Process Evaluation Cities of Service ‘Grow, Share, Cook’ Project Plymouth

With food poverty and hunger current topics of national debate, local recommendations have been made in Plymouth for ‘improved nutrition across the city’ including enhanced access to affordable, healthy food (Fairness Commission, 2014). In response to the above, the Plymouth Cities of Service ‘Grow, Share, Cook’ (GSC) project was set up with the aim of improving the food network required to help tackle food inequalities by encouraging a volunteer network to link the growing (and cooking) of food to the people who need it most. Plymouth University was brought in as an independent consultation partner to support the process evaluation of the GSC project. This report outlines a comprehensive process evaluation which aimed to: i. identify what GSC was delivering; ii. critically assess how GSC was implemented and iii. explore the acceptability of GSC to stakeholders. The objectives for this evaluation were achieved via intervention mapping, stakeholder consultations and observations. In summary, GSC was a pilot complex intervention, made up of three discrete arms – Grow, Share and Cook. It reached 83 volunteers and over 100 disadvantaged families in Plymouth. The ultimate aim of GSC, to increase the number of households that regularly cook and eat (fruit and) vegetables was met: 2336 vegetable bags were delivered in total, creating 80 new distribution locations, one new 12 acre growing plot was leased, sub-divided into 12 x 1 acre plots. Eighty-nine individuals attended two cooking sessions, 80 (90%) of these reporting improved cooking skills as a result of GSC; 77 (87%) reporting eating more healthily than at the start of the project, and 70 (79%) reporting having a healthier diet. The findings indicate that all three stakeholder groups (steering group, volunteers and families) who participated in the process evaluation, agreed on their understanding of the aim of the GSC project and what it intended to deliver. Furthermore, there was overall agreement and many positive comments made about the success of the project, its implementation, and how it might be improved and sustained in the longer term. Given the complex nature of this project, detailed discussion of all of the factors influencing its effectiveness is not possible. We do, however, bring light to some of these, through offering insight into the ‘spirit of the GSC intervention’ (section 4.5) Suggestions are made for how GSC (or elements of it) might be embedded and aligned with strategic city-wide planning/delivery, to maximize its impact and efficiency in the longer term. Recommendations (section 4.0) made include ‘strengthening collaboration’ (section 4.2); ‘improving recruitment strategies’ (section 4.3); ‘building on social aspect’ (section 4.4); ‘participatory approaches (section 4.5) ‘investing in evaluation’ (section 4.6) and ‘optimizing next steps’ (4.7) Through a systematic process evaluation, we have shown that participants in a complex (pilot) food intervention have improved their food behaviours and built stronger social connections. Furthermore, the project elucidated a strong and powerful ‘spirit’, by effectively harnessing energy, vision and skill development to develop and build capacity with local communities which could conclude that stronger community cohesion has begun to be realized, but this now needs to be substantiated and driven forward. This work presents an opportunity - in light of marked changes in public sector services (budget and resources constraints), this food project adds to the compelling case being developed for how more community centred empowerment approaches can be used to engage individuals and improve their (mental and physical) health and wellbeing. We need to think (and act) differently. By creating a ‘social norm’ for food that is positive, one that fosters more creative and connective food activities that can be transformative, food becomes a powerful catalyst to re-connect people, culturally and socially. This provides the potential to enhance health, wellbeing and social justic

Food Cultures: Growing Cooking Eating - An exploration of improving food practices in young men and older adults in Plymouth

Executive summary This project explored how food projects can influence food related skills and promote behaviour change in young men and older adults in Plymouth. Young men are known to have a low intake of fruit and vegetables (NDNS 2011) and many older people are vulnerable to poor nutrition (CWT 2004); currently there are relatively few food intervention projects targeting these two groups. In 2010 eight food projects in Plymouth were funded to take part in the ‘Food Cultures Project’, an innovative partnership between agencies and civic organisations from the public health, social care, youth and social enterprise sectors. An evaluative research framework was also developed to measure outcomes. This report outlines the methods and findings of this work and concludes by considering the implications and recommendations for further development. This report also explores the productive aspects of such “new partnership” working between health and higher education institutions and the growing social enterprise sector. A mixed methods approach was used: firstly a quantitative survey was designed for assessing, at baseline and endpoint, outcomes common to each project: i) food growing confidence and skills, ii) cooking confidence and skills and iii) eating practices (fruit and vegetable, cooking ‘from scratch’). Secondly, an endpoint qualitative survey captured the feelings and experiences emerging from the project participants. This report considers the combined findings of all eight projects, and also focuses in more detail on case studies of two of the projects. In summary, the participants (n=42) reported increases in all food growing activities, and a notable 36% decrease in ‘not doing any growing at all’. There was an increase (10%) in meals cooked ‘from scratch’ alongside a 34% decrease in convenience food consumption. Confidence in growing and cooking activities increased for all participants. There was an increase in the consumption of fruit (0.31) and vegetable (0.3) portions. Skills gained from participation included chopping vegetables, cooking, healthy eating, and team-working. Change was reported for healthy eating awareness and social connections. Generally, participants boosted their self-esteem. Participants enjoyed the ‘social health’ approach, e.g. going on trips out and activities which encouraged social interaction. There was no doubt that this innovative approach worked particularly well for the younger groups - there was evidence of improved personal growth (health, confidence, motivation, skills) and community development (teamwork, social connections and engagement). The older groups demonstrated similar trends, although social engagement was less apparent in the findings, suggesting a need to develop more appropriately tailored approaches for some older population groups

