creating food wealth so that no-one in cornwall goes...

Creating Food wealth so that no-one in Cornwall goes hungry

Learning History

Mari Davis (Local Vision Enabler)Emma Loftus (Learning History Author)

The Food and Cornwall programme aims to ‘Create food wealth so that no-one in Cornwall goes hungry’.

Contents Page

Introduction 3

What is a Learning History? 3

The Food and Cornwall journey 4

How to use the Learning History 6

Why do we care about food poverty? 7

Creating food wealth - making change happen 10

The work-streams 12

What is systems leadership? 16

Using a systems leadership approach 17

Bringing the work together 21

Conclusion 28

With thanks 29

Contrubutors 30

2 Food and Cornwall Learning History

Food and Cornwall Learning History 3

What is aLearning History?A Learning History is a narrative that tells the stories of the people involved in a piece of work. It aims to reflect their thoughts and feelings about their work and what they have done. It tells the story in the participant’s own words and includes the perspectives of a variety of people including what went well and what could have been improved.

It generalises the learning of an event and by hearing the voices of others enables organisational learning in a way that is people focused and thus tangible and real.

It happens in real time so we have the chance to learn and make changes as we go rather than when it’s too late.

Introduction

The Food and Cornwall programme aims to ‘Create food wealth so that no-one in Cornwall goes hungry’. A systems leadership approach has been used to try out a different way of working together to achieve this change. It was therefore important to understand the experiences and learning of the people involved as it happened.

This has been done by interviewing 23 people who have been involved in the Food and Cornwall programme. The interviews took place in February and March 2014, just before the April conference. (Food and Cornwall Conference: Developing food wealth so that no-one in Cornwall goes hungry). We listened to everyone’s thoughts, ideas

and experiences about the programme and its approach and asked how people thought things had been going? What was working well? What could be different and what should happen next?

Their experiences, reflections and learning have been put together in this Learning History document. It is the story of their journey, the story of what they did and the story of what they have learnt.

This Learning History has been developed to contribute to the learning and understanding of those working in the Food and Cornwall development group and also to contribute more widely to the learning about what works in systems leadership nationally.

The Food and Cornwall journeyConversations around food in Cornwall began well before the Food and Cornwall programme. These conversations recognised the good things that were already happening across Cornwall’s economic, environmental, political, social, community and voluntary sectors but also acknowledged that there were challenges within the Cornish food system.

It was on the basis of these many strengths that Cornwall put in a successful application to the National Systems Leadership programme in 2013 – a programme led by a range of organisations including Public Health England and The Leadership Centre.

Our journey after the bidIn autumn 2013 senior leaders from across Cornwall met to discuss a food focused action across the system. Cornwall is proud of its success around food but it has challenges too. They decided on three key priorities;

• A senior leader’s conversation

• EU bid for food and skills

• Food poverty ‘No-one in Cornwall goes hungry’

Conversations with senior leaders have been on-going throughout the programme with the Cabinet and local bodies meeting to discuss the wider destination and ambition for the work.


Cornwall is proud of its success around food but it has challenges too.

http://tiny.cc/foodandcornwall

In late 2013 a development group was established to focus on food poverty. The group identified key areas of interest by mapping the current food system and considered their own individual and collective roles in food poverty in Cornwall and how to mobilise others to create change. A future EU bid was considered as part of this work.

June July August September October November

Application made to systems leadership on behalf of HWB, LEP and LNP Bid approved and

grant of £29k

1:1s held with systems leaders

2013

3 Priorities 1. Senior leaders Conversations

2. EU bidFood and skills

3. Food poverty‘No one hungry in Cornwall’

Conversation with senior leaders who developed the 3 priorities

Mari Davis chosen to work with Cornwall

Press release issued with press coverage

Workshop with Public Health

Evidence Paper: What do we know about food poverty in Cornwall

We want to create food wealth and for no one in Cornwall to be hungry

December January MarchFebruary April May June July

Discussion with Council portfolio leads

Food dev group3rd meeting

Food dev group: Wider stakeholders event

Local Voices; Telling it like it isOutcome; People who have experienced food

poverty recording the experiences of those who are in food poverty

Food and Older PeopleOutcome; Map who is currently involved in providing food to older people. Pilot cooking

