Community Food Catalysts – Overview & resources

Programme structure:

  • Facilitate your own Community Conversation(s) around food justice and policy, using a semi-structured series of questions and techniques and adapting it to your own context
  • Record and analyse what people tell you
  • Share the outcomes of your conversation with us
  • Find out how the other conversations went and explore what more we can do together at the closing/celebration event!

The programme is all about community led research, we’ll be there to support you but it’s important that the reflections come from you and the people you’ll be speaking with. After you’ve hosted and analysed a Community Conversation we’ll collate the information together from everyone on the programme and share it at the closing event. The outcomes of your conversation will also inform our campaigning work and we’ll make sure to send the report to relevant decision-makers, especially those who are working on the up-coming Good Food Nation Bill.

You can download the Feedback Template here, which you can return to us by e-mail or post.

 

Programme timeline (Jan – March 2017)

10 / 12 Jan    training in Glasgow / Inverness

Jan / Feb       host a Community Conversation

23 Feb            deadline for submitting analysis of Community Conversation

7 March         closing event in Perth -venue TBC

 

Training hand-outs

Suggested outline for your conversation

Holding a successful community conversation – checklist

Personal food policy principles – cheat sheet

Policy principles – cheat sheet

Letter to your local MSP – template

You can access the presentation on food system issues used in the Catalysts training here.

 

Other helpful resources

The Scottish Food Coalition’s report “Plenty: Food, Farming & Health in a New Scotland“. It describes a food system that is environmentally sustainable, socially just, and delivers high levels of wellbeing, makes the case for change, and some steps for getting there, both at a community and policy level.

For those of you considering to organise a conversation with children and young people, here’s a report on a piece of  research we were commissioned to do by the Children’s and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland in 2016, listening to what children think about food insecurity: “Living is more than surviving“.

One example of a recent Scottish government consultation is the Fairer Scotland conversation last year, inviting people to share their views on what a fairer Scotland could look like in 2030. Do you think the Good Food Nation Bill process should be similar or different? How would you/your group like to be consulted?

 

Good Food Nation Bill Timeline

For more info on the Bill, check out this page.

Monthly         – Scottish Food Coalition seminar series

Autumn 2017       – consultation begins; will your group be responding?

2019               – Bill introduced to Parliament, will your group be campaigning?

 

Funding

If you’re looking for funding to run a bigger community event, or a series of conversations, Community Food & Health (Scotland) has a helpful page with funding sources, including organisations who give small grants.

 

Contact Info

E:         catalysts@nourishscotland.org.uk
T:         0131 226 1497

 

Nourish Scotland, Summerhall, Edinburgh EH9 1PL

 

 

We’re very grateful to the Voluntary Action Fund  for funding this programme.