Alim’Mater
Better eating habits for families
Impact location : Marseille, France
Donation amount : 5000€
Project supported in 2025
Alim’Mater works to improve nutrition and health for every family, starting from pregnancy, by reaching out to the most vulnerable.
To do this, the association forms partnerships with local actors in socially disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Marseille to support pregnant women and young mothers towards autonomy and food security.
In Marseille’s 3rd arrondissement, the extreme precariousness of the pregnant women supported by Alim’Mater prompted the organisation to consider offering high-quality, local food aid to contribute to their health and that of their babies while preserving their food dignity, i.e. the ability to choose the food they eat and give to their children, unlike food parcels, which rarely contain high-quality products suited to the specific needs of this period.
This led to the creation of the ‘Racines’Mater’ project, supported by Azickia, in partnership with Alim’Mater and the Racines social grocery store. Its objective is to enable 50 pregnant women and young mothers in precarious situations in 2025, who participate in Alim’Mater workshops, to benefit from €30 in vouchers for 10 months to shop at the Racines grocery store, guaranteeing them free choice of food and a quality selection. They will be able to shop at the grocery store during times dedicated to pregnant women and young mothers, when an Alim’Mater dietitian will be present. After these 10 months, they will still be able to access the grocery store during dedicated times until their child reaches the age of 3.
The short-term impact is to enable the women we support to eat better during their pregnancy and then with their baby, with extremely limited financial resources, while taking into account their food culture.
The long-term impact aims to improve the health of both mother and child. Indeed, the period from pregnancy to the child’s second birthday (known as the ‘first 1,000 days’) is crucial for the baby’s development and future health, as well as for the mother’s health. Mothers and children living in precarious situations are more affected by pregnancy complications and conditions that can be prevented through diet, such as gestational diabetes, prematurity and childhood obesity. Food insecurity for expectant and young mothers is associated with poor mental health and feelings of guilt (‘not being able to feed one’s child’). In a context of high inflation, where food insecurity is skyrocketing, enabling these vulnerable expectant and young mothers to feed themselves and their babies better is a matter of urgency.
the organisation carrying the project
Founded in 2023 in Marseille, it is active in promoting and preventing healthy and sustainable eating among pregnant women and parents of children aged 0 to 3. Based on a principle of universalism, all content developed by Alim’Mater is free and accessible to everyone, but its core focus is on pregnant women and young parents living in particularly disadvantaged areas of Marseille and Seine Saint-Denis, where it combines prevention workshops with efforts to combat food insecurity.
By reaching out to families in difficult socio-economic situations, it aims to enable them to eat better during pregnancy and then with their babies, with extremely limited financial resources, while taking into account their food culture.
Key facts
- 2 areas of action: Bouches-du-Rhône and Seine Saint-Denis
- In 2024-2025, 77 workshops for pregnant women and mothers of children under 3 years old in priority neighbourhoods
- 311 beneficiaries
- €2,000 in vouchers for fresh fruit and vegetables and 180 kg of organic food (nuts, fruit, baby food) distributed
- Monthly drop-in sessions at the Racines social grocery store during opening hours for expectant and new mothers living in shelters
- Monthly drop-in sessions at CPAM Marseille branches
- 6,000 downloads for its mobile app ‘9 mois à croquer’ (9 months to savour), designed to help pregnant women eat well without increasing their budget.
