Hungry for Rights aims to educate and raise awareness of alternative food systems, offering extensive training and tutoring to promote short supply chains in crofting areas of Western Scotland.

Starting in 2013 the new 3 year EU-funded project, will emphasise that the development of short supply chains is an issue of concern for all citizens. A change from industrial forms of food production to shorter supply chains and more local food will require not only producers to change their production but also consumers and local authorities to change their habits and policies.

Consumers are often a driving force behind the local development of short food supply chains. Local authorities can play a role in the promotion of local food through public procurement.

Therefore, the project brings together representatives of these different groups. The inclusive approach will guarantee a thorough diagnosis of challenges and bottlenecks, help to identify specific needs for skills development and capacity building and enable work on a shared agenda on local food policy.

The lead partner is ACRA (Cooperazione Rurale in Africa e America Latina), a non-governmental, non-profit, organisation, recognised by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the European Union. Other project partners include Friends of the Earth Cyprus, Urgenci- the international network for Community Supported Agriculture in France, the Baltic Environmental Forum – Legambiente and People’s Expo in Italy.

Project workshops

Workshops will be organised with three thematic areas: food policy, alternative food systems and the future of crofting. On food policy, the first workshop was a public consultation on Becoming a Good Food Nation, held in Inverness, 24 September 2014. This was co-organised with Nourish Scotland. For 2015 workshops on different ways of organising local produce will be organised, such as box schemes and food hubs. Hungry for Rights will co-organise the Young Crofters gathering in Assynt.

Project outputs

A good introduction to the project is a video (please click here) made during the international exchange visit in France November last year in which participants from each country give their perspective on alternatives to the current food system or about community-based food systems in their country.
A series of Best Practices in community-based food systems from the project partner countries, with case studies from Cyprus, Italy, France, Lithuania, Scotland and Senegal, can be downloaded here.

Project website:
www.hungryforrights.org