demonstrations and story telling about food in a day care centre

Evidence Research / FundingOutcome; Produce an evidence base for the

Cornwall food system and identify further research and funding sources

Schools and FoodOutcome; Achieve “Good Food for All” Schools, children and their families and embed the importance of healthy school

food culture within the education agenda

Social movementOutcome; Develop a growing network

of inspired people and communities across Cornwall sharing ideas, skills and

experiences around food

Increase Food UtilisationOutcome; Reduce the percentage of in-date usable food that goes to landfill or incineration from business and increase the percentage used to improve the lives

of those in most need

Food BanksOutcome; Improve access to our food supply; move from crisis response to sustainable quality, affordable and

accessible food solutions for all

Using the Systems Leadership ApproachOutcome; Build collaborative understanding across

organisations and partnerships to take shared approaches across economic, social, environmental and health

systems to reduce food poverty and support food wealth.

Cooking & Eating SkillsOutcome; Inspiring people of all generations to connect

with fresh food, using hands on practical cooking demonstrations as an engaging tool

Evaluation and LearningOutcome; The system learning from the programme

collected from those involved and presented as a narrative

Discussion with ECEHH/ research

Food dev group2nd meeting

Discussion with Cabinet and chairs of HWB, LEP and LNP

Developing the story of Food and Cornwall

Biggest Lunch Ever1st June

2014

Timeline

Systems Leadership

Conference planned30th April

Paper to HWB board

May 2014

Food and Cornwall development group convened

Visit to assess bid

Leaders attending Kings Fund learning network

The journey of those involved has been recorded in this Learning History and is beginning to show some insight into why this is so important and how by working with each other in new ways a real difference can be made.



The right-hand side of the page represents the voices of the people interviewed and are direct quotes from the interviews. The left hand side of the page is a narrative commentary, which guides the reader through the story, drawing out the main points from the quotes.

Each main section ends with questions that invite the reader to reflect on the story so far, to think about the sense they are making about what is happening and what needs to happen next.

How to use the Learning History

This Learning History is presented in four main sections;

• Why do we care about food poverty?

• Creating food wealth—making change happen

• Working with a systems leadership approach

• Bringing the work together


Why do we care about food poverty?We know that we have challenges in the Cornish Food system and that food poverty is a real problem in our county and we want to do something about it...We have an urgent problem!

When we were looking at the bid we kept coming up against weaknesses in the system, weaknesses in food in the community, food problems in different systems in Cornwall.

I have a sense of rage that in the 21st century we have all these food-banks in Cornwall. Everyone sees Cornwall as a wealthy, middle-class, white enclave, they don’t see the other side of it, they don’t get the whole picture.

There’s very high food poverty in Cornwall.

This is what’s happening. It’s real. It’s not about politics. It’s about basic maths.

We have the means and resources here in Cornwall but there’s a mis-match between demand and supply.

There’s a circle of waste, access, skills.

Food poverty is realThere was a realisation that food poverty is a very real problem in Cornwall

Food poverty is not just about pricing, it’s access, skills, knowledge, ability. It’s down to environmental influences as well; social, cultural, psychological. Often people don’t have a choice.

Most of it is changes in benefits; the bedroom tax, council tax contributions, that’s had a phenomenal impact. In the past two months there’s been different people using services, people who wouldn’t normally use services.

It’s lack of money, job insecurity, recession and seasonal work.

There’s all these holes that people keep falling into and it’s happening because support has been taken away.

The problem is that people are hungry and that’s because of problems in the food system

and it’s not just about being hungry...

The problem is that the solutions are part of the problem...


Food-banks don’t get underneath the issue, they are not the right thing.

Whether you like them or not food-banks are a part of the jigsaw of food poverty. They are fulfilling a very important role.

and food-banks are important but they are not the solution

Why do we care? We care because… Cornwall is food…

Cornwall has got a reputation around food, we can build around those strengths.

