To address poverty issues that are of major public concern and have greater social impact, the SIE Fund Task Force is looking for areas of unmet demands and service gaps where there is a need for greater co-ordination and collaboration to achieve results. In this regard, the Task Force has shown concern for food support service in Hong Kong.

Having regard that the food support service sector as a whole is facing challenges, such as lack of information, unmatched supply and demand, as well as high running costs, the Task Force has decided to take on a flagship project which aims at enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the overall food support service in Hong Kong.

The SIE Fund engaged St. James' Settlement (SJS) as the intermediary in 2016 to launch the Fund’s first flagship project, rendering support to food support services in Hong Kong.

SJS commissioned a territory-wide study in 2016 to better understand the whole food support service sector. In 2017, FOOD-CO was launched as the first all-dimensional food support collaborative platform in Hong Kong. Making use of information technology and data analysis, FOOD-CO connects stakeholders in the sector to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of food support services. Operators can share the best practices and better coordinate their operations through this platform. Donors can also reach out to suitable operators for more efficient food donations. Members of the public and people in need can better understand different food support services in their own districts. Public awareness programmes are also held to let people know more about food support services in Hong Kong. (Click here for more information about the first stage of FOOD-CO)

The first stage of FOOD-CO was completed in May 2019 with significant results. With funding from the SIE Fund, SJS launched the second stage of the project "FOOD-CO 2.0" in 2019 to further enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the food support service sector and step up advocacy for donation of food surplus with wider adoption of information technology. FOOD-CO 2.0 introduces an automated one-stop logistics system comprising food delivery and temporary storage services to support the operation and service expansion of food support service operators. A one-stop volunteer recruitment and training platform has been established to assist small- and medium-sized operators in terms of workforce. Besides, by initiatives such as introducing an artificial intelligence chat robot (i.e. Chatbot), FOOD-CO 2.0 also facilitates an automatic donation process in order to encourage more individuals and corporates to donate surplus food. (Click here for more information about FOOD-CO 2.0)