The IOFS-organized a three-day capacity-building training titled “Food Banking Regional Network Model: Establishment, Operations, Pillars to Focus”, which concluded on 19 December in Cairo, Egypt. The event was financially co-supported by the Islamic Development Bank and its organization was closely coordinated with the Food Banking Regional Network.
The second day was concluded with the awarding of certificates and elaborated on the exchange of knowledge and experience in establishing and improving food banking operations. Furthermore, participants had a concluding meeting to join efforts on a sub-regional basis, so that whenever neighboring countries have access foods, the information is to be timely shared for possible assistance and other operation network. For instance, UAE Food Bank is coordinating the establishment of GCC Food Banks network, similarly West Africa Food banks is to emerge uniting food banks of Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire.
The third day of the event was dedicated to the practical part of the event with a site-visit to the Egyptian Food Bank (EFB). The EFB was founded in 2006 by a group of businessmen with the aim of serving society and helping those in need by specializing in Hunger under the name of Egyptian Food Bank that would be converted to a national project that serves all governorates in Egypt. It is registered at the Ministry of Social Solidarity of Egypt and specialized in fighting hunger through diversity and innovation. Through more than 15 years, it has created effective programs addressing hunger issues by creating partnerships with those who care about the underprivileged and hungry people in Egypt.
The CEO of the Food Banking Regional Network Dr. Moez Al Shohdi showed the premises of the food bank, including the operation of receiving the food donations, call center, coordination, quality control, packaging, loading the trucks, and other operations. He shared the day-to-day activities of Egyptian Food Bank that works closely with agricultural producers, restaurants, hotels and other stakeholders to take food surplus, and the well-functioned coordination with list of NGOs to give donated food to those in need. It is to note that EFB is not only working for the people of Egypt, but in certain cases with other countries for emergency relief.
Participants were familiarized with aspects on how to manage the food banking operations from small to big scale. They enquired regarding the digitalization of the operations, like registration of NGOs, validation, donation issues, fund-raising, and other aspects. At the end, participants thanked the IOFS for organizing this training, and appreciated the FBRN for sharing the Egyptian experience in food banking.
