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[NBE] Food, not Bombs


About

General information:

Food, not Bombs is a voluneer-based initiative that educates and advocates people on food scarcity and actively offers solutions to combat poverty. It is a self-organized initiative where volunteers, among others:

  • prepare and share vegan food and clothing with disadvantaged people,
  • maintain a urban community garden,
  • run a communal washing facility,
  • provide a winter shelter for the homeless,
  • and offer aid groups for specific problems.

Target group and ambitions:
The target group are all people in need, e.g. for a nutritious meal, a warm shelter, mental health advice, and social contact. The ambition of Food, not Bombs is to educate society on the urgency of effects of climate change, such as food scarcity and increased levels of poverty, and to put in place hands-on solutions that can mitigate some of these implications.

Business model:
Food, not Bombs can be characterized as a social economy model because the environmental performance stands as the sole indicator for success of the community-driven initiative. There is no cost-revenue model in place and all workers are volunteers.

 

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Environmental challenges, social and solidarity economy:
Due to the no-cost revenue model initiatives like Food, not Bombs is reliant on, the viability and sustainability of these initiatives is unsure. Therefore, social and solidarity economy mechanisms need to be put in place that allow social economy business models to be valued within the economic system.