Community Showcase in St Lucia Celebrates Research, Local Food and Community Action
The Global CFaH Project hosted a Community Research Showcase in St Lucia in collaboration with partner organisation Helen's Daughters at their FarmHers Market at Rodney Bay on Saturday 30 May, 2026. This showcase brought together researchers, community partners, farmers, stakeholders and members of the public to share key findings and celebrate the impact of the Global CFaH project’s work in St Lucia. Since 2023, Global CFaH has partnered with Helen’s Daughters to promote household nutrition and food security through a range of community-led interventions that have supported sustainable local food production, household nutrition and food security. These activities have connected research with practical community action, including cooking demonstrations, nutrition discussions, produce sales, recipe development, food sampling, FarmHers market engagement, online content and rural community drives.
The Community Research Showcase created a space to reflect on this work, share what has been learned and highlight how community-based food systems approaches can support healthier diets, stronger local food cultures and more resilient small island communities.
Sharing research findings with the community:
The event featured presentations and discussions on the project’s St Lucia findings, with a focus on household food production, dietary diversity, food security, nutrition education and the role of local food systems in supporting community health. The Global CFaH household survey in St Lucia included 303 households and this event highlighted some of these key findings around food production and food security.The research also found that food-producing households had higher household dietary diversity and a lower probability of being food insecure. However, the findings also pointed to important complexities. These households also consumed ultra-processed foods more frequently and had a higher prevalence of hypertension. On average, participants reported consuming ultra-processed foods two to three times per week. These findings show that household food production can support food access and dietary variety, but it is not a standalone solution for improving health. Health outcomes are also shaped by purchasing behaviours, food environments, market forces, social conditions and access to healthy foods.
For the Global CFaH team, this reinforces the importance of connecting food production with practical nutrition education and wider systems change.
In St Lucia, Global CFaH’s work with Helen’s Daughters helped move research beyond data collection and into community-based action.
Community-based activities included:
- Monthly live cooking demonstrations at Helen’s Daughters farmers markets
- Food sampling and nutrition discussions
- Recipe cards and online content promoting locally grown foods
- A social media campaign encouraging local food production and consumption
- Nutrition and non-communicable disease content added to Helen’s Daughters’ Life Academy and Ag-cademy programmes
- Four community drives in rural communities, featuring nutrition and NCD discussions, cooking demonstrations, produce sales and health checks
- The project engaged 75 Helen’s Daughters members and supported four community drives across rural communities.
Participants reported positive experiences with the project’s community-based activities and their feedback uderscores the value of community spaces where people can learn, taste, ask questions and connect local food production with everyday cooking and household health. Some feedback included:
- Increased knowledge of nutrition and local food use
- Greater appreciation of locally grown foods
- Increased intake of local foods
- Increased public interest, including more visitors to Helen’s Daughters farmers markets
- Economic benefits for some farmers through sales at market booths
- Strong interest in continuing cooking demonstrations at farmers market.
These activities helped bridge the gap between growing local food and using it in everyday meals. By bringing together farmers, researchers, cooks, educators and community members, the project helped make local foods more visible, practical and accessible.
The St Lucia showcase also highlighted the importance of farmers markets and community food initiatives as spaces for learning, exchange and economic opportunity. Cooking demonstrations and recipe cards helped make local foods easier to use. Farmers markets helped strengthen local food systems by connecting farmers with consumers. Community events created opportunities for nutrition education, discussion and practical learning. The findings also point to the importance of supporting an enabling environment for agroecological food systems. This includes improving access to credit, insurance and support for post-shock recovery, alongside increasing crop diversity and animal integration.
Together, these insights show why food production, nutrition education, community leadership and wider systems support must work together.
The Community Research Showcase was both a dissemination event and a celebration of the partnerships that have shaped Global CFaH’s work in St Lucia.
The programme included opening remarks, a project overview, remarks from partners and stakeholders, a description of the impact of the interventions, a Q&A with the project team, discussion of future directions, and a vote of thanks. Attendees also had the opportunity to sample chef-prepared bites and tour the Helen’s Daughters FarmHers Market stalls. As Global CFaH enters its final stage of implementation, the St Lucia showcase offered an important opportunity to share findings directly with the communities, partners and stakeholders who have contributed to the project.
We extend sincere thanks to Helen’s Daughters, participating farmers, community members, researchers, partners, stakeholders and supporters who helped make this work possible.
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