This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/the-northerner/2013/feb/19/manchester-greater-manchester
The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Food banks: who is feeding whom? | Food banks: who is feeding whom? |
| (30 days later) | |
| Last week we attended a Greater Manchester conference on Food Poverty and heard about the responses led by charities and churches to ensure that people have enough food to eat. A truly shocking factor that came out of this was that one of the main sources of referral to such food interventions was the local Job Centre – we must ask some challenging questions if it is emergency food parcels and not employment to which people are being directed. | Last week we attended a Greater Manchester conference on Food Poverty and heard about the responses led by charities and churches to ensure that people have enough food to eat. A truly shocking factor that came out of this was that one of the main sources of referral to such food interventions was the local Job Centre – we must ask some challenging questions if it is emergency food parcels and not employment to which people are being directed. |
| Furthermore, as reported by the Guardian, a consortium of charities is to monitor food poverty in Britain with a view to triggering formal UN investigation. This is quite simply a travesty in one of the world's richest economies. | Furthermore, as reported by the Guardian, a consortium of charities is to monitor food poverty in Britain with a view to triggering formal UN investigation. This is quite simply a travesty in one of the world's richest economies. |
| There have always been poor people in society; however the unprecedented rise in the numbers of those in the UK needing handouts for essential items such as food and clothes has risen alarmingly in the last few years. Food banks have become one of the fastest growing charitable industries in the UK. It is surely not a coincidence that this comes at the same time as cuts to public spending and the dramatic reform of the welfare state. | There have always been poor people in society; however the unprecedented rise in the numbers of those in the UK needing handouts for essential items such as food and clothes has risen alarmingly in the last few years. Food banks have become one of the fastest growing charitable industries in the UK. It is surely not a coincidence that this comes at the same time as cuts to public spending and the dramatic reform of the welfare state. |
| There is a real tension between the need to provide such emergency relief, alleviating the symptoms of poverty, and tackling fundamental issues of social justice. We should learn lessons from Canada, where food banks have been prominent since 1980s and are now an entrenched aspect of society. This reveals the vital need for a critical public debate on foodbanks – not just in terms of their existence as an indicator of poverty, but also around their potential institutionalisation. We must ask: to what extent are food banks part of the problem of food poverty, or one that contributes to the solution? | There is a real tension between the need to provide such emergency relief, alleviating the symptoms of poverty, and tackling fundamental issues of social justice. We should learn lessons from Canada, where food banks have been prominent since 1980s and are now an entrenched aspect of society. This reveals the vital need for a critical public debate on foodbanks – not just in terms of their existence as an indicator of poverty, but also around their potential institutionalisation. We must ask: to what extent are food banks part of the problem of food poverty, or one that contributes to the solution? |
| The academic Graham Riches argues that food banks | The academic Graham Riches argues that food banks |
| have become key institutions in the newly resurrected residual welfare state with governments relying on them as charitable partners providing feeding programmes of last resort. They permit the state to neglect its obligation to protect vulnerable and powerless people. They encourage the view that food poverty is not a critical public policy issue. They allow the corporate food industry to be viewed as responsible community partners. | have become key institutions in the newly resurrected residual welfare state with governments relying on them as charitable partners providing feeding programmes of last resort. They permit the state to neglect its obligation to protect vulnerable and powerless people. They encourage the view that food poverty is not a critical public policy issue. They allow the corporate food industry to be viewed as responsible community partners. |
| To this end, it is critical that food banks adopt a dual approach to their work. Many would argue that their purpose is not to solve the problem of food poverty, but to provide emergency relief. However, this will leave the existing social inequalities in place - the very ones that create the need for such charity - and could potentially lead towards a time when they become a normal part of our society. That is simply unacceptable. | To this end, it is critical that food banks adopt a dual approach to their work. Many would argue that their purpose is not to solve the problem of food poverty, but to provide emergency relief. However, this will leave the existing social inequalities in place - the very ones that create the need for such charity - and could potentially lead towards a time when they become a normal part of our society. That is simply unacceptable. |
| We need to think about a more co-ordinated approach to food poverty within and between cities, as opposed to the existing micro-model, in order to ensure that those involved in supporting people at the front line are also able to campaign on the social policy injustices that create the need in the first place. Through a collection of information across a city-wide level, it is possible to develop a strong evidence-base upon which to campaign on more structural issues that create poverty. From this it would be possible to co-produce long-term public policy interventions that delve deeper into solving some of the problems in the first place and not just crisis-managing. | We need to think about a more co-ordinated approach to food poverty within and between cities, as opposed to the existing micro-model, in order to ensure that those involved in supporting people at the front line are also able to campaign on the social policy injustices that create the need in the first place. Through a collection of information across a city-wide level, it is possible to develop a strong evidence-base upon which to campaign on more structural issues that create poverty. From this it would be possible to co-produce long-term public policy interventions that delve deeper into solving some of the problems in the first place and not just crisis-managing. |
| Pursuing co-produced public policy as a solution to food poverty also recognises the critical part social policy plays in our society and the detrimental impact that regressive polices have on people's lives. We cannot afford to turn a blind eye and create a society where food banks become an institutional part of the safety net, serving the poorest amongst us a diet of despair, hopelessness and stigma – outcomes we must not tolerate in our civilised society. | Pursuing co-produced public policy as a solution to food poverty also recognises the critical part social policy plays in our society and the detrimental impact that regressive polices have on people's lives. We cannot afford to turn a blind eye and create a society where food banks become an institutional part of the safety net, serving the poorest amongst us a diet of despair, hopelessness and stigma – outcomes we must not tolerate in our civilised society. |
| Dan Silver and Amina Lone are co-directors of the Social Action and Research Foundation based in Salford. | Dan Silver and Amina Lone are co-directors of the Social Action and Research Foundation based in Salford. |
| Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. | |
| Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. Enter your email address to subscribe. |