Funding for 2 social supermarkets in Derry & Strabane approved to help with food poverty

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Derry City and Strabane District Council have approved funding for two Social Supermarkets in the north west.

At a Health and Community Committee meeting on Thursday, September 12, members approved £75,969 in funding to the lead partner Strabane Community Project, for a Social Supermarket covering the Strabane Town, Sperrin and Derg DEAs.

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Additionally, lead partner Foyle Network Foundation will receive £167,074 in funding, to cover the Ballyarnett, Waterside, Moor, Foyleside and Faughan DEAs.

The Department for Communities (DfC) has operated an Social Supermarket Model (SSM) Pilot programme since October 2017, to test its potential to tackle food poverty and its root causes.

SDLP Councillor Catherine McDaid.SDLP Councillor Catherine McDaid.
SDLP Councillor Catherine McDaid.

An officers’ report added: “The objective of the SSM funding is to develop, implement and sustain a bespoke model, taking into account local need.

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“The overriding aim of the SSM is to support and work towards holistic, flexible, sustainable social supermarket-type approaches to food insecurity/food poverty, addressing both the underlying cause and the immediate need.

“The demand for support has increased substantially since 2017 and both providers report an increase in need, with a particular increase in the number of people who are working or who have never needed assistance before now seeking support."

SDLP Councillor Catherine McDaid welcomed the funding but said she was disappointed in the need for Social Supermarkets in the region.

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“We really shouldn’t need to be providing Social Supermarkets in this day and age,” Colr. McDaid said, adding: “But it’s good it’s here, and thank God it’s being funded.”

Andrew Balfour,

Local Democracy Reporter

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