Who we are and what we do

For more than thirty years Signpost International has walked alongside communities experiencing disadvantage and injustice, with a vision of "An equitable world where poverty & injustice are eliminated, people thrive, & communities flourish".

Together with local partners, communities, and individuals Signpost works to ensure people's basic needs are met: that people have access to fresh water, have enough good food to eat, are able to sustainably earn an income, and are aware of their rights and responsibilities as global citizens. Through a network of global partnerships an average of 30–35,000 people are reached each year.

Our work in Dundee centres on supporting people to have sufficient, nutritious food to eat while reducing waste - find out more here. We do this by turning surplus food from local farms, supermarkets, and allotments into meals which are distributed to those who need through foodbanks and larders. We currently produce approximately 300 meals p/week but are focused to expand threefold by early 2025 to meet demand (from both vulnerable people within Dundee for meals, and from food retailers to take surplus).

To ensure people have the skills to provide for themselves we run workshop sessions supporting people to grow, preserve, and cook with fresh ingredients and store cupboard essentials. We currently work with four local schools and other agencies to realise this aim.

Our campaign

Throughout the month of October 2024 we are running a campaign to raise awareness of the twin issues of food waste and hunger, while also seeking to raise funds and support to enable us to continue our work addressing these issues.

We will use funds raised to support our expansion strategy, putting in place the resources and processes to enable us to increase our meal outputs from 300 to 1,000 p/week to vulnerable people. The primary aim of this work is to sustainably improve the health and nutritional intake of Dundee residents, specifically those on a low income, experiencing food insecurity, or are otherwise vulnerable. Our vision is to see people in Dundee with improved access to good, nutritious food, passionate about healthy eating habits, and with enhanced skills, awareness, and opportunity to live healthy, sustainable lives.

A secondary objective is to reduce the amount of surplus food going to landfill by repurposing approximately 21 tonnes of food to produce 50,000 nutritious meals annually, alongside awareness campaigns and workshops aimed to reduce household level food waste. Industry estimates equate 1KG of food waste to 2.5KG of carbon emissions, meaning this work will reduce carbon emissions by 52.5 tonnes annually.

Will you join us in making a difference and walk alongside the many people whose voices are often not heard?