Help shape the new Strategic Food Alliance for Somerset

Does your organisation bring people together around food or work with families and communities that have ideas about making food more accessible?

There’s brilliant work happening across Somerset: growing, cooking, sharing meals and helping neighbours get what they need. Community organisations bring trusted relationships, practical experience and plenty of ideas about what could work better.

Here’s a chance to build on that knowledge and help shape Somerset’s food future, with funding and support to get involved.

Somerset Council and the Somerset Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC) is offering up to £10,000 per project for two Community Research Supporter projects: one in Yeovil and one in West Somerset.

Somerset Council is committed to making sure that the voices of local people help shape the development of future strategies, services, and support. As part of this, people’s experiences, views, and ideas will be at the heart of this work.

What would you do?

Working with local people and Somerset Public Health, you’ll explore what helps people access affordable, healthier food, what gets in the way, and which community ideas deserve to be taken forward.

The role brings together three things:

• Get curious together. Build on what’s already known, explore questions with local people and bring their experiences and ideas together through community research.
• Grow your organisation’s skills. Develop confidence in research and evaluation, with training, mentoring and practical support you can use beyond this project.
• Turn learning into action. Share what you discover, strengthen your own work and help shape wider decisions about food in Somerset.

Your learning will feed directly into the new Somerset Strategic Food Alliance, bringing community organisations, public services and businesses together to agree priorities and plan action.

Your relationships and ideas. Funding and support to build on them.

The funding can release existing staff time, help recruit someone to the Community Research Supporter role, and cover reasonable travel, engagement and participation costs.

Your organisation will employ the Community Research Supporter, with shared supervision from Public Health, a named HDRC buddy, and access to training, mentoring and peer support. Together, you’ll plan the research, make sense of what you learn and share the findings, including a joint final report.

Projects are expected to run from December 2026 to November 2027.

Could this build on something your organisation already does – or help take a promising idea further?

Read the full information and expression of interest requirements document, or contact frederick.marais@somerset.gov.uk for a conversation.

Expressions of interest close on Monday 16 November 2026.