FEAD 2018 Catalogue of case studies

Portugal – Guaranteeing territorial equity in FEAD delivery Mission Structure for the Operational Programme for the Most Deprived (POAPMC) Images © RnDmS, Shutterstock.com, 2018 WHY? Food insecurity affects one in six people in Portugal. The issue is particularly prevalent in remote rural areas, low-income inner-city neighbourhoods and large metropolitan regions, as well as for groups who live in isolation . Against this background, one of the priorities of FEAD in Portugal is to guarantee both territorial and demand-side equity . WHAT? To ensure all Portuguese people to have equal access to a balanced diet, the Operational Programme for the Most Deprived in Portugal (Programa Operacional de Apoio às Pessoas Mais Carenciadas – POAPMC) strives to distribute food baskets evenly across the country. It does so through a dedicated territorial planning strategy and through the involvement of civil society entities . Although food distribution is the main aim of the programme, the initiative also empowers the partner organisations it works with. HOW? The Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security designed a territorial planning strategy in several steps. First, the Ministry determined the cost of the food basket products. Based on this information, the Ministry calculated the number of people that they could potentially cover under the distribution scheme, while respecting the commitment to deliver one food basket per month to each end recipient over two years. Finally, the country was divided into 135 target areas , based on the number of people residing in each municipality. This ensures that each civil society organisation supports at least 150 people per target area . Civil society entities are tasked with overseeing the equal distribution of the food baskets across the territory. Their primary role is to identify the end recipients of the programme. They also establish formal partnerships with the local entities that intend to be responsible for collecting, storing and delivering the food baskets to the end recipients on a monthly basis. Most of the time, food is distributed in public distribution areas; however in some exceptions the baskets can be delivered directly to the end recipients’ homes. Diverse approaches to supporting Europe’s most deprived: FEAD case studies 2018 50