Navigating Food and Welfare Support Online

An interactive, hands-on workshop exploring how people find and access digital support for food, money and welfare. Participants will explore websites and online tools, including local council services and the Food Justice Network’s map of food assistance in Birmingham, and consider how easy they are to navigate and understand. We will discuss where people can turn for support, and explore the challenges faced by people who may have limited digital access or who do not speak English as a first language. Using Birmingham as a case study, the session will combine practical exploration with discussion and reflection.

How easy is it to find support for food, money and welfare when so much information is now online?

This interactive workshop explores access to digital welfare and food assistance in England, with a particular focus on the barriers that people from marginalised communities may encounter. Participants will explore real websites and online resources, consider how easy they are to navigate and understand, and share their experiences and perspectives.

The workshop will look at practical questions such as: Where can people find help with food and financial hardship? How accessible are local council and community support services online? What happens when information is difficult to find, understand or access? And what additional challenges might be faced by people with limited digital access or for whom English is not their first language?

Using Birmingham as a case study, the session will draw on our work connecting the Sudanese community with local food and digital access provision, including the Food Justice Network’s map of food assistance across the city.

The session connects directly with the festival themes of money, finance, the cost of living and migration. Attendees will leave with practical ideas for navigating online support, as well as a greater understanding of the wider questions of digital inclusion and accessibility.

Susanne Jaspars, Senior Research Fellow, SOAS Food Studies Centre. Researcher into the politics of food crisis, aid and digital technologies. Practical experience in Sudan, UK and elsewhere. 

Anyone, although the activity was designed initially with students in mind.

Young people interested in using digital tools to support themselves or people in their community with food assistance.

By invitation only