We care because…food is a common currency. It unites us around something we all understand

We care because…we have a personal passion for food

Food is something that affects everyone.

It’s a long term interest…it has to be said that I like to cook and like to cook for people and share food and I like to grow food.

Food is caught in my being.

When I heard about it I jumped at the chance to be involved. It’s a special area of interest.

I wanted to be involved because I wanted to try and use my knowledge. I know how it works with food producers and food waste.

We care because…we also have professional passion for food

We care about food in Cornwall and we want to change things.


and we care because it really matters

and we want to make a difference

and because we are simply not doing good enough

It’s fundamentally wrong to allow people to go hungry. It is just so wrong.

I believe it’s a human right to have access to good quality food.

I hope to make a difference to people’s lives. We need to make a long- term difference, a long-term systems change. Food poverty has to be addressed.

I feel guilty that I can’t give it enough time. It’s fringe to what I do. It’s not my job. But it’s too important and I can’t let it go. I CAN justify my involvement.

The bid asks; ‘why aren’t we doing better’?

What do you think? What makes tackling food poverty important to you?


Creating food wealth -making change happenCaptured in February and March 2014 (before the April conference)We want to create food wealth for all in Cornwall, this is what we are doing and how we are doing it...Making change happen

It was really important to remember that food poverty is a real and sensitive issue

Hearing people’s storiesIt was clear just how valuable hearing people’s stories was

They made it real

and it’s important to actually hear as well as listen

Public Narrative was important too

We need to remember that for a lot of people it’s shaming, let’s be careful how we approach people and talk about it.

Story-telling engenders the approach, it’s not just about professional suits and boots, it’s a more holistic approach.

I want people to know that everyone has their own story but in the same breath they’ve all got common themes running through them.

The power of people’s stories has given me more of an in-sight into the personal impact.

Make sure that you have listened to what people have said and put it into practice as much as possible.

New skills like Public Narrative and telling stories have been really important.

What are our aims?People had different thoughts about what the programme was trying to achieve.

and there was some apprehension that it all sounded horribly familiar

The project is intended to help us to work to create food wealth for all in Cornwall.

It’s trying to raise awareness of food poverty and well-being.

The programme is trying to take a whole systems approach to tackle various food; ‘wicked issues’, such as food poverty, food waste, poor nutrition.

I admit I thought that we have been here before. The health and in-equalities streams, and lots of meetings and good intentions and then it all fizzles out.


I had a dream!Everyone has similar ideas of what success would look like…

It needs a recognition of the issue

and people believed that it was about systems change as well

It’s not just about giving food it should also be about giving skills and knowledge

and it’s about giving hope too

I’d like to be out of a job, that everyone’s fed. That there’s no problem.

There would be a recognition of the issue and a commitment to addressing the issue, food poverty as an identified problem. Food poverty should be part of our vocabulary.

We’re constrained by the larger system that Cornwall is a part of. Part of success would be an examination of the Cornish food system and that we would re-design it, but we can’t do that, so instead we have to ask; ‘how can we change it’?

It’s about whole systems waste, whole systems change and we should look at maximizing resources through linked systems.

Supermarkets are a fact of life but they shouldn’t be so acquisitional…we need to create a perspective that is shared.

I’d like to see people not going hungry and giving people long term skills.

Success would be about healthy eating, teaching people growing, teaching people cooking skills and most importantly ensuring that people are getting enough food.

We need to give more than lunch; to give hope. It should be touchable hope, not false hope. Hope that tomorrow will be better.

and that it was ambitious

A few other people were confused about the aims

I was reserved and daunted at the work ahead. It’s a massively ambitious thing to do.

I’m not sure what we’re trying to achieve, what the aim is.

