On 30 and 31 October 2023, Food Bank Greece held its Annual Meeting in the capital Athens, bringing together over 40 participants from the seven local Food Banks, public authorities, partner companies, and affiliated organisations.
Besides the exchange between Food Bank Greece and its network, the first day was coined by an intervention from Sophia Zacharaki, Minister of Social Cohesion and Family Affairs as well as the participation of representatives from the Ministry of Environment and Energy and the Ministry of National Economy and Finance. Moreover, Alexandra Nikolakopoulou (Head of Unit, DG Health and Food Safety, European Commission) connected from Brussels to emphasise the importance of food recovery and redistribution in the pursuit of the SDGs, the Farm to Fork Strategy, and the proposal for legally binding food waste reduction targets.
In the framework of its project “Quantifying the Impact of European Food Banks. From Farm to Fork“, which is developed in collaboration with TechSoup Italy, FEBA contributed to the meeting focussing on two objectives. Besides raising awareness of the importance of gathering coherent, consistent, and accurate data, the local Food Banks have been engaged in an interactive training session to introduce them to the online Observatory on Food Donation. This activity enabled familiarising them with the tailor-made online platform, which they will use to communicate their 2023 statistics to the national Food Bank and, therewith, feed the database FEBA sets up for its 30 members annually.
The programme of the second day included best practice sharing concerning partnerships and funding opportunities as well as presentations by the Hellenic Open University on the state of food security in Greece, Nestlé Hellas on Environmental Social Governance (ESG), and HIGGS Foundation on social impact measurement. Dimitris Nentas, General Manager of Food Bank Greece, wrapped up the gathering by highlighting key takeaways and suggestions for the local Food Banks.