A creative response to food issues during the Covid-19 lockdown: Singing over the anger

No embargo required

The application of high altitude photography for vegetation resource inventories in southeastern Arizona Final report

Application of Apollo space photography and sequential high altitude NASA aircraft photography for evaluating natural and cultural resources in southeastern Arizona - ma

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering from surface and subsurface oxygen species at microscopically well-defined Ag surfaces

Ag(111) and Ag(110) surfaces exposed to oxygen at elevated temperatures (∼800 K) exhibit strongly enhanced Raman bands at 803 and 627 cm−1 which are attributed to O atoms strongly chemisorbed on the surface (Oγ) or held in subsurface sites (Oβ), respectively. In contrast to usual experience, surface-enhanced Raman scattering is occurring here under well-defined conditions up to temperatures of 900 K which is attributed to the joint operation of delocalized electromagnetic enhancement (caused by surface roughness provided by oxygen-induced faceting) and local resonance due to the particular electronic properties of the surface sites

Labour supply and skills demands in fashion retailing

If, as Adam Smith once famously suggested, Britain was a nation of shopkeepers then it is now a nation of shopworkers. Retail is now a significant part of the UK economy, accounting for £256 billion in sales and one-third of all consumer spending (Skillsmart, 2007). It is the largest private sector employer in the UK, employing 3m workers, or 1 in 10 of the working population. For future job creation in the UK economy retail is also similarly prominent and the sector is expected to create a further 250,000 jobs to 2014 (Skillsmart, 2007). The centrality of retail to economic success and job creation is apparent in other advanced economies. For example, within the US, retail sales is the occupation with the largest projected job growth in the period 2004-2014 (Gatta et al., 2009) and in Australia retail accounts for 1 in 6 workers (Buchanan et al., 2003). Within the UK these workers are employed in approximately 290,000 businesses, encompassing large and small organizations and also a number of sub-sectors. This variance suggests that retail should not be regarded as homogenous in its labour demands. Hart et al. (2007) note how skill requirements and the types of workers employed may differ across the sector. This chapter further opens up this point, providing an analysis of the labour supply and skills demands for the sub-sectors of clothing, footwear and leather goods, which are described by Skillsmart (2007: 48) as being 'significant categories in UK retailing'

Using the Arts for Food Research and Dialogue

This Briefing Paper is intended to share ideas and learning arising from the authors’ experiences of using arts-based methods in food research and engagement, as well as to give some insights into the issues that arose from a workshop for academics and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) developed by Brighton and Sussex Universities Food Network (BSUFN) and hosted by the Food Research Collaboration (FRC) in 2016. It examines the use of participatory and community-centred approaches to explore pressing food policy questions, as well as providing guidance on how to apply these methods in practice. It is intended to be relevant to academics, particularly those interested in using participatory action research methods, and CSOs working with community groups on food issues. The authors’ main interest is the way in which arts-based methods provide a set of tools which can reveal, and give voice to, perspectives on food issues which remain otherwise absent from research and policy debates. In the authors' experience, this happens either because community members are not asked for their views or because of the way in which much traditional/positivist/biomedical academic research is based around pre-determined research questions that do not provide adequate space for community members to explore and voice their own concerns. It could be said that to date, much food research has failed to meaningfully engage with the general public, both during the research process itself and in raising awareness and achieving changes in the food system, which the research evidence indicates needs to happen. The paper firstly outlines why food research is a necessary and important area of exploration. Following this it examines the development, lineage and underlying principles of participatory and arts-based methodologies as approaches to research. Three arts-based and participatory methods are then reviewed in greater detail: i. Photography and film ii. Drama, and iii. Collage. These three methods were the focus of the BSUFN/FRC workshop in 2016. For each of these three examples, theoretical and methodological implications and ethical issues are discussed, enabling readers to fully consider how and why they might apply these approaches. In reviewing these emerging and alternative approaches for engaging communities in research processes, this paper presents a consideration of ideas, narratives, positions and actions relating to food, research and knowledge construction. The authors believe this paper to be an important addition to debates around how arts based and participatory methods might improve the processes, impact and contribution of food research. The paper presents a collaborative effort between academics, researchers and civil society organisations (CSOs) all of whom are concerned with improving research, learning and engagement in relation to food. The paper concludes with recommendations and suggestions on how academics and CSOs might use these methods as part of their research and/or practice