Interview: Davina Belcher, CEO of Healthy Living Platform
Davina Belcher, the new Chief Executive Officer of Healthy Living Platform
How did you come to join Healthy Living Platform, and what excites you about stepping into the CEO role?
I'm Davina Belcher, the new CEO of Healthy Living Platform (HLP), and I'm excited to join the team in this role in a community that I’m close to. I’ve actually been involved with HLP since 2021 when I started working for LEAP, (Lambeth Early Action Partnership), which commissioned partnered withHLP to deliver support for young children and families in Lambeth.
At LEAP I worked really closely with the HLP team running community activities with different partners, also helping to launch the Tulse Hill Pantry and deliver a healthy home-cooking course for parents. Supporting HLP along with nine other brilliant community partners, to set up First 5 Lambeth, the early years consortium that we’re still part of today.
When LEAP came to an end in 2024, my passion to help people have what they need to lead healthier lives drove me tospend a year volunteering as HLP’s Chair of Trustees. When we secured funding to strengthen the staff team, I stepped down from the board and after a really rigorous and competitive recruitment process, I was delighted and honoured to be offered the role of CEO. Having worked with HLP in so many ways, it feels incredibly special to now be leading the team.
“Having worked with HLP in so many ways, it feels incredibly special to now be leading the team.”
What are your priorities for Healthy Living Platform over the next six months?
My priority over the next six months is to secure sustainable funding for our Food Hub, the core of everything we do at HLP. We receive surplus food from partners like The Felix Project and City Harvest and redistribute tailored food donations to more than 40 community groups across Lambeth. These groups work with a range of communities including young people, families with children with SEND, people experiencing insecure housing, probation services, sanctuary seekers and residents on local estates.
The hub also supplies three pantries, which offer low-cost, affordable healthy food shops, and our Food Ambassador training,
Sadly, our Lambeth Council funding was cut last year. We’ve had incredible support and investment up to this point, but we now need to secure sustainable funding from April next year to keep this vital part of Lambeth’s food system going. We’ve just had an evaluation that I’m incredibly excited to share, because it highlights the huge impact the Food Hub has on our partners and residents.
It’s not an easy funding landscape, but I’m hopeful and determined. The team and trustees are working really closely together on this, and I’m excited to lead the way in securing the future of this service.
What values guide your leadership?
I’m really passionate about collaboration. Working together with incredible community partners, charities, community groups and CICs is absolutely essential. Lambeth is such a vibrant, community-focused borough, with so many amazing voluntary sector partners, and we are stronger when we work together and share resources, expertise and wisdom - not only with those in the food ecosystem, but with anyone supporting residents, wellbeing and community development across the borough.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
It’s very simple: always be yourself. People can always spot when you’re being fake, so authenticity really matters. That idea has become a core value for me - being authentic in my leadership, in partnerships, in conversations and in how I show up.
And it matters even more when you’re working with people from completely different walks of life, different communities, different stages of life. When everyone is real and honest, that’s where you get genuine connection, empathy and understanding.
“People can always spot when you’re being fake, so authenticity really matters. That idea has become a core value for me - being authentic in my leadership, in partnerships, in conversations and in how I show up.”
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
I love a good novel, something a bit different, something that teaches me something or has an interesting setting. Some recent favourites are: Demon Copperhead, The Prophets and Hello Beautiful.
I also love dancing. I did ballet for 18 years, and then street dance, hip hop, modern, jazz, even musicals. I don’t get enough time for it now, but about a year ago I went back to adult ballet and it was amazing to return to it.
What message would you like to share with the Healthy Living Platform community?
I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who is part of the HLP community - our partners, volunteers, residents, staff, trustees, and all the brilliant people who quietly make things happen every single day. HLP is what it is because of you.
I’m here to listen, to learn and to work alongside you. Everything we do is rooted in community, in collaboration and in genuine care, and I’m committed to holding onto that as we develop and evolve.
Davina’s favourite recipe
One-pot coconut lentil dahl
Why I love it!
It’s comforting, packed with flavour, full of protein, and uses inexpensive store-cupboard ingredients. It’s also very flexible as you can add whatever vegetables you have, and it still tastes amazing. I make versions of this all the time.
• 1½–2 cups red lentils, rinsed
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 2–3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 thumb ginger, grated
• 1 tbsp curry powder or 1 tsp each turmeric, cumin and coriander
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 tin coconut milk
• 3–4 cups water or vegetable stock (more if needed)
• A handful or two of spinach (fresh or frozen)
• Salt and pepper
• Lemon (optional)
Method
1. Gently cook the onion, garlic and ginger in a little oil.
2. Add curry powder/spices and stir for a minute.
3. Add tomatoes, coconut milk, water/stock and lentils.
4. Simmer for 20–25 minutes until creamy, adding more water if needed.
5. Stir in spinach and season.
6. Finish with a squeeze of lemon.