Meet some of the women who have shaped the Just FACT programme over the last five years
From community growers and cooks, to mushroom technicians, to food coop founders to circular economy innovators – women are at the forefront of Tower Hamlets food system.
The wisdom and skills of local women have been at the heart of the Just Food and Climate Transition (Just FACT) programme over the last 5 years. Through a vast array of projects they have been transforming the way we produce, cook, buy and recycle food in the borough – showing an alternative food system that’s within reach.
This blog spotlights the work of six amazing women working in the borough.
Sajia Nessa, Food Grower at Stepney City Farm
Sajia is a passionate gardener who joined Stepney City Farm in August 2023. She has been working with the team to grow Bangladeshi vegetables for the Farm produce list, including kodu, uri beans, snake gourd and bird’s eye chillies. Stepney City Farm is a 4.5 acre working farm within the borough that works to improve lives through farming.
She says:
“Many of the Farm’s allotment plot holders only speak Sylheti, so I can speak to them about any challenges and make sure they are happy. I work at our Farm Shop on Saturday market days, and encourage our community to try new vegetables, which they may not have tried before.”
By translating between languages, cultures and growing traditions, Sajia is helping make local food systems more inclusive and rooted in lived experience.
Alani Shafiq, Mushroom Growing Technician, MAD LEAP
Alani started growing oyster mushrooms in lockdown and three years later is working with MAD LEAP, training others on how to grow. LEAP is a circular design food production CIC, and Alani is involved as the mushroom growing technician and trainer. The mushrooms are cultivated in a converted car garage (turned controlled-environment-studio) at eco-civic hub, R Urban.
Alani says:
“Fungi is so important to our soils, our guts and our future. They are diverse, resilient, adaptable, detoxifying, mutualistic, dramatic, beautiful and complex. I hope people start growing mushrooms in every community garden and pressuring their local council and housing association to create local closed loop systems – every council estate should (could) have an anaerobic digester and mushroom farm!”
Their work shows how waste can become a resource and how even the most unlikely of spaces – an old car garage – can be used for food production!
Melly, Shamima, Sabina, Marisa – the team at Teviot Food Co-op
The Teviot Food Co-op was set up in 2022 and runs as a pop-up shop twice a week at the Teviot Centre – a community hub, selling fresh fruit and vegetables to the local community. Through a voucher scheme they’ve been able to offer subsidised organic food to people on low incomes. They sell local staples such as uri beans, khodu squash and okra – grown by a dedicated team of women, non-binary and queer growers in Essex (Folx Farm).
Melly says:
‘’It [the food coop] also allows for people to socialise, people to learn and be in a space together. I’ve noticed around the Teviot Centre the regular customers come out of their houses a lot more. It’s a time for them to meet, and talk about food, recipes and share ideas.’’
The food coop shows an alternative to profit-driven supermarkets can exist, and buying food can be about care and community connection.
Katrina Wright, lead grower at R Urban Poplar
Katrina is a local food grower who is part of the Right to Grow campaign in Tower Hamlets and is an expert on all things gardening and growing. During the pandemic she started growing in a plot at R-Urban – a former car park that has been transformed into an ‘eco-civic hub’. She is now their lead grower running green skills sessions where people can learn anything from no-dig gardening and companion planting to composting and harvesting.
She says:
“The main goal at R Urban is to maintain the site, make it look lovely, but also produce food, create biodiversity, natural habitats for bug life and microbial life… the volunteering promotes green skills, so skills sharing, skill learning. Getting people into horticulture, food, growing, learning all about the eco cycle of food.”
She also reflects:
“It has a kind of ripple effect as well, so you are impacting people’s lives and creating a legacy.”
Her work shows how there is a vast wealth of local knowledge and green skills – and what becomes possible when you create spaces for genuine learning exchange.
Rita Attille, grower and facilitator at Seeds for Growth
Rita Attille is a community grower and facilitator for Seeds for Growth Greening Communities programme supporting residents across different growing projects in Tower Hamlets and London. She has a specific focus on mental wellbeing and nature, working with health services to engage people in gardening to support their health. Seeds for Growth identifies underused land on social housing estates then works with tenants to create gardens for growing food and flowers, as well as a place to sit and chat, for children to play in a safe environment, to meet neighbours and make new friends.
She says:
“My ethos is to promote and encourage residents across London to grow together as a community which strengthens social mobility and community connections.”
At its simplest, food becomes a way of rebuilding social fabric.
Aleya Taher, organiser at Teviot People’s Kitchen
Aleya Taher is a local grower, cook and community organiser who is part of Teviot People’s Kitchen (TPK). TPK is a community-led co-operative based at R-Urban, that works together to design and deliver growing and cooking education programmes, as well as offer training and business support for members and local people. The TPK group is composed of a group of community organisers, gardeners, cooks and collaborators.
Aleya says: “It’s lovely to work with this group, we’re sharing and caring for each other, and the community.”
“Going to the town hall, we showed this is the TPK from Teviot, I was proud to show the produce from the garden – fresh fresh fresh!”
TPK has shown that change begins with care and connection. When people feel welcome, valued, they begin to engage not just as participants but as contributors.
A wealth of learnings
These women show what becomes possible when communities are trusted with space, resources and power: food systems rooted in care, culture and collective action.
Just FACT offers not just examples of what can be achieved, but insights into how change happens – slowly, relationally, and led by people with deep knowledge of their own communities.
We hope the final report inspires others working on community-driven food systems across the UK, and sparks dialogue with funders, policy makers, housing associations and developers.
Most importantly, it reflects the creativity, resilience and life force of the people – notably the women – of Tower Hamlets.
Read the final Just FACT report to explore the stories and recommendations for building a fairer, community-led food system.
Photo credit: Sarah Ainslie and Wen Just FACT
