CROSS-SECTOR COOPERATION IN THE FIELD OF FOOD DISTRIBUTION AS A RESPONSE TO PROBLEMS OF POVERTY AND MATERIAL DEPRIVATION

The economic crisis that has been ongoing since 2008 has led to an escalation of the problem of poverty and material deprivation in a large number of EU member states. On the other hand, the internationalization of food supply chains has led to an increase in food waste along the way from raw materials to the final consumer and the most developed economies are leaders in this phenomenon. Therefore, in practice, various forms of social initiatives have emerged with the aim to solve both of these problems. The aforementioned social initiatives include intensive cross-sector cooperation of profit and non-profit sector. This paper will first explain the situation of poverty and material deprivation in Croatia compared to other European countries. Furthermore, it will explain the phenomenon of food waste in the supply chain at the European and world level. Finally, the paper will analyze and describe basic forms of solving these two problems through cross-sector cooperation within the field of social entrepreneurship.