Food and Older people and Cooking and eating skills (in a GP setting)“To improve the quality of food supplied to older people” (Stuart Benson)

“Our vision is to develop healthy eating habits using GP surgeries as a focal point to deliver/broadcast change”. (Sanjay Kumar)

http://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2014-04-25/top-chef-says-food-is-the-best-medicine/

“Its that saying that if you teach a man to fish and then he can always feed themselves”. (Matthew Thomson)

Celebrating AchievementTo create a social movement to connect 10, 000 people in Cornwall to tackle food poverty together through looking at stories of success in Cornwall. “Stories provoke ideas, we share ideas”. (Matt Lenny)

The video stories to inspire change can be viewed at;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alnlbd4zj8Y

Local Voices (Telling it like it is) “Listening to the voices of people who are in food poverty” (Tarn Lamb and Kim Mathews)

http://www.foodandcornwall.org.uk/

The work-streams

Research Evidence“We’ve been focusing on developing an evidence base to inform the actions we’re taking to promote food security, where possible we can learn from what’s been tried and evaluated elsewhere before applying it to our communities” (Rachel Wigglesworth, Mike Roberts, Jenny Milligan, Maite Bell)


Schools and Food (Good food for all)“With the food for life partnership and through healthy schools work with school food we are working to transform school food culture and via this tackle aspects of food poverty.” (Libby Prenton and Kate Pordage)

Surplus food“Our project is around the production of food waste, of food efficiency and the idea of rescuing food before it becomes waste”. (Mark Summers and Patrick Hudson)

The timeline created during the Learning History interviewsThe timeline was created to help us explore our journey and understand our learning.



What are we doing?

The work-streams were each working in different ways to help create food wealth in Cornwall

The first steps were that we sampled a week’s worth of meals supplied to older people and had them analysed for nutritional quality.

A further key element of our work is embedding practical food literacy skills into the curriculum, and then encouraging schools to share these with families and the wider community.

The first objective is creating the DCFA hub, which will allow the rescue of in-date waste food to be distributed to people who need it.

I’m working in GP surgeries and care homes…it’s about inspiring them to eat adventurously and healthily, yet on a budget.

What we have learntAs the work progressed people learnt more about what worked well

As well as more about food poverty

And wanted to use that in other work

Working in a flexible, school and community centred way allows the school and community to feel ownership and to shape the outcome.

We hit it with a small focus that demonstrated we need to have a set of broadly acceptable criteria for older people’s meals.

Fuel poverty was something I was very aware of but I didn’t really understand food poverty. I‘ve realised just how real it is. I thought it was down to people not budgeting correctly but it’s far more desperate than that.

It’s changed my opinion about food poverty. It’s changed my understanding of the issue and about the prevalence of the issue.

The understanding of food poverty we have developed should be included as part of the Pioneer work, we should be asking how much of people’s problems is down to food?


Are we making a difference?There was a feeling that some things were being done well

but that it’s small scale

but it’s the little things that make a big difference!

We’re engaging the right groups; community groups, parishes. The preparatory work was really positive.

We’re starting to address it, awareness is raising.

There’s good things happening but not at macro level. It’s all low level. STAK, Cornish School of Sardines for example are doing fantastic work and making a real difference but it’s very micro. It’s scratching the surface.

These things might seem small and seem barely to scratch the surface but these little things really make a difference to people’s life and hope.

We need to…There was a feeling that some voices were missing

the voices of those experiencing food poverty

the voices of the food producers

and the voices of businesses

and there’s some other things people felt should have been done as well

It feels like council meetings, there’s lots of council voices, we need more non-council people, non-council voices. We need to hear from different people doing different things.

We need to involve more people affected byfood poverty.

There’s people missing; the food producers and the farmers are not around the table. They might bring interesting solutions to the table.

We need to engage businesses, the programmes not doing that one little bit.

What’s lacking is the involvement in education and I don’t think it’s going to happen. It makes me feel like I’ve not achieved what I set out to achieve.

The leaders at the top need to be checked in more because resources or re-targeting of resources happens from above.


