Good Food Access as Social Security: Rethinking Human Nature

Ruby Van der Wekken, June 2026

Article by Ruby van der Wekken, RIPESS Europe

A considerable number of Food social security experiences are currently ongoing in Belgium, France and Geneva. The core idea is to bring citizens together in a collective political process, where pooled resources are redistributed equally each month among all participants to purchase food from sustainable local producers.

A public call will be launched, targeting citizens in specific neighborhoods with the goal of forming a group of around 1,000 participants. As Jonathan Peuch from FIAN Belgium—an organization involved in similar initiatives—explained, this call will be framed under a unifying message, such as ‘Access to Good Food for All.’ Equally important is the need to develop and promote the call in collaboration with diverse civil society movements, as seen in Brussels, where both an anti-poverty network and a peasant alliance are actively engaged.

Peuch noted that in several cases, it has actually been food cooperatives that initiated the process. While some initiatives have been launched by public authorities, this often creates a dependency on public funding. Instead, it is generally considered preferable to develop the initiative independently, relying on public money only for specific tasks—an approach currently being followed in Brussels.

The principles guiding the process—such as the progressive pooling of resources based on income and the rules on how the funds are spent—are collectively discussed and decided by the participants themselves. As such, the aim is to avoid relying on external funding. However, Peuch points out that experience has shown it can be difficult to fully include people with lower incomes, as the financial burden may become too heavy for the rest of the group to carry alone. In such cases, support from local municipal actors can be sought to supplement the budget, easing the pressure on participants. For example, local authorities could agree to cover the price difference between conventional supermarket food and sustainably produced local food. External support can also be used to remunerate staff involved in the process, or to support the doing of research and/or advocacy. But at large, the (political) exercise is coming from people putting the money, and spending the money.

One of the pilot projects in Brussels is starting in Schaerbeek now. Previously in Schaerbeek, an ‘access to food’ project had been carried out in cooperation with the anti poverty alliance, a centre for people in vulnerable situations and a cooperative supermarket. The scheme which allowed 70 people to obtain a 150 euro worth food check giving access to healthy organic food, by working a few hours in the week for the cooperative supermarket. The project was a great success, sparking strong interest and participation. Importantly, it also helped challenge harmful stereotypes about people with lower incomes—often unfairly viewed as lazy, greedy, or indifferent to healthy, local food. On the contrary, the project demonstrated that when access is made possible, there is genuine interest in nutritious, sustainable food, and people were eager to take part in the scheme.

The initiatives in this manner are importantly about the supporting of local sustainable small scale farmers to have a market, the supporting of access to good food for all whilst at the same time encouraging citizens to collectively take on concrete political processes.

In the context of the Nyleni global forum a webinar was organised on the Food social security initiatives by Urgenci and others, www.socioeco.org/bdf_fiche-video-5941_en.html.