The 17th FEAD Network Meeting, hosted by the Belgium Managing Authority took place on 20 September 2019 in Brussels, Belgium.

The event celebrated five years of FEAD, bringing together EU-level partner organisations, FEAD Managing Authorities, European Commission representatives and NGOs from across Europe.

The event began with a speech from Jan Behrens, DG EMPL, who welcomed the delegates on behalf of the European Commission and gave an update on the current ESF+ negotiations.  Alexandre Lesiw and Nele Bossuyt from Belgian Managing Authority then introduced FEAD in Belgium to conclude the opening remarks.

The morning continued with three different site visits to FEAD partner organisations that operate in Brussels, allowing delegates to see how local projects work. In the afternoon sessions, delegates were encouraged to share their key achievements and lessons learnt from the last five years. The event also featured six different FEAD case studies, giving delegates the chance to see achievements from numerous projects around Europe.

Project visits in Brussels

Delegates were then given the choice of visiting one of three FEAD partner organisations that are located around Brussels, providing them with the opportunity to see first-hand how they operate.

• Delegates in Group A were taken to the Saint Vincent de Paul Giraud, an organisation that has developed a successful IT tool to manage its FEAD stock. With this new system in place, a team of 10 people can serve up to 250 people in 2 sessions per week, resulting in an increase in productivity, better turnaround time for stock reduction and many other benefits.
• Group B visited the Centre Social Protestant. The organisation distributes food products to those in need, offers social services, helps with debts and other related services. By offering a whole-person approach, the team can provide tailored support to each individual after reviewing their needs and situation.
• Participants of group C were able to visit La Porte Verte – Snijboontje, a FEAD project that distributes food products and offers accompanying measures to those in need. Established in 2004, the organisation provides packages of basic food products to families and isolated people in crisis.

FEAD’s key achievements and case studies

During the second half of the meeting, delegates were placed into specific groups in which they were asked to share their reflections and lessons learnt from their involvement in the past five years of FEAD. To begin the workshop, Florence Torniincasa from the European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN), Marie Castagne from the French Food Bank and Patrizia di Felici from the FEAD Managing Authority, Italy, presented their achievements and lessons learnt to the delegates.

The final activity of the day allowed delegates the opportunity to choose between six different FEAD case studies from across the EU that have achieved success throughout the past five years:

• Susan McGowan, FEAD Managing Authority, shared the school kits project in Ireland, which provides free school supplies to children from deprived families.
• From Bulgaria, Evelina Milusheva of the Red Cross and Bozhidar Sandev of the Managing Authority provided reflections on how to best support older people.
• Stephen Christopher Vella presented his lessons learnt from tailoring FEAD assistance in Malta.
• From the Czech Republic, Andrea Leskova and Marta Mlejnkova of the FEAD Managing Authority highlighted their reflections and lessons learnt from the Czech Operational Programme I.
• The Spanish Red Cross also participated, showcasing their key findings from the impact assessment of the Spanish FEAD operational programme.
• Frederik Hyllested of the FEAD Managing Authority in Denmark reflected on how to best support the homeless with Operational Programme II.

Throughout the event, delegates were encouraged to consult the FEAD Network website and share their experiences on the FEAD Network Facebook group, which aims to connect members, encourage discussion and share the latest policy news. Join the Facebook group today; as we will be sharing photographs, speaker videos, presentations and reports from the meeting.