We knew that to share our many food achievements with every community and to make some movement on the food challenges we faced in Cornwall that we had to work as a whole system. (that’s producers, local growers, farmers, shops, restaurants, politicians, public services, local people and communities, community and voluntary sectors and social enterprises and many more).We needed to have some of the difficult conversations about what was going well, what might be different and above all how we could bring about change at many levels for Cornwall and its people.

“Systems leadership wasn’t rocket science. What it did through the external support of a ‘vision enabler’ was give us time to refl ect and learn; to challenge the ‘way we do it’ and to try some diff erent ways of thinking, being and acting while in a safe space”.

What is systems leadership?

So in a nutshell we;

• Looked to involve a range of people – We knew that talking to ourselves wasn’t going to change very much.

• Focused on our values and why Food and Cornwall was important to us. We needed to understand why and show how we cared to take the action needed.

• Saw the importance of not jumping to solutions and quick fixes. To make change we needed first to LISTEN and LEARN – particularly to local voices – hold our judgment.

• To build intentional relationships with each other. We are so connected as people in Cornwall that we had a head start but we still wanted to have real conversations focused on our values and what we can bring to the table.

• Grew our energy for change, bringing in more and more people, connecting them with each other.

• Listened to and told stories about ourselves and others through learning the skills of Public Narrative – a skill to motivate others to join us in action.

• Identified a destination, clear priorities and timescales for our goals and then took action.

• Put all this together with a bit of Sanjay’s ‘magic chilli powder’ and away we went. …


Using a systems leadership approach

What is it?People had different ideas about what the approach was

They thought that it offered a new way of working

It’s about breaking down barriers and finding common ground

It’s about connections and relationships

and it’s about political engagement

It’s crucial that when you do this you have to be prepared to do things differently.

It’s a different way of addressing an issue. It felt like a bit of a break through; an opportunity to look across systems, that whole systems approach. We tend to get compartmentalized and not address fundamental issues.

It’s a way to overcome systemic barriers, breaking down the problems that are in the way of us achieving something.

Systems leadership is about supporting people and finding their common drivers and finding that common ground.

It’s about free-networking, face-book and LinkedIn on the ground.

Systems leadership is about political engagement.

How is it helping us?It breaks down barriers and has shown that we can work together

It’s organic

It identified people you could be working with on different things who you really didn’t know existed. It’s breaking down those barriers of; ‘we’re NHS, we’re County Council and this is the way we do things’.

It’s organic; more and more people join the shared aims and objectives. It’s brought people together and shown the possibilities.

In small organisations it is easy for people to think; ‘that’s my job, that’s what I do’. This approach needs them to take a leap of faith and say; ‘right then, this is what we’re going to do’.

Leaders who would normally take the lead in a different setting, with a changed dynamic change, I think they start listening. They switch roles.

It has given people confidence to act outside their normal roles


People feel supported

Good leadership and facilitation has been important

I see the systems leadership as a safe pair of hands.

We’ve had great leadership from Felicity Owen, it’s great because it’s about leading by example.

The facilitation has been excellent.

Our vision enabler is fantastic. Her energy and professionalism, getting people to think outside boxes and doing things in different ways has added a value that’s immeasurable, that’s difficult to do.

Good relationships have flowered, enthusiasm and ambition.

The good things are the collaboration networks and the enthusiasm.

Sometimes it feels like we are playing with someone else’s toys and we’ve got to be careful. There are politics involved with that.

There’s a solution to be found let’s not all talk together and navel gaze. We’ve got really caught up in the chatting.

We need a way of routinely, systematically communicating with people, of seeing how things are going, how things are progressing across the programme so that we can see that it makes a difference.

It’s quite off-beat. I’m interested in it but not fully engaged. It doesn’t work for my personal style.

And some other good things have come out of it

That’s not to say some didn’t have a few issues with the approach

There was a worry about upsetting other organisations

And some people thought that there was not enough doing

and a need for better communication across the programme

and of course it didn’t suit everyone


What is it?There was a concern about if it could work as an approach

At times I‘ve wondered if it’s working? Has real life taken over? Will the normal way of doing things pull us away? It’ll take a back burner to other pressures.

