​​​​​​​We look forward to a new funded phase of work for Sustainable Food Places

The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation will fund a new 3-year phase of work, beginning in December 2024, aimed at building lasting resilience into the work of the network.

This will be "Phase four" of the Sustainable Food Places (SFP) programme and will ensure that the network can build on its successes, broaden the size of the membership, and can navigate the changing socio-political and funding landscapes. This will require the programme to rationalise it’s offer to members and the work of our core team by focussing on:

• Actively supporting partnerships to become financially sustainable and growing the network.

• Bringing forth the Diversity, Equality and Inclusivity programme (REDI) to support partnerships to include more diverse voices and perspectives in their work.

• Ensuring that community priorities are driving local partnership action and influencing National policy through co-developed campaign planning and implementing.

Over the last decade the UK-wide network has been transformative in its local, regional, and National impact. We have demonstrated this through: 

• A network of 110+ food partnerships across England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland, covering an area with an approximate population of over 24 million people.
  • We will continue to have more membership rounds in Phase four. 

• 42 partnerships operating at a county scale or an even larger area.
  • In this next phase we will actively encourage food partnerships to work together to form strong regional collectives.

• 55+ SFP award holders, with five achieving the prestigious SFP Gold Award recognising exceptional achievement in local food action.
  • The SFP Awards programme will continue in Phase four.

The movement has become a powerful force for change with regional and national recognition, and our ethos of cross-sector and whole food system working will remain unchanged.

Our work will continue to support activity across the food system, from building good food movements and active citizenship at a local level, to supporting the creation of vibrant, prosperous and diverse sustainable food economies through our six key-issue framework:

1. Ensuring good food governance and action
2. Promoting a local good food movement
3. Increasing access to affordable healthy food
4. Creating a vibrant, prosperous and sustainable local food economy
5. Transforming catering and procurement
6. Tackling the climate and nature emergency through food and farming

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR FRAMEWORK HERE

In this exciting new chapter we look forward to working with existing and new partners, stakeholders, and allies to enhance the role of the programme as an essential piece of the UK sustainable food infrastructure.