PROVEG SOUTH AFRICA 2023 AND BEYOND

The last five years have seen exponential growth with the number of plant-based options freely available in South Africa, as well as a huge increase in awareness of the benefits of plant-based diets. Despite this, sales of animal products continue to rise, and it is clear that there is still so much to be done in all elements of the food system in order to create significant change.

We need better government policies, bigger public awareness campaigns, more exposure in mainstream media, more food manufacturers working on perfecting plant-based alternatives at more affordable prices, more retailers and restaurants offering more and better plant-based options, more research on consumer behaviour and attitudes towards plant-based food, more medical and nutrition professionals telling patients about the health benefits of wholefood plant-based diets, and more environmentalists focusing on the impact that animal agriculture has on the environment.

While globally ProVeg International has programmes supporting efforts to address all of these needs, locally ProVeg South Africa must be realistic about our current capacity and focus on the ones that we believe we can have the largest impact on.

In 2023, ProVeg South Africa will focus on:

Bigger public awareness campaigns, centred around our Eco Film Festival and Plant-Based Heritage Day Braai, as well as our ongoing Veggie Challenge programme and support for Veganuary,

Better government policies through work to set up a plant-based alliance of stakeholders in the plant-based food sector, More exposure in mainstream media through growing our ongoing media work, More restaurants offering more and better plant-based options through working with South Africa’s largest QSRs by providing a landscape review of plant-based options through our PlantBased Fast Food Ranking and providing consulting and marketing services, Getting more environmentalists to focus on the impact that animal agriculture has on the environment through our Diet Change Not Climate Change work.

ProVeg South Africa’s current operations are primarily funded by a grant from ProVeg International, and the specific funds we receive come from generous donors who support ProVeg’s work. Although we are working on programmes that generate income to grow our capacity, including our V-Label licensing program, running events, and working with food companies and retailers, the quickest way to expand our efforts is through partnerships, volunteered time, or financial donations. We ask that individuals who would like to support our work consider volunteering for ProVeg or making a financial contribution.

We would specifically like to expand our work to include more government policy work, research, and working with large food manufacturers to remove animal products from their recipes or to launch new alternative products. If you would like to see more work in this space or would like to support our other work in any way, please email our Country Director, Donovan Will, at donovan.will@proveg.com.

We look forward to working with our partners on bigger and better projects in 2023.

Our vision is a world where everyone chooses delicious and healthy food that is good for all humans, animals, and our planet.

Do you want to join us and make that possible?