REDI for Change is a process for integrating an anti-racist ethos across the Sustainable Food Places programme and UK-wide network of more than 100 Food Partnerships. Since 2020 I have been leading the co-development of the REDI for Change ethos – a set of principles and a methodology supporting food partnerships and other food organisations to view and understand their culture, practice and people involved through the lens of race, equity, diversity and inclusion.
The REDI for Change ethos is based on the recognition that in the UK our food system mirrors and entrenches racial oppression and exclusion where it exists in society. It’s why race has a huge influence on people’s experience of the entire food system, from food access, to food sector work, to inclusion in food policy spaces. Addressing culture and practice on race is therefore essential in delivering a food partnership’s core work.
The events of 2020 (the murder of George Floyd and the #BlackLivesMatter movement) led to much-needed momentum within SFP to re-evaluate our existing ways of working. REDI for or Change emerged from this re-evaluation as an ethos, a set of replicable principles, and a methodology for understanding how representative, equitable, diverse and inclusive our organisations are.
The REDI Review Tool is a self-reflection process designed to help SFP food partnerships and other food sector organisations reflect on their culture, practices and the people involved, through the lens of Race, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. The Tool and process can be used as a basis for discussion and the sharing of perspectives on progress, and to help identify where effort needs to be focused or where support is required.
Embedding use of the REDI Review Tool in organisational practice – through scheduled and regular review sessions – demonstrates a commitment to behaviour change and active anti-racism. This has been explored over one year in three SFP food partnerships supported by a grant of £10,000 each – piloting the use and adaptation of the REDI Review Tool and understanding its impact on organisational behaviour.
SFP is now building on the REDI for Change experience by committing resources and capacity to the co-development of an Anti-racism Strategy and Action Plan, expertly led and facilitated by Animo Leadership. Learning from this process will inform the subsequent development of a wider Diversity Strategy for the programme.
- How is your work in different food system-related programmes supporting your partners and organisations you engage with to actively pursue anti-racist practices in their own sustainable food initiatives?
REDI for Change focuses on culture, practice and people in both the SFP programme and the Network of member food partnerships. The REDI for Change Pilot projects – in Islington, Plymouth and Shropshire – have provided experience that has been shared with the SFP Network through webinars and summary reports, encouraging SFP network members to use the REDI Review Tool and reflect on their own behaviour and structure.
SFP is now embedding the REDI ethos in its frameworks and structures by incorporating consideration and action on anti-racism into its Network membership criteria and commitment to use of the REDI Review Tool into the SFP’s awards framework.
An additional output from the REDI Review Tool development is recognition that a consideration of racial equity should be normalised when developing food programmes, projects, and policies. To facilitate this Food Matters is adapting an existing racial equity assessment tool from the US for use in its UK food system work – the REDI Checklist. We are also developing a Partner Briefing Statement, to be shared with collaborating partner organisations and clients, focused on consideration of initiatives on different minoritised communities.
- Could you provide an example of a food organisation that has implemented the REDI Toolkit and briefly discuss the outcomes?
My own organisation Food Matters was the first organisation to carry out a REDI Review and the outputs from the Review workshop have informed the development of our organisational statement on active anti-racism and the development of an anti-racism strategy and action plan. We now carry out a regular REDI Review annually, with both staff and the Board of Directors. Food Matters has also developed an extension of the Review Tool to generate an Organisational Anti-racism Theory of Change and Action Plan. This is now being used to identify priority actions and review progress against them at regular staff team meetings.
Food Matters is a small organisation and able to move quickly on adopting practices that it will take the SFP programme longer to achieve. However, the process to develop a programme and network-wide anti-racism strategy demonstrates SFP’s commitment to take active anti-racism seriously and embed the REDI for Change ethos in its work.
Some SFP partnerships – in particular those participating in the REDI Pilot Programme – provide great examples of how the REDI for Change ethos and use of the REDI Review Tool has impacted their culture, practice and representation.
Islington
- A REDI working group was established within the Islington Food Partnership team
- Group meetings helped plan use of the REDI Review Tool
- 4 REDI Review workshops were delivered
- An anti-racism statement was developed – added to the partnership website
- Islington Borough Council will now be using the REDI Review process
- The use of the Tool identified the need for pre-Review preparation
Shropshire
- The partnership discussed use of the Tool and, reflecting the community diversity in the county, decided to focus more widely on diversity with less of a focus on Race
- The grant was used as a catalyst to develop a Statement of Commitment on diversity and representation
- The Review process was adapted to include an Axis of influence (determining the areas where change could be achieved), a Resource pack, and a pre-Review REDI conversation starter
- Key output was a ‘REDI in all policies’ approach – a checklist on ‘How to get REDI’ for initiatives and projects
Plymouth
- Small but steady steps focused on building relationships and focusing on racial equity
- Identified the need for anti-racist training before the Review Tool could be used
- Acknowledged an environment that was challenging the focus on race within the food partnership
- Explored how the Review Tool could be used to address this
Lewisham
- Not part of the Pilot programme but very conducive to the use of the REDI Review Tool as part of their Food Justice Action Plan
- Proposed the development of a REDI Review workshop template and Review Training – to be developed by Lewisham, Islington and Food Matters
Brighton and Hove
- Embedding regular use of the Review Tool in their staff team meetings
- Using outputs to develop an anti-racism action plan
