The system from which in Spain the food aid financed by the European Union (the European Aid Fund for the Most Deprived, FEAD) will change from next year. This is a new mechanism that prioritizes providing funds for wallet cards distributed by the different services and social entities compared to the purchase of food in kind and its distribution through the food banks. And the balance of advantages and disadvantages of both procedures is not clear.
Until now, FEAD distributed European funds to each Member State. In Spain, the Ministry of Agriculture purchased wholesale products with them and subsidized two entities (the Spanish Federation of Food Banks and Red Cross) to manage their distribution to the different social entities that make them reach tens of thousands of people living in poverty. About 20% of its supply, and the support for the operation of these organizations, came through this channel, which was linked to private donations or agreements to avoid food waste with industries and commercial chains. Now the European program has been modified (integrated together with others in the European Social Fund +) and that European financing will be directed, through the autonomous communities, to provide funds for the wallet cards that they distribute, with the collaboration of banking institutions, from municipal social services to Cáritas or Red Cross.
The entities promoting these new services are very clear about some of their advantages. They avoid stigmatizationintegrate this provision in the set of care provided by social services, facilitate access to fresh food and are more respectful of autonomy of decision of the beneficiaries. The managers of the food banks, on the other hand, allege that they represent a less efficient use of resources, since with the same money you can buy fewer products through retail purchases in supermarkets than with the ministry’s unified purchasing system, reduce the number of beneficiaries and it will jeopardize the operation of food banks that do not receive enough private donations and volunteer collaboration.
Deriving the ‘last mile’ of this ultimate guarantee system for families in more precarious situations towards more standardized services than hunger lines is an advance. It is possible that the contribution of additional financing by the social services of the autonomous communities and local entities could serve to that this improvement does not imply that there are fewer families that can benefit of them. But it is a risk that cannot be taken when inflation, especially sensitive in the shopping cart, makes more and more families, not only those in extreme poverty, require help to cover the most basic rights and needs . It is possible to clearly analyze which of the two systems maximizes the performance of the funds dedicated to them. And, above all, keep in mind that the role of food banks (as managers of all those other donations and as suppliers of other entities beyond the direct delivery of food to families) will continue to be necessaryand must not be left without the necessary public support to continue providing its services.