I don’t think it will work in my environment because it needs trust and in the political environment people are fearful of the hidden agenda.

There’s going to be an improvement in the way we tackle issues but whether we can achieve whole systems leadership isn’t yet clear cut.

There’s a balance between using systems leadership in programmes to cut through bureaucratic cultures and the danger in taking it to far away from a scientific base. There’s an important balance between the two.

A few people thought that there was a balance to be had with other ways of working

but most people liked it It’s a very interesting and very exciting approach because some of the issues can only be tackled with all parties sat around the table.

I like the approach, it’s purpose driven, finally an opportunity to break with talking to doing and delivery that will really impact. It asks; ‘are you fired up ready to go’?

and wanted it to be the new way of working across Cornwall

there was also an interest in how other systems leadership programmes were doing

We should roll out systems leadership as part of the Pioneer.

We need to take the systems leadership approach to other issues across the county such as transport.

There should be an opportunity to learn from other systems leadership programmes because I think it’s about the process not the subject.


What do you think? Why is creating a shared destination important?

In your opinion why was telling stories important as part of the approach?

The Food and Cornwall programme used a systems leadership approach as way of working, most people felt that the approach offered an exciting, different way of working.

Do you think that people understood the approach?

What do you understand by a systems leadership approach?

How do you think the approach differs from other approaches?

Why did some people feel unsure about the benefits of the approach?

What do you think was learnt from using this approach?


The Conference - Bringing the work togetherThe Food and Cornwall conference was held on 30th April 2014. The conference was the culmination of over 8 months of work around food poverty and working together in different ways using a systems leadership approach. The conference was attended by 80 people who were passionate about helping to ‘Create food wealth for all so that no-one in Cornwall goes hungry’. They included cabinet members, public health and other representatives of Cornwall

Bringing the work togetherWhat do we need to do now? Can we succeed?

Council, local businesses, social enterprises, voluntary organisations as well as people with experience of living in food poverty.

The conference focused on four areas of discussion that gave a renewed understanding of the work that had been done so far and also planned how to move the work forwards.

Food poverty in Cornwall - where are we now? Listening to the voices and stories of people living in food poverty. This discussion asked people to reflect on the stories they heard ‘telling it like it is’ asking; what insights do we have from what we have heard and how do these link to our places?

We thought‘Solutions need to be relevant to the place’‘It’s a whole person issue, it’s not just about food poverty, it’s about fuel, work, loneliness’‘How can we help people beyond them needing to access food banks, what can we do to move them on past this’?

How might we tackle food poverty and sow the seeds for a food wealthy Cornwall? Looking at a range of systems areas such as surplus food, sustainable land use and community led initiatives. What works well in this area? What are our challenges? What might be possible? What might we do to create food wealth?

We thought ‘It’s making connections between your place and the world so that you can achieve real change’.‘How do we educate people about the value of food? Particularly thinking about buy one get one frees, where they buy one for their fridge and one for their bin’.‘Lets create positive initiatives’.‘There should be a campaign for local food for local people’‘We should think about short practical courses with our children’,‘We want to complete the work we’ve already started’


What are the things we might do to nurture the seeds of food wealth in Cornwall and commitments to action in local communities or pan Cornwall. This discussion asked people to think about the importance of action in creating a movement for change and asked that they consided what could be done in their places and also across the whole of Cornwall.

What else could we do to achieve our goals?‘Increase awareness of food poverty’‘Build on the Cornwall connections’‘Create community hubs that can give support and advice’‘Better media coverage’‘Better communication and signposting’

Making commitments to action‘Everyone needs to do one thing’‘Ask environmental health to include ‘community food’ spaces in their conversations about neighbourhood plans’‘Continue to further the evidence for interventions’‘Ask food industry to engage, infl uence national policy about planning, schools, education etc.’‘Create a dialogue about creating food wealth’‘Hold more food poverty events’

Above all we left with;•• A realisation about how

important it is to listen to the voices of people living in food poverty.

•• A renewed commitment and understanding about ways to create food wealth.

