LAHORE: Nestlé Pakistan recently published its ‘Nestlé in Society: Creating Shared Value (CSV) 2019 report highlighting its three main focus areas globally: for individuals and families, for communities, and for the planet.
Talking about Nestle’s Creating Shared Value (CSV) philosophy, Waqar Ahmad, Head of Corporate Affairs, Nestlé Pakistan, said, “Our CSV initiatives are geared towards addressing the challenges faced by the country, in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Nestlé Pakistan is playing its role in community engagement and enhancement through various programs for its focus areas.”
The Nestlé for Healthier Kids (N4HK) program this year has reached out to more than 220,000 children in urban and suburban areas, training over 1100 teachers on nutrition awareness in 280 schools across the country, in light of the malnutrition challenges the country faces.
Another CSV initiative, the Nestlé-BISP Rural Women Sales Program, under the government’s Ehsaas initiative, has helped more than 900 BISP beneficiaries work as rural sales agents across 12 districts of Punjab and Sindh, and imparted relevant nutrition knowledge amongst 1700 women, beyond sales training. As part of this program, Nestlé Pakistan has also improved beneficiaries’ access to financing by disbursing micro-loans worth PKR 2 million to these women through Akhuwat.
Water is a shared and precious resource to be managed sustainably by all users. Geared towards water stewardship, Nestlé Pakistan with its collective action initiative, ‘Caring for Water – Pakistan’ partnered with organizations such as LUMS, UVAS, WWF Pakistan, SDPI and PARC to address the shared water challenges. It has helped save 391 million liters of water in 2019 by installing a drip irrigation system on 139 acres in partnership with the Punjab government.
The issue of plastic waste in the environment is one of the most pressing global challenges the world faces today. Our commitment is to make 100% of our packaging reusable or recyclable by 2025, with a particular focus on avoiding plastics waste. In line with this, we have signed an MoU with District Council Hunza, Gilgit Baltistan Waste Management Company and Karakoram Area Development Organization for Clean Hunza Project, that will encourage waste management of 150,000 kgs of plastics, followed by collection of 50,000 kgs paper packaging in the area with an increase of 10% annually.
The year also marked the launch of Nestlé Cares, the Global Employee Volunteer Program, aimed at enhancing volunteer activities and providing employees the opportunity to make an impact. Nestlé Pakistan launched ‘Nestlé Cares’ as part of Prime Minister’s Clean Green Pakistan initiative with the Ministry of Climate Change, also kicked-off tree plantation drive by planting more than 50,000 trees across its sites.
“At Nestlé, we believe in the philosophy of Creating Shared Value (CSV). It is our belief that for a company to be able to create value for its shareholders, it must also create value for society,” Waqar said, elaborating that at Nestlé, social responsibility does not end with a few philanthropic activities. “Instead, CSV is embedded in our business model; where direct engagement and support to communities is extended across the value chain. This adds value to the business and supports socioeconomic development for the communities,” he said.
