Listening First: How Feed & Flow Puts Lived Experience At The Heart Of Food Support
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Why listening matters before funding anything
Food insecurity is often described using numbers: parcels distributed, meals served, households reached. Those figures matter, but they never tell the whole story.
Behind every statistic is:
- Someone deciding which bill not to pay this month
- Parents quietly eating less so children can eat more
- People juggling stigma, fear and pride as well as hunger
Feed & Flow Foundation is being built on a simple belief: the people living with food insecurity must shape how food support works, not just appear in case studies after decisions are made.
This post explains how lived experience will influence Feed & Flow’s work, from day-to-day decisions to long term direction.
Lived experience is not a slogan
“Lived experience” is often used as a buzzword in reports and strategies. For Feed & Flow, it has a very specific meaning:
- People who have used food banks, community kitchens or similar support in recent years
- Families who regularly juggle food, rent, debt and energy costs
- Individuals who have navigated the practical and emotional reality of not knowing if food will stretch
These people understand details that rarely make it into policy documents:
- Which opening hours actually work when buses, school runs and shift work are involved
- How humiliating or welcoming a particular referral process feels
- What it’s like to walk into a food project for the first time
Feed & Flow does not want to “consult” people in a token way. It wants to share decision-making power.
How lived experience will shape Feed & Flow’s decisions
As the foundation develops, lived experience will be built into several parts of the structure:
1. Advisory input for funding priorities
Before launching funding rounds or new programmes, Feed & Flow aims to:
- Hold structured conversations with people who have recent experience of food insecurity
- Test draft priorities against their reality (“Would this actually help you?”)
- Identify blind spots that professionals and trustees may miss
This feedback will influence what the foundation funds, not just how it describes the work.
2. Involvement in assessing projects
Where appropriate, people with lived experience may help to:
- Review applications for funding
- Comment on whether proposals feel practical, respectful and useful
- Flag concerns that are not obvious from budgets and outputs alone
Their role is not to carry the whole responsibility for decisions, but to ensure that choices are grounded in reality, not theory.
3. Representation in governance over time
As the charity’s governance matures, Feed & Flow will explore ways to:
- Include trustees or formal advisors with lived experience of food insecurity
- Make sure meetings and documents are understandable for non-specialists
- Avoid slipping into a model where only professionals and funders shape direction
The aim is a board and advisory structure that reflects the people most affected by the issues the charity exists to tackle.
Listening does not mean putting people on display
Involving lived experience properly also means avoiding exploitation. Feed & Flow is committed to:
- Not using people’s stories without consent
- Not pressuring anyone to share details for publicity or fundraising
- Offering payment or other fair recognition where people give significant time and insight
- Protecting confidentiality and dignity at all times
Sometimes the most ethical choice is to learn from people and never publish their details at all.
What lived experience can change in practice
Done properly, listening to lived experience does not just produce nice quotes. It can change:
- Location choices
- A food project that looks perfect on a map might be in the wrong place entirely once bus routes, safety concerns and local dynamics are considered.
- Opening times
- Lived experience can highlight clashes with shift patterns, school hours or benefit office appointments that make certain time slots useless.
- Referral models
- People who have used services know which processes feel like help and which feel like judgment. Their input can push Feed & Flow to back projects that minimise stigma.
- What is actually offered
- Food parcels or meals that ignore cultural, dietary or cooking-equipment realities can create waste and frustration. Lived experience can steer projects toward more appropriate support.
Balancing stories with data
Feed & Flow will use:
- Quantitative data
- such as demand trends, regional indicators and service statistics
alongside
- Qualitative insight
- including lived experience, local knowledge and feedback from partner organisations
Neither is enough on its own. Numbers can hide sharp edges; stories can miss scale. Together, they give a clearer picture of where funds should go.
Building trust over time
Lived experience input only works when people trust that:
- Their views are taken seriously
- Their contribution is not a one-off gesture
- The charity will report back on what changed as a result
Feed & Flow will aim to:
- Communicate clearly about how insight is used
- Share examples of decisions influenced by lived experience
- Keep routes open for ongoing feedback, not just occasional consultations
Food insecurity already strips people of control in many parts of their lives. The least a food-focused charity can do is hand some control back over how support is designed.
A foundation shaped by the people it serves
Feed & Flow Foundation is being created to strengthen food support across the UK. That mission only has value if the people who rely on food projects can recognise themselves in the decisions being made.
Listening first, and building lived experience into the foundations of the charity, is how we try to make sure of that.