Johannesburg, November 10, 2011

Nestlé South Africa this week announced the winners of its Nestle Community Nutrition Awards at a ceremony held at the Emperors Palace in Johannesburg. The company also officially invited entries for the 2012 awards.

Nestlé South Africa has been running the Nestlé Community Nutrition Awards for the past 17 years following a need to recognise and reward efforts by rural women who work towards improving the nutritional status of their communities by establishing food gardens. The company has made a significant contribution to the awards which have managed to create a number of self reliant women who have built their food gardens from very small establishments to projects that have ensured food security for their families and communities.

To date, approximately 80 women have won and received financial reward for their efforts. Nestlé has however, decided to reconceptualise the Nutrition Awards with the primary focus being to make them more sustainable and move them from a once off event to a more programmatic intervention which will build even more livelihoods.

The Nestlé Community Nutrition Awards project addresses rural development, nutrition and water issues, which are fundamental pillars of the company’s Creating Shared Value (CSV) business philosophy.  CSV states that for a business to be successful in the long term, it needs to create value for the communities where it operates.

Nestlé South Africa’s Ravi Pillay says: “Our aim with the Community Nutrition Awards is to assist in the development of sustainable food security initiatives in rural areas while recognising and rewarding efforts by rural and peri-urban women in feeding their communities. We want to encourage more women to participate in the programme and to promote the value of self sustainability and self reliance amongst women in rural areas.”