Reports Database:
Nourishing Norfolk – A Social Return on Investment

“This report provides an overview of the approach to and findings of a Social Return On Investment (SROI) analysis conducted as part of the wider Evaluation of Nourishing Norfolk carried out by the University of East Anglia.

Nourishing Norfolk Network

In Norfolk, almost 60,000 people struggle to get the food they need, with an additional 20,000 at risk of becoming food insecure. In just over a decade, Norfolk went from 0 to 80 food banks. Norfolk Community Foundation (NCF) sought to work with grassroot organisations to investigate food insecurity at the local level and design community asset-based approaches to respond to specific community needs and available resources (Norfolk Community Foundation, 2023).

Starting with a pilot social supermarket in Thetford, The Burrell Shop, was launched using a social supermarket model provided by Feeding Britain. This was seen as successful and led to NCF developing their own concept of what a social supermarket could look like in Norfolk. They created the idea of a ‘food hub’: a place where people could access affordable food and support to help escape food insecurity in the future. Working with Norfolk County Council’s Office of Data and Analytics (NODA), NCF identified 10 locations where food support would have the biggest impact. From this, NCF began to build the UK’s first centralised affordable food hub network.

Established in 2022, the Nourishing Norfolk Network, led by NCF, has been working with local partners to develop food hubs across Norfolk’s most deprived neighbourhoods. The network aims to provide affordable groceries to thousands of people in Norfolk, whether they are in a densely populated city or a sparsely populated rural village. It now includes 26 food hubs, each operated by difference charities and organisations with unique characteristics responding to the needs of their local communities.

Evaluation of Nourishing Norfolk Network

In 2024, a team of researchers from the University of East Anglia were commissioned to evaluate the Nourishing Norfolk Network. The mixed methods evaluation aimed to identify: Firstly, the difference that the programme has made to people and communities in Norfolk. Secondly, the opportunities that exist to further develop the programme to meet existing or emerging needs. Thirdly, the social value and impact of support leveraged through the programme and fourthly, what can be learned from the way that the programme has been set up and delivered to inform NCF’s wider work. Ethical approval for the evaluation was sought from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences Research Ethics Subcommittee in August 2024 (Ref: ETH2324-2961) and fieldwork took place between September 2024 and March 2025. Findings from the wider evaluation will be published separately. This report outlines the findings of the social return in investment component of the report.”