•• An energy to work together differently going forward.

•• Commitment to creating a movement for change in the places we live – all taking responsibility for making sure no-one is hungry.

•• Even more contacts and relationships built with an energy to take action forward locally and pan Cornwall.

The good things already been done; Food-banks, farmer’s markets, local initiatives.

The good things already happeningFood-banks, farmer’s markets, local initiatives


The ‘big picture’ of the conference created by John Jarvis (The Leadership Centre)


We’re worriedThere was a sense of urgency and worry about what happens next

I hope that systems leadership doesn’t withdraw, it is part of the journey, without that I doubt we’re going to reach the summit of Everest. We’re stuck at base-camp with a long way to go.

We need to find ways to get started into action and we need to find ways to continue in the future so our ideas are not wasted.

Have we achieved something that is sustainable, can we maintain it?

The ultimate outcome would be that the conference launches a scatter-bomb of things. We’ve done the talking now what are we actually going to do? At the moment it’s all a work in progress.

and a hope that the work is sustainable

We need to involve more peopleIt should be about creating a social movement

There was a belief that in order to move forward the programme would need to involve local communities

and also the voluntary sector

Other organisations also needed to be invited to be involved

But also that they need challenging

Success would be a social movement of community based assets providing skills and support. A community based social movement for change.

We can use the social movement; communities can support each other. Community groups can use their levels of influence, enthusiasm and passion for an issue, there are people who have the capacity to help move things forwards and make it happen. We can tap into that.

We can’t be too prescriptive, not all communities are the same fit, so we need town or neighborhood based responses.

There’s an untapped voluntary sector that haven’t been given ownership. People are keen to be involved.

We need to identify the key actors organizationally. We need to agree who those key actors are who are moving forwards to support our key objectives.

We need to challenge the food supply, challenging big providers, looking at food in organisations.


We need robust discussions across Cornwall about food. The system has to deal with this. It has to challenge the sacred cows.

Raising the profile is critical. Persuading people who are perhaps in denial about it that there is an issue in our county, bringing home the critical issue that Cornwall is no different.

It would be good to have more media involvement otherwise it stays within the walls.

It needs a project manager, someone with an eye on the prize.

There needs to be an evaluation of what’s been achieved in terms of delivery. ‘We said we’d do this’ but where’s the evidence? It is important otherwise it ends up as lots of stories, slightly ethereal.

It’s really important that it is evidence based. To know that we’re doing the right thing and not just what we want. That we do understand. That we do take sustainable action.

What else do we need to do?There was a strong feeling that creating food wealth needed to be kept high on the agenda

as well as a concern that the programme needed more publicity

and that it would need a project manager

and that it needed more evidence of success (or failure)

My own personal goal is to find ways of engaging with supermarkets. They are part of it.

I’ve made a commitment to get the agenda in the management meetings of planning, housing, regeneration in County Council, presenting what I’ve learnt, to spread the word and make sure that we think about it.

We’ve amazing resources here and I’d like to see community based growing. I’d really like to develop that.

What can I do?Everyone was motivated to do more and had their own personal goals


At the April conference people were asked to make pledges that would help create food wealth across Cornwall

Some examples of the pledges;

I pledge to…

‘continue to develop a skills based food curriculum for Cornish children’

I pledge to…‘share best practice and link people in diff erent areas’ I pledge to…

‘I need to fi nd a way for my local farmer to link in with a network to get rid of his surplus veg’

I pledge to…‘take the why don’t you model to other places in Cornwall, building communities for Health and food wealth’


It will be a challenge to the current government, now is not the time to make changes.

We can make a difference but it’s going to need brave decisions that do more than just tinkering. Tinkering is not enough.

The risk factor in making changes is that people have an immediate crisis on their hands that’s more than eating quality food.

We’ve seeded things, set a vision, we’ve made connections and those connections can make a long-term difference.

We can really make a difference, a real difference and we can change the system but we haven’t arrived yet, we need to keep the ball moving, an eye on the prize.

