Established with the development of newer food banks in mind, participants of The Global FoodBanking Network’s Food Bank Accelerator program continue to grow, increasing their impact exponentially along the way.
Introduced in 2019, the Accelerator helps food banks scale up their infrastructure and operations by providing expertise, connections, and other resources. Five years in and two cohorts later, food banks in the Accelerator have made significant progress in nourishing people facing hunger, distributing a collective total of nearly 61 million kilograms of food from 2019 to 2023.
Recent data from GFN found that food banks provided food to 40 million people in 2023, with Accelerator food banks accounting for approximately 36 percent of this service. From the contributions of the program’s 18 food banks, 14.5 million people were served in 2023 and 27.5 million kilograms of food were distributed.
Food banks in the Accelerator program are located in countries with high hunger rates, and they demonstrate the success of locally led organizations in broadening food access.
Expanding Food Access Across Southeast Asia
Scholars of Sustenance (SOS) Thailand understands the value of partnership. Working closely with the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) helped SOS Thailand in the development of Bangkok Food Bank. The inventive pilot program implemented Cloud Food Bank, an online food donation platform. In 2023, SOS Thailand served 7.4 million people with 2.4 million kilograms of food with nearly 10 percent of food donations received from Cloud Food Bank. SOS Thailand saw a 32 percent increase in people served and a 52 percent increase in kilogram distribution overall.
In Vietnam, an installment of eight “mini food banks” assisted Foodbank Viêt Nam’s efforts to extend its reach to communities of high need. Partially due to this innovative measure, Foodbank Viêt Nam served 3.9 million people in 2023, marking a 178 percent increase since 2022. Additionally, the food bank distributed 19 million kilograms of food, a 63 percent increase, while boosting the distribution of fruits and vegetables by 10 percent. The mini food banks helped Foodbank Viêt Nam expand to smaller cities and enabled closer partnerships with local farmers.
Enhanced Food Distribution and Storage Innovations in Africa
Food Banking Kenya (FBK) is no stranger to the importance of enhancing agricultural systems to improve food distribution. In 2022, with support from grant funding, FBK expanded its ability to transport and store fresh produce. To facilitate transportation and reduce food loss, the food bank purchased a refrigerated van, added refrigeration to an existing van, and installed a chest freezer in its warehouse. FBK also purchased a solar dehydrator, an innovative solution for drying fresh produce, which simplifies storage and transport while retaining nutrient density. From these measures, 88 percent of FBK’s distribution consisted of fruits and vegetables last year, with 628,349 kilograms of food distributed to 65,919 people in 2023.
Six Years of the Food Bank Accelerator Program
The evolution of global food banks continues as the Accelerator program enters its sixth year. After much success and development in food banking operations, the program’s first cohort successfully transitioned from the program as member candidates of the Network as of June 2024.
The second cohort of the Accelerator continues to progress in its development and operational efforts. The cohort consists of three Asian food banks located in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, as well as five African food banks in Cote D’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Madagascar, and Nigeria.
