Healthy Environments

Refugee Food Security

Food Security at Fairfield High School
A partnership with Fairfield High School has been working on a comprehensive approach to food insecurity in refugee communities. One of the best ways to address food insecurity is to assist people on a pathway to employment. At the school, a mini-farm has been established as an extension of the school garden, and to provide further training for refugee-background farmers in horticulture and small business. 95 people have completed farmer training and 53 have found jobs in local nurseries. The partnership has been extended to include Mamre House near Penrith, which provides further agricultural opportunities for farmers.

Catering social enterprises
A new development has been working with refugee groups to develop small catering social enterprises. The Parents' Cafe started at Fairfield High School, where 25 newly arrived refugees enrolled in a hospitality course and completed Safe Food Handling training before securing over a hundred catering jobs within a year.  A second project, the 'World Cafe', which is co-sponsored by STARTTS (Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors), has a menu featuring Khmer, Laotian, Thai, Middle Eastern and Karin foods.

Community Kitchen
Starting a community kitchen can provide an excellent way to engage people in sharing knowledge and skills round cooking, especially in an unfamiliar environment. The catering enterprises listed above have grown out of community kitchens.

An after-school physical activity and nutrition program is being conducted with school students and parents from refugee backgrounds in Fairfield. 12 African families are currently involved in an African community kitchen while 25 kids aged 7 -14 are involved in the After School Active Kids program. This program is funded by The Smith Family (Communities 4 Children program) and is supported by Refugee Health and SWSLHD Community Nutrition team and Woodville Community Services.

More information
Contact Benjamin Chahola on 02 9780 2856 or email Benjamin.Chahola@sswahs.nsw.gov.au

 

Food advocacy alliances

With growing interest in food security, several intersectoral alliances have formed to develop coordinated action on food access and supply issues.

Right to Food Coalition

The 'Right to Food' Coalition formed in October 2013 to plan an inaugural conference on food insecurity held in Liverpool in south west Sydney in October 2014. Health Promotion was a founding member along with food rescue groups, local councils, community groups, welfare and charitable organisations, multicultural and refugee groups.

Putting Food on the Table: food security is everyone's business conference attracted over 200 participants from across Australia, to discuss, debate, share information and projects on food access issues with 7 keynote speakers, 52 presentations and 4 workshops.

The conference created momentum and energy to work together to address food insecurity, and discussions are now underway to consider developing RTF Coalition as a national umbrella for food access action at a local level.

Health Promotion has also been a founding a member of 2 intersectoral alliances, the Macarthur Food Future Forum (MFFF) and the Sydney Food Fairness Alliance (SFFA).

 

Macarthur Future Food Forum

MFFF brings together 60 local organisations, and is involved in 3 main areas of interest:

• Improving food distribution and access by establishing community gardens and local food banks
• Building an understanding of food security in the context of social disadvantage through education programs in schools, neighbourhood centres, and non-government organisations
• Addressing issues associated with new development in the Camden local government area such as the provision of affordable housing, public transport, and location of agricultural land.

 

Sydney Food Fairness Alliance

Founded in 2006, SFFA brings together a range of organisations and individuals to promote food security and sustainable food systems across Sydney. It uses research, education, advocacy and networking and holds public forums on issues related to food access and supply. The SFFA has lobbied to establish a state food policy council to steer the development of a food policy for NSW.

More information 
Macarthur Food Future Forum
Email: Alice.Wood@sswahs.nsw.gov.au
Phone: 02 4640 3535

Sydney Food Fairness Alliance
Email: nfo@sydneyfoodfairness.org.au
Phone: 0410 145 473

Related websites
Sydney Food Fairness Alliance
www.sydneyfoodfairness.org.au

Right to Food Coalition
www.righttofood.org.au

Right to Food Coalition Facebook
www.facebook.com/righttofoodcoalition

Right to Food Coalition Twitter
www.twitter.com/right_to_food