The emergence of food bank/voucher programs in Taiwan: a new measure for combating poverty and food insecurity?

Abstract

This study identified 19 food bank/voucher programs in Taiwan, and analyzed the features and challenges of these programs. The main findings showed the anti-poverty effect of the new measure still needs to be observed, and the commodification of social assistance and the secondary food system are of concern. Social workers faced many new tasks and took the generalist approach to implement these programs. As for the future development of the programs, not only emergency relief but also community networking was necessary to construct more comprehensive food assistance programs.

Keywords:

• food assistance
• food banks
• food vouchers
• food insecurity
• poverty

Acknowledgements

This research project was sponsored by the National Science Council, Taiwan (NSC 99-2410-H-003-066-MY2). The authors would like to thank the staff of the public and private food assistance programs in Taiwan for their participation in this project.

Notes

^1. Basically, the definition of a middle-to-low-income household is: the average monthly income falls below the amount 1.5 times as much as the lowest living index and the assets cannot exceed the threshold calculated by the government.

^2. At the household level, food security refers to the ability of the household to secure, either from its own production or through purchases, adequate food for meeting the dietary needs of all members of the household (FAO, 2012).