Presentation
The Vital’im project, which was implemented between 2023 and 2026 in Seine-Saint-Denis, is an innovative pilot scheme aimed at promoting access to healthy and sustainable food for people in precarious living conditions. Jointly led by the Seine-Saint-Denis Departmental Council (CD93) and Action Against Hunger (ACF), the project is part of a wider effort to experiment alternative approaches to tackling food insecurity, with a view to better safeguarding the right to food for all. The scheme was based on two complementary pillars. Firstly, a cash transfer earmarked for food, amounting to 50 euros per person per month for six months, distributed via a non-stigmatizing payment card and accompanied by a bonus scheme designed to encourage the consumption of healthy and sustainable food. Secondly, the project offered voluntary activities centred on healthy and sustainable eating, run by a network of local organizations, with the aim of strengthening the exchange of knowledge and dietary practices amongst participants, whilst fostering social cohesion.
Charlie Brocard wrote the foreword to the report on the pilot project
Extract from the report’s foreword
The Vital’im project is an original response to the threefold challenge of food insecurity, empowerment and the ecological transition. Grounded in the philosophy of the right to food, it posits that low-income households are the best architects of their own food security. From this perspective, the role of public policy (and those working on the ground) does not lie in restricting their actions or promoting best practice, but rather in providing (financial) support, guidance (to develop skills, connections and trust) and access (to healthy and sustainable produce). In short, it is a matter of trusting citizens and users, and giving them the means to genuinely exercise their freedom of choice.
Read the report online In French
