Three regions joined the project to develop a national network of food banks at the international ESG forum “SO.ZNANIE”. The project is being implemented by Foodbank Rus (a finalist of the forum Strong Ideas for a New Time) supported by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI). Model food banks will appear in Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, and the Nizhny Novgorod region, where socially vulnerable and unprotected people will be able to get free food and basic necessities.
Yulia Nazarova, President of Foodbank Rus: “The regional food bank is an economic miracle, because every invested ruble will pay off 5–10 rubles of commodity aid to people in need. We have been developing a national network of food banks for 3 years now. We have accumulated the required experience and expertise by launching model food banks in the Chelyabinsk and Novgorod regions. These models formed the basis of the social franchise we are now launching. It is a tool that allows to scale our accumulated experience and standardize the industry. We are pleased to announce that we have signed a memorandum to open food banks in three new regions. We will build the necessary infrastructure with regional teams and prepare for launch over the coming months. Our immediate goal is to reach 300 tons of food, which is equivalent to supporting 10 thousand needy people per month.”
Arina Kholscheva, Director of the ASI’s Biocyclical Economy practice: “The signing of memorandums of cooperation is the first stage in launching regional food banks, which assigns curators from the local authorities and sets deadlines for key stages of the project implementation. We are grateful to the management teams for their proactive approach and involvement in fine tuning of the regional food banks configuration and identification of regional project operators. We are looking forward to further fruitful cooperation in the implementation of the approved roadmaps.”
ASI and the Charity Foundation Foodbank Rus arranged interaction between the management teams of three regions and the Chelyabinsk region, where a model food bank is already operating, as part of fine tuning of the project to develop a national network of food banks.
Andrey Sanosyan, Deputy Governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region: “The management team of the Nizhny Novgorod region visited the model food bank in Chelyabinsk at the invitation of ASI in the fall, together with teams from Bashkortostan and Tatarstan. Following the results of the visit and subsequent analysis, we have confirmed our opinion that a modern social project like this could be of interest to our region.”
Leila Fazleeva, Deputy Prime Minister of Tatarstan, noted that connecting three more regions to the project might allow to speed up the required legislative changes in terms of eliminating tax barriers for the full-scale development of food sharing in the country.
Leila Fazleeva, Deputy Prime Minister of Tatarstan: “This project has a social and charity focus, it involves the use of tools and technology for the redistribution of goods in order to take care of people and the environment with active interaction among business, NPOs, and government, which allows to influence the formation of prudent management and respect for human work in society, among other things. The non-profit organization Center for Social Rehabilitation “Human Shelter” will act as the regional operator of the project in the republic.
Lira Igtisamova, Deputy Prime Minister of Bashkortostan, believes that the food bank should be considered as a resource that can be used in emergency and unforeseen situations, among other things.
Lira Igtisamova, Deputy Prime Minister of Bashkortostan: “Our cooperation with the fund Foodbank Rus began back in 2021. At the time, over 1.5 thousand single pensioners of the republic received food aid in honor of the International Day of Older Persons. Such initiatives become a shining example of social responsibility, and we hope that the signed agreement will continue the mutually beneficial cooperation.”
Aside from social effects, food banks will also have a positive impact on the environmental situation in the regions by reducing the amount of food waste ending up in landfills.