. A policy brief on governance and UPU food sharing was developed based on the evidence gathered. Our three hub cities were involved in data-gathering and analysis of food sharing governance landscapes in urban agriculture, food waste and redistribution and social and solidarity economy. These activities were directed by a guide to standardise the data-gathering process. These reports are supporting the development of local future scenarios workshops and are being shared with relevant local authorities to maximise impact. A comparative analysis of the governance landscapes has been conducted. CULTIVATE has developed the first iteration of the Library of Citizen Engagement based on stakeholder interviews, desk research on citizen engagement tools and a literature review on the evolution of social norms, culture, and local conditions in food sharing. The first Lab&Kitchen in the edible neighbourhood of Rijnvliet, served as a case study for in-depth research on this approach as a citizen engagement tool. Four serious game prototypes have been developed, to meet the needs of a wider variety of citizens at different life stages. CULTIVATE has established a sustainable Food sharing CoP within the consortium through an amplification programme and an Accelerator Bootcamp where each FSI have developed 12-month action plans to scale-up or out innovation(s). All outputs from the project to date have been added to Zenodo and the project website.
CULTIVATE will achieve social innovation for sustainable food sharing by co-designing and delivering KERs1-6. The use of these tools will deliver impact by understanding, developing and strengthening food sharing for resilient UPU environments. This involves raising awareness of, and building capacity to use, the tools in the Food Sharing Compass and supporting uptake of the KERs and the cultural, economic and policy changes needed to recognise, value, govern and engage with sustainable food sharing. Partner networks and a comprehensive Plan for communication, dissemination and exploitation will ensure these KERs will be used within and beyond CULTIVATE. The project has completed the collation phase and is currently in the activation phase, creating results that lay the foundations for each KER. All outputs from the project to date have been added to Zenodo and the project website.