Our Vision
All children and families in Alberta have healthy food.
Our Mission
Engaging Albertans – groups, organizations, business, governments and individuals - in strategies to ensure secure access to adequate amounts of safe, nutritious, culturally appropriate food for everyone, produced in an environmentally sustainable way and provided in a manner that promotes human dignity (adapted from OPHA Food Security Workgroup 2002).
GFSA 2010-2012 – GFSA is currently seeking funding for a proactive approach to food security and its role in the sustainability and quality of life of rural Alberta communities required to ensure self-sufficiency and reduced demands on public funds (health, environmental impacts, social support) over the long term. The overall goal is to create a model for a well-planned, viable, and equitable food system for rural Alberta that identifies and implements local and regional food system opportunities. Specific objectives of this initiative are:
1. To assist communities in developing a mechanism for mapping assets (social, environmental, economic, and institutional capital) related to food security.
2. To build capacity to understand food security and options to address it.
3. To identify and implement action plans.
4. To make results available as a framework for other communities and the Alberta public.
Examples of outputs include understanding food security and its relationship with local food; publicly available local food databases; engagement of communities in local processing, farm to gate sales, farmers markets, and new businesses; and demonstration of local food systems in action. It is the communities themselves that are best able to identify resources and opportunities allowing them to maintain or improve the viability of the rural sector.
The initiative will be community driven, and will build on capacity building in food security already initiated in rural communities across Alberta that has identified local food systems as a viable solution to food insecurity. It will assist communities in identifying assets, communicating experiences in strengthening local food systems, and using this information to develop a model for local and regional food systems that can be applied by all Alberta communities. Communities involved in this stage of the project will provide leadership by assisting and mentoring other communities in developing their own local food systems that will contribute to a sustainable rural sector for all Alberta.
GFSA Background - Growing Food Security in Alberta (GFSA) strives to enhance the health of children and their families in Alberta through its provincial food security network actions. The network has been built on a broad base of intersectoral partnerships and public participation and promotes and supports policies and initiatives that reduce the prevalence of food insecurity in children and their families. The GFSA Network is seeking ways to address the disparities that are the root cause of food insecurity in Alberta.
This GFSA web site, active GFSA network participants, a lively list serv, and a DVD about food security in Alberta all came to fruition in 2003-2005. Thanks to an active Steering Committee with supporting sub groups GFSA has continued to flourish. In June 2010 the GFSA Blog, GFSA Newsletter, Facebook and twitter will be available to encourage broader communication and networking.
From 2006-2009 GFSA facilitated a process called Community Building for Food Security, to help 9 rural communities understand and talk about the social and economic determinants of health and help them to develop and follow through on action plans to address the issues. The official project name is “Sowing the Seeds from the Provincial Food Security Network – Community Asset Mapping, Capacity Building, and Action Planning for Food Security”. The 9 participating communities are High Level, Grande Prairie, Cold Lake, Lloydminster, Lacombe, Sylvan Lake, the Blood First Nation, Brooks and Medicine Hat. GFSA assisted these rural Alberta communities to build capacity by facilitating a participatory community-conversation process to help community citizens:
* have a mutual understanding of what food security is,
* address the underlying root causes and the relationship to good health,
* find local solutions through the identification of resources, local alliances and partnership to enhance any existing food security initiatives and encourage new initiatives, and
* develop plans of action specific to their community.
In 2009/2010 GFSA focused on continuing to support community level actions across the province that would help identify and act on the disparities that undermine food security. Three new rural communities were invited to participate in the Community Building for Food Security initiative. These communities include Vegreville, Fort Vermilion, and Red Deer. GFSA also revisited four of the GFSA communities to work on action plans and the formulation of policy directions. All 12 communities received seed funding to support their efforts. GFSA also lead a kitchen Table process across Alberta seeking input from Albertans for the People’s Food Policy Project.
GFSA has developed a follow-up strategy for the very successful provincial food security conference - Food: Today, Tomorrow, Together (FTTT) held in Edmonton - Jan 29-31, 2009 www.foodalberta.org. The next FTTT conference will held be in Red Deer in February 2011 in conjunction with the Pathways to Sustainability conference.