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Description
The 32 Food Banks operating across the country that make up the Federation of Polish Food Banks save food from going to waste and donate it to those most in need.
The main sources of food are: food producers and distributors (e.g. 11 nationwide commercial chains with 2142 shops), nationwide in-kind food collections (with the participation of up to 50,000 volunteers per year) and the Food Aid Operational Programme. From the commercial chains, the Federation rescues products worth approximately PLN 200 million every year. The Food Bank Network distributes food obtained by the Federation and independently by the Banks to about 3,200 local partner organisations and institutions, which reach with food parcels and ready meals directly to about 1.5 million people in need all over Poland (that is about 55,000 tonnes of food per year). FPFB also organises food and in-kind assistance to refugees from Ukraine - it coordinates the acquisition and logistics of donations, maps the needs of refugees, creates and updates donation databases.
The organisation''s biggest successes include successfully lobbying for a change in the law - the introduction of a law in 2019 to prevent food waste by retail chains. The organisation spearheaded a project that developed a food waste monitoring system (2018-2021). This made it possible to determine how many tonnes of food are actually wasted in Poland (4.8 million tonnes of food per year). The Federation also digitised the processes of reducing food loss and waste.
Within the framework of the organisational grant, the Federation will conduct trainings (e.g. on communication, IT solutions, food safety) for its members and cooperating entities, will work on rebuilding experience exchange mechanisms in the Food Banks network, will conduct research on the scale and characteristics of malnutrition and the specificity and needs of aid organisations. It will unify the communication and promotion of the Food Banks belonging to the network.
Summary of project results
The 32 Food Banks operating across the country that make up the Federation of Polish Food Banks save food from going to waste and donate it to those most in need. The main sources of food are: food producers and distributors (e.g. 11 nationwide commercial chains with 2,142 shops), nationwide in-kind food collections (with the participation of up to 50,000 volunteers annually) and the Food Aid Operational Programme. From the commercial chains, the Federation rescues products worth approximately PLN 200 million every year. The Food Bank Network distributes food obtained by the Federation and independently by the Banks to about 3,200 local partner organisations and institutions, which reach with food parcels and ready meals directly to about 1.5 million needy people all over Poland (that is about 55 thousand tonnes of food per year). FPBŻ also organises food and in-kind assistance to refugees from Ukraine - it coordinates the acquisition and logistics of donations, maps the needs of refugees, creates and updates donation databases. The organisation''s biggest successes include successfully lobbying for a change in the law - the introduction of a law in 2019 to prevent food waste by retail chains. The organisation spearheaded a project that developed a food waste monitoring system (2018-2021). This made it possible to determine how many tonnes of food are actually wasted in Poland (4.8 million tonnes of food per year). The Federation also digitised the processes of reducing food loss and waste.
Under the organistional grant, the Federation conducted 8 webinars and 15 trainings (e.g. on the use of IT tools used in the work of the Banks, communication and promotion, financial education) for its members and cooperating entities. In order to improve the mechanisms for the exchange of experiences within the Food Banks network, the federation developed a new formula for study visits and created a platform for knowledge sharing, making educational materials available within the Banks network. The organisation conducted research on the scale and characteristics of malnutrition and published the ‘Report on Hunger and Malnutrition in Poland 2023’. Communication and promotion of the Food Banks belonging to the network was unified, a brandbook of the organisation was created, an image campaign and a 1.5% campaign were conducted.
The main results of the use of the organisational grant were to increase the competence of the Food Banks'' teams, to increase the sense of community within the federation, to maintain the scale of the federation''s activities in a crisis situation (including the decreasing amount of food donated by commercial chains), to start advocacy activities to improve the operation of the Food Waste Prevention Act.