Solving the hunger crisis with dignity.

By lifting the quality of food relief services in Australia the Flinders Centre for Social Impact is tackling both hunger and poverty, empowering people in the process.

Professor Svetlana Bogomolova believes a good meal is like magic.

It’s the glue that brings people together, gathers families around dinner tables every night, and is often a mark of celebration.

And that’s not even mentioning the nutritional benefits.

“I love to eat food, I love to research food, it has healing powers to bring people together around a meal, support each other, feel included and have a good time,” Professor Bogomolova says.

“Obviously, a healthy diet also has health benefits. Good food is the protective factor for many things that could go wrong in our bodies, and even our minds.

“I think food is like magic.”

But what happens when food can’t be put on the table? That’s where food relief comes in.

Australia has various food relief models, from hampers filled with purchased and donated goods, to supermarket vouchers providing emergency relief, shared community meals and community pantries offering free or low-cost groceries.

According to Foodbank Australia’s Hunger Report 2021, 1.2 million children are living in food insecure households.

More than 40% of parents in situations of severe food insecurity say their children go a whole day without eating at least once a week.

The objective of Professor Bogomolova’s research is to reform the food relief sector “so people can find a pathway out of financial precarity and towards food security”.

“Historically, the criteria to qualify for food relief have been a problem. That is the first and one of the most undignified moments in a customer journey in food relief – that you have to prove you’re poor before you get support,” she says.

“That undignified moment sends people emotionally back three steps.

It’s at that most vulnerable point that Professor Bogomolova thinks there exists the greatest potential to transform lives through food.

As the Deputy Director for Flinders University’s Centre for Social Impact (CSI), Professor Bogomolova is leading an Australian Research Council Linkage Project, Towards Zero Hunger. Working with service providers such as Foodbank SA, Anglicare SA and The Food Centre, policy makers Wellbeing SA and the Department of Human Services as well as community members and consumers, the project aims to lift the quality of food relief services in Australia.

The CSI team is working in partnership with providers of three kinds of food relief service delivery models – hampers, food hubs and social supermarkets – to co-design service improvements and new service delivery models, contributing to the sector-wide reform.