The Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD) contributes to alleviating the worst forms of poverty in the EU, such as food deprivation, child poverty and homelessness.

© Eric Patin

With a budget of EUR 3.8 billion in 2014-2020, the FEAD can be used to support the most disadvantaged groups in society, by providing food, basic consumer items such as clothing, footwear and toiletries, or by organising social inclusion activities.

The Commission has adopted a Summary report on the implementation of the FEAD in 2014, based on the reports submitted by the Member States. The document shows that eight Member States (Belgium, Spain, France, Lithuania, Romania, Poland, Portugal and Slovenia) distributed a total of  228 707 tonnes of food in 2014. Almost 11 million people, of which 51% women have benefited from FEAD assistance in 2014.

Approximately a quarter of the recipients (3 million) were children aged 15 years or below and 1.2 million people aged 65 years or above. Among the recipients, there were

• 621 979 people with disabilities
• 719 708 migrants, people with a foreign background (including refugees) and minorities
• and 69 451 homeless people.

The results achieved in 2014 point to a good start for the FEAD, yet the incoming reports about 2015 show more FEAD programmes starting to be implemented in a most of the EU countries. A similar report on the progress made during 2015 will become available by the end of the year.

For more information read the full report.