National Networks – Challenges & Opportunities in 2021

National Networks Peer to Peer Knowledge Sharing – Challenges & Opportunities in 2021

2020 was a tumultuous year throughout the world and food banks have played a central role in the global humanitarian response. With historic rates of requests for food aid arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, and supply chain disruptions occurring simultaneously, food banks have faced challenges like never before to meet the critical needs of their communities. National Networks have the added challenge of responding to the crisis across differing geographies and jurisdictions within their borders, while developing service models with innovation and effectiveness in rapidly changing circumstances.

The new year brings hope of relief as vaccines start to be approved and deployed, but it will be many months until those can be distributed at scale, and many more months (perhaps years) until economies recover to pre-pandemic levels. Food banks find themselves balancing many demands in an uncertain future.

This session will feature facilitated peer to peer knowledge sharing, best practices, and discussions amongst the leaders of food bank National Networks and regional organizations exploring what we’ve learned thus far in the pandemic response and on-going challenges and opportunities for food banks at this time. The session will also look ahead to the shared challenges networks face in an uneven recovery, the effect of donor fatigue, food system changes and how to facilitate system resilience, and how National Networks are thinking about persistently high rates of poverty and food insecurity through the recovery. The findings from the discussion will inform future dialogues and more detailed skill-sharing sessions between the GFN Network and our partners.

Monday 25th January

• 07:30 – 09:00 UTC -6 (7:30 a.m. Chicago, Mexico City)
• 08:30 – 10:00 UTC -5 (8:30 a.m. Bogotá)
• 10:30 – 12:00 UTC -3 (10:30 a.m. Buenos Aires, São Paulo)
• 13:30 – 15:00 UTC -+0 (1:30 p.m. London)
• 14:30 – 16:00 UTC +1 (2:30 p.m. Brussels)
• 15:30 – 17:00 UTC +2 (3:30 p.m. Amman, Cape Town, Sofia)
• 16:30 – 18:00 UTC +3 (4:30 p.m. Istanbul, Moscow)
• 10:30 – 00:00 UTC +9 (10:30 p.m. Seoul, Tokyo)
• 00:30 – 02:00 UTC +11 (00:30 a.m. Sydney)

This session is tailored for the leaders of National Networks and International and Regional Partners of the GFN Network.

This session will not be recorded and is not for attribution.

This session will be available in English and Spanish.