Food Security: How ISF supports the present and the future

Adequate food and nutrition is a human right that not all have.

This year’s United Nation’s International Youth Day, “Transforming Food Systems: Youth Innovation for Human and Planetary Health,” focuses on two key themes: how COVID-19 has impacted human nutrition and how the world’s youth can, and need, to contribute towards developing the foundations and solutions for more equitable access to food.

A significant part of our COVID relief has been supporting Cambodia’s most vulnerable families with monthly food parcels and nutritional supplies. With reduced salaries and high levels of unemployment, families who live paycheck to paycheck, with no accrued financial savings, have been hit especially hard by the negative impact of the pandemic. To help these families survive, our team has focused on providing food and essentials. 

However, while our COVID-support focuses on the present, the UN calls on the world, specifically youth, to think about the future and develop long term, sustainable solutions for food systems and food security. 

If you’ve travelled to Cambodia, you’d know how much plastics are used – plastic bags and bottles clog the waterways and takeaway food, drink, and shopping items are transported in plastic bags.

In 2019, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) estimated that the capital city of Phnom Penh uses around 10 million plastic bags each day. 

A persistent pollutant and contributor to climate change, plastic rubbish’s impact on the environment and food security is more than you might think. Because of the country’s high poverty rate, Cambodia has a lesser capacity to adapt. As the climate changes, floods, heatwaves, and droughts all contribute to limited food accessibility and security across the country. 

Our team understands that plastic waste is a small part of a big problem. However, we’ve implemented several green initiatives that we hope will create habits and practices for a more sustainable and secure future. Our staff and students are trained on plastic reduction and waste management and are discouraged from bringing single-use plastics to our two campuses. Monthly food parcels are distributed in reusable tote bags, and our staff and sewing team strive to reimagine recycled products in our curriculum and items for sale. By incorporating lessons on sustainability, holding workshops on waste reduction, and emphasising green practices across our two campuses, we hope to jump-start conversations on sustainability and the impacts of climate change within our younger community.

As part of our holistic model, our team is committed to ensuring we evaluate all the barriers to a better and brighter future and do our part to help our communities have freedom from hunger.