Learning and Development

The Islington Food Partnership

The Islington Food Partnership, hosted by Manor Gardens, is an award-winning coalition of over 180 local organisations and individuals working together to build a thriving local food system for Islington. Partners include a broad range of VCSE organisations, council and health representatives, elected officials, local businesses and activists. The IFP shares expertise and good practice, works together to influence policies, designs and delivers projects and collaborates on fundraising initiatives to support the ambitious aims of its five-year strategy.

As a result of our emergency food distribution during the first lockdown in 2020 we worked with Islington Council, IFP and charity partners to develop and set up food co-ops across Islington.

During Covid, Manor Gardens and the IFP worked together to develop a network of seven community-based food cooperatives across Islington. The successes of our pilot network project has been brought together in our Learnings and Insights Guide, (upload PDF link) which we have written to provide our key learnings and insights to other food partnerships, local food networks, local community organisations, and local groups and individuals interested in setting up local food cooperatives.

FGM Resources

Women who have survived female genital mutilation (FGM) need specialist support to address the psychological and physical legacies that affect their daily lives. Manor Gardens’ Dahlia Project has been instrumental in bringing together expertise from leading pyschotherapists to develop guidelines for psychotherapists working with survivors of FGM.

The authors of Female Genital Trauma: Guidelines for Working Therapeutically with Survivors of Female Genital Mutilation are Cabby Laffy, Roxana Parra Sepúlveda, Christie Coho and Leyla Hussein, with many years’ experience of psychotherapy in this field.

Equalities

Manor Gardens Welfare Trust was commissioned by Islington Public Health to develop the learning of its Bright Beginnings project with refugee and migrant women during maternity and the first 1,001 days and to work with professionals to spread best practice.

The project lasted for 18 months and involved surveys, focus groups, attendance at key Early Years and Bright Start professional forums, liaison with individual professionals and ongoing casework with a wide range of clients. The completed report can be found here.