Humanitarian context
Food insecurity is increasing in the UK. According to the Food Foundation, during 2023, nine million adults (17% of households) reported reducing or skipping meals because they could not afford or access enough food; three million adults reported not eating for an entire day; and more than 20 per cent of households with children reported that their children had experienced food insecurity.
While food insecurity is not a new challenge in the UK, it has received increased media attention in recent years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the ensuing cost of living crisis. Weekly food shopping has become unaffordable for many. The Food Foundation's Basic Basket tracker indicated that the average cost of food baskets increased by 25% between May 2022 and April 2023.
Our activity
Since 2020, Action Against Hunger has supported partners in Lewisham in south-east London and Sandwell in the Midlands to run community food pantries. These are community-run shops where food-insecure households can access a wide variety of food on a weekly basis for a small fee. During 2023, six community food pantries received £30,000 to continue their activities. This enabled the projects to support more than 650 households every week for six months.
The UK Food Programme team also provided technical support to Somerset County Council for the creation and deployment of a network of local food pantries in the county. During 2023, this included providing guidance and support to community partners in setting up and running local pantries and producing a short video about the pantry network in Somerset. They also contributed their expertise to building food resilience in rural communities.
WHERE WE HELP
We help 24.5 million people each year. We work in 55 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe, those most threatened by hunger.