City Without Hunger
The response given today to the population suffering from nutritional insecurity is partial at best and depends on the limited resources of nonprofit organizations. At the municipal level, there is no cohesive body responsible for monitoring the problem, pooling resources or coordinating the required response.
The “City Without Hunger” project was established to make a significant change and to bring sustainable solution to the forefront.
Model and structure:
The initiative’s plan of action is based on a bottom-up approach. We understand that a process that is built for a distinct population in a defined geographic area, uses a multidimensional tool box, motivates the residents, re-organizes and adds required resources can make a significant change. It can bring about a solution that can be implemented and replicated (with necessary adaptations) nationwide.
The guiding principles of the project:
- Full cooperation – Between Latet, the local municipality, and other relevant agents active in the location
- Population mapping – Mapping and dividing the population into secondary groups and formulating the necessary responses
- Multidimensional tool box – GIving a variety of responses to meet different needs
- Creating a commitment to the process by the recipients – Participation in the processes to reduce their dependency on aid
- Leveraging, pooling and re-organization of existing community resources
- Involvement of residents and community empowerment – Recruiting and mobilizing the residents as agents of change in their city
The project will provide a full response to the problem of nutritional insecurity in the city in a number of channels:
- Core food services
- Applying rights and budget management
- Tools for escaping nutritional insecurity
Channels of Influence:
- The program succeeds in making a change through the following channels of influence:Creating a new social order through implementation of an effective, innovative model
- Positive impact on the quality of life of families: health, education, employment, etc.
- Strengthening social solidarity, mutual responsibility and local leadership by mobilizing volunteers, residents, aid organizations, companies and investors
Social Lab
Uniqueness:
For the first time in Israel, Latet has established a social laboratory that serves as an incubator for the development of innovative solutions in the field of poverty and nutritional insecurity. The goal of the lab is to develop the most effective intervention model in the field of nutritional insecurity and to design an innovative and groundbreaking solution that can be implemented on a large scale.
The lab was set up after a pilot for a nutritional security program was conducted in the city of Bat Yam and showed that although a varied food package worth $140 was provided to the families, there was no improvement in their nutritional security situation.
Need:
In Israel, 513,000 families (17.8%), 955,000 individuals (18.2%) and 638,000 children (25.5%) live in nutritional insecurity, of which 252,000 families (8.8%), 480,000 individuals (9.1%) and 352,000 children (14.1%) are living in severe nutritional insecurity (the National Insurance Institute, 2018; data from 2016). Nutritional insecurity is the most severe indicator of poverty, which is manifested by a lack of financial ability and regular access to basic nutrition needed for a balanced and proper existenceThe extent of poverty, its severity and depth, has consistently grown within the past decade. In turn, the phenomenon of nutritional insecurity has spread throughout the country and in all sectors.
Target population:
Families, single-parent families, individuals and elderly who live in the lowest societal position and suffer from nutritional insecurity.
Model and Structure - steps of the current research:
- Food package optimization - improving the package's content: dry products, animal protein and rescued food products
- Developing knowledge and skills about healthy nutrition and optimal use of the food package's ingredients - nutrition seminars, weekly tips and recipes booklet
- Extending agency component - increasing the recipients' freedom to choose the components of the food package to adapt them to their needs and preferences. Consequently, Latet built a dedicated website working as a virtual supermarket, that enables families to select food products.
When we add the three components of the current study, we can achieve the highest percentages of hunger alleviation. All three stages had a significant effect on improving the families' nutritional security situation.
Measures of success:
Studies of interventions in the realm of food in developed countries found that only about 30% or less of the participants were alleviated from nutritional insecurity. In contrast, the social lab results show that
- 52% of the families were alleviated from hunger at the end of the third stage.
- 73% of the participants were alleviated from hunger in at least one of the intervention stages
Follow-up studies - sustainable alleviation from nutritional insecurity:
1. Building a joint model for a sustainable alleviation from food insecurity and poverty through cooperation with the "Noshmim larevacha" program from the Ministry of Welfare and Joint Israel
2. Assessing the optimal size for our food boxes - this research is based on the results from the last study that examined the best composition of a food box in order to alleviate food insecurity among families.