Project Title: Evaluating Dignity and Empowerment in Community Food Support: A Practical Enquiry into Hays Pantry, Edinburgh

This research was submitted by Katie Brash for their BA Community Education Practice Inquiry project at the University of Dundee, in May 2025.

Description

This practical study evaluated Edinburgh's community-led Hays Pantry, which addressed food need with dignity. The pantry, part of the Lifting Neighbourhoods Together project, followed the Scottish Government's Cash-First Approach and Community Learning and Development (CLD) principles in one of Scotland's poorest regions. The study examined the pantry's impact on members, volunteers, and the community using semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and narrative analysis. The pantry promoted resilience, social integration, and personal autonomy, but structural inequity, operational limits, and the need for more volunteers were still issues. Research supported dignity-centred solutions that went beyond emergency food relief to address food insecurity's fundamental causes. Empowerment, social justice, and participatory development informed talks on sustainable, community-driven food support.

Download Full research

Katie Brash Practice Inquiry Project (PDF)