Building future skills in food systems

Overview

Challenge

Urban food systems are unsustainable. The way we grow, transport, package, consume and dispose of food is dominated by extractive actors with little connection to place, community and culture. With global instability making our supply chains ever more precarious, and with communities lacking access to healthy, affordable food, it’s clear our current system isn't working for everyone.

Across London, there are already so many brilliant projects and organisations working towards a local food system that is vibrant and sustainable. Yet too often these projects, knowledge and skills are localised and not shared across the wider system.

As part of the EU-funded LEVERS project, Forth, a community interest company and creative studio, asked the question: 

How can we facilitate learning across the food system and build the skills required for a sustainable future?

Outcome

Through 12-months of research, relationship building and iterative design, the first live prototypes of First Hand were run at three sites, from a neighbourhood food model to a food redistribution hub.

Drawing on best practice in place-based and open learning, the program included peer-to-peer elements and activities to equip actors from across the food system to:

• recognise collaboration, creativity and embracing complexity as ‘transformative green skills’ required for a sustainable future

• practice those skills through hands-on sessions

Feedback from the prototypes indicated that participants understood the role of transformative green skills, related these to their role in the food system and developed new relationships as a foundation for collective action.

Integrating the learning from this first round of pilots, First Hand operates a learning program across the UK and Europe.

Role - Research and Development Lead (contract) at Forth

Timescale - 12 months (Dec 2022 - Dec 2023)

Approach

Discovery

The goal of the research phase was to identify opportunities to facilitate learning across urban food systems. Activities included:

• Exploring maps of urban food systems to explore where a learning program could intervene

• Desk research of best practice in place-based, community-connected learning

• Desk research of skills frameworks, identifying what types of skills are required for a sustainable future

• Stakeholder mapping and relationship building with people, projects and organisations working towards a fairer, more localised food system

Insights from the initial research included:

• To adapt and thrive in a changing world, food system actors will need to work, share and operate in new ways

• Key skills required to do this are collaboration, creativity and navigating complexity, or ‘transformational green skills’

• There is already range of brilliant food system projects who have put these into practice, yet there is a lack of coordination across the sector

• There is an appetite from organisations working across the food system to learn from peers who are operating and working in new ways, yet smaller organisations don’t always have the capacity to share

• To learn the skills to adapt to a sustainable future we need to look beyond formal education to approaches that are peer-led, hands-on and relevant to our job and community

Learning program design

This research highlighted the opportunity for a learning program to:

• showcase the where transformative green skills are being applied within the food system

• bring actors together to practice and build these skills, whilst creating relationships across the system

Drawing on best practice in place-based, community connected learning, First Hand was designed to build skills in collaboration, creativity and embracing complexity through peer-led tours at locations across the food system and follow-up skills workshops.

This was guided by a Theory of Change which outlines how building these skills will lead to more collaborative working and ultimately a healthier, fairer and more resilient food system.

Prototype planning

A prototyping plan was developed to test the riskiest assumptions of the learning program. Testing these early would enable the learning program to iterate and evolve.

The assumptions tested through the prototype learning program included:

• Participants understand the importance of collaboration, creativity and embracing complexity as skills needed for a sustainable food system

• Participants see these skills being demonstrated by peers and have a hands-on experience of these skills in practice

• Participants build new relationships and connections as the foundation for collaborative working

• There is a viable model for First Hand that can be sustained beyond the project funding

Activities undertaken to prepare for the prototypes included:

• Designing the learning sessions alongside partners: outlining learning outcomes, co-designing the tour and follow up skills workshop

• Logistics planning: materials, catering, risk assessments

• Recruiting participants to take part: developing communications, advertising through partners, liaising with attendees

• Leading on evaluation and impact measurement: designing pre- and post-surveys and interview scripts

Live prototyping

In Autumn 2023, three ‘live prototype’ tours were run with partners across the food system including:

• The Walworth Neighbourhood Food Model, a set of local projects and partnerships to test interventions, alongside the infrastructure to support learning and collaboration

• The Felix Project, a charity rescuing and redistributing surplus food 

Over 25 people from across the food system joined the sessions, providing valuable feedback to shape the future direction of the program.

This live testing of the skills program generated invaluable learning:

• Participants valued the hands-on and peer-to-peer nature of the sessions

• Participants understood the importance of collaboration, creativity and embracing complexity in creating sustainable food systems

• These sessions acted as an introduction to the skills; a longer-term program is required to equip participants to practice and build skills

• The new connections and relationships people formed through engaging in hands-on activities resulted in unexpected collaboration following the sessions

What’s more, the partnerships generated with community organisations working across the food system have continued to guide the program’s development.

Impact

The insight generated from this first round of prototypes built confidence in the value of First Hand as a learning program and proposals for a sustainable model beyond the project funding.

First Hand now runs a learning program and community of practice across the UK including London, the Midlands and Orkney, with a European program forthcoming.