Finding a route to local food resilience
Developed by The Southern Initiative and Healthy Families South Auckland, The Good Food Road Map is a framework designed to bring consistency and efficiency when it comes to approach, collaboration and sharing of resources, in order to build a more resilient local food system.
“The truth in South Auckland is that we have good access to bad food and bad access to good food,” says Healthy Families South Auckland manager George Makapatama.
“The Good Food Road Map is about moving us towards a space where our communities have access to good and affordable food at all times. It is done by taking the current kaupapa that many organisations are already doing and strategically supporting that to deliver positive long-term systemic change.”
Food is a great place to start a paradigm shift
Some organisations have already adopted The Good Food Road Map, including the Cook Islands Development Agency New Zealand (CIDANZ) which is adapting the framework into its 2021-2023 national health programme.
CIDANZ chief executive Rouruina Emil'e-Brown says The Good Food Road Map focuses on a system which can affect other key aspects from cultural to economic.
“Food is a great place to start a paradigm shift because it's a system that brings people together from families to entire communities,” she says.
“But there are barriers and this year has probably exposed that even further, whether it be the struggles of families, local growers and providers during this pandemic, or that in some parts of New Zealand it is still cheaper to buy a litre of fizzy drink than a small bottle of water.”
Emil'e-Brown says there needs to be a higher strategic thinking to what role the community plays in the food system.
“New Zealand is the land of milk and honey and we should be able to feed our own population good kai. Things should be done within our local communities beyond the small community gardening project. Those in our communities need to be part of the growing and supplying, they need to be involved in the end-to-end service of food.”
“So it is important to raise our local strategic thinking and The Good Food Road Map does that around what we can do now and what changes we can make in the near future.”
A step in the right direction
The Good Food Road Map has been adopted and supported by all four South Auckland local boards.
Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board Chair Lemauga Lydia Sosene says previous work with TSI and HFSA has shown the need to keep progressing in the food space.
“In our new local board plan one of our focus areas it to support activities and initiatives that encourage our communities to thrive and belong and to be safe and healthy, so we continue to support and work alongside organisations to promote healthy food options.”
Previously the local board has supported initiatives by TSI and HFSA and Mrs Sosene says finding ways to improve South Auckland’s food culture and environment is important for the well-being of the community.
“While we have beaten the threat of COVID-19 twice, there is still the threat of chronic disease in our community through poor diet and eating habits. The Good Food Road Map and the work by Healthy Families South Auckland is a step in the right direction to fixing that problem.”
“It provides a more strategised focus on creating a resilient food system which will see public health benefits for our community in the generations to come.”
Makapatama says the support of the local boards shows a commitment in finding a collective answer to fixing the current local food environment.
“This problem requires the thinking of those who can make changes, whether big or small, to make change now and not simply hope for a return to the way things were pre-COVID-19. It means bringing together our current fragmented response through various stakeholders to achieve a better, robust outcome for our communities.”