Yes we can really make a difference. We can never eradicate it, but we can raise awareness.

Can we succeed?There was a realisation that change was going to be difficult…

because of politics…

because it needs bravery…

because times are hard for people…

but good foundations have been built

Yes! Success is possible

Yes! We can make a difference!

What do you think? What is the biggest difference you think this programme has made so far?

Why do you think that people are concerned that a systems leadership approach might suddenly stop?

Was there more we could have done or something missing in the last 8 months?

How can we really use our learning to take us into the future?

How can we create a social movement for change in the places we live?

How can we sustain this way of working together to create the longer term change we want around Food systems in Cornwall?


ConclusionConference and beyond...

The central ambition of Food and Cornwall has been to achieve food wealth for all in Cornwall. It is an ambition that has enthused people’s hearts, inspired them and gained commitment to action.

The programme set out to achieve change by using a systems leadership approach. The people involved agree that this way of working together across organisational boundaries, with a focus on values and building relationships, although at times uncomfortable, can make a difference to the way very difficult issues are tackled in Cornwall.

The complexity and enormity of the task is at the forefront of everyone’s minds. Food poverty is an emotional, complex and real issue that affects real people, and hearing their stories, ‘telling it like it is’ has developed genuine understanding of the need for change.

This Learning History has captured what has happened and the learning so far from the perspective of those involved.

The opportunity now for Food and Cornwall is to take this learning and move to the next stage.

As one person said “It is down to us. It’s about the ‘people of Cornwall doing something bigger and better’. It’s about saying; ‘yes we will do it…this is what we will do…’”

The central ambition of the Food and Cornwall has been to achieve food wealth for all in Cornwall.


Gitty Ankers Senior Environment Officer, The Environment Agency

Stuart Benson Assistant Head of Public Health and Protection, Cornwall Council

Tessa Claridge Head of Cornwall College, St. Austell

David Edmondson Strategic Developments Manager, (+ Training & Development & Partnerships Lead) Planning, Housing and Regeneration Service, Cornwall Council

Prosenjit Sanjay Kumar Founder School of Cornish Sardines

Judith Hann Employment and Skills Manager, Cornwall Council

Judith Haycock Cornwall Council and portfolio holder for Adult Health and care

Patrick Hudson Cornwall Development Company and Devon and Cornwall Food Association

Tarn Lamb Cn4C, Chief Executive

Matt Lenny Head of Social Marketing, Cornwall Council

Cindy Marsh Public Health Consultant, Public Health Team, Cornwall Council

Kim Mathews Project Manager, STAK - St Austell Community Kitchen

Jenny Milligan Commissioning and Partnership Manager, Economic Development, Cornwall Council

Heather Ohly Registered Nutritionist and Researcher at University of Exeter Medical school

Felicity Owen Director of Public Health for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly

Kate Pordage Healthy Schools coordinator, Cornwall Healthy Schools team

Dr Libby Prenton NCMP Co-ordinator - Public Health, Cornwall Council

Mike Roberts Health Impact Assessment Coordinator, Public Health, Cornwall Council

David Rodda Rural Delivery Manager, Cornwall Development Company

Charlotte Russell Business development team, The Eden Project

Mark Summers Head Of Low Carbon Programme, Cornwall Cornwall

Matthew Thomson Chief Executive, Fifteen, and Cornwall Food foundation, Cornwall

Rachel Wigglesworth Specialty Registrar in Public Health

With thanksto the Learning History participants


With thanks to;The staff and students at Cornwall College, St. Austell for their help during Learning History interviews

John Jarvis for his help preparing the Prezi presentation

Contributors

This Learning History has been developed to contribute to the learning and understanding of those working in the Food and Cornwall development group and also to contribute more widely to the learning about what works in systems leadership nationally.

Printed on 100% recycled post consumer waste.

© Cornwall Council (Public Health) 2014

The Food and Cornwall programme aims to ‘Create food wealth so that no one in Cornwall goes hungry’.

creating food wealth so that no-one in cornwall goes...

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