Recognising Change Makers on World Hunger Day
Delhi, 28 May’ 2018: The Akshaya Patra Foundation and United Nations Global Compact, under the banner of Feed The Future Now, organised for the very first time ‘Nourish the Change Awards’ 2018 to felicitate upcoming change-makers that are making positive contribution towards Sustainable Development Goal #2 ‘Zero Hunger’ . The award ceremony was hosted at The LaLit – New Delhi. The LaLit Group is one of the founding partners of ‘Feed the Future Now’ movement and to actualize its commitment towards society has been supporting all events of the movement.
The award ceremony coincided with “World Hunger Day 2018”. The evening celebrating the theme of “Collaborative Impact” offered opportunity for corporates and civil society organizations committed to the cause of Nutrition & Well-being to exchange ideas & fostered sense of camaraderie and collaboration.
Awardees who were recognized included Mr. Anoop Khanna – for providing 5 rupee meals to urban poor through his Dadi ki Rasoi, Cuddles Foundation – for ensuring nutrition solutions for cancer affected children,
Ms. Arushi Batra – for exemplary voluntary work being done by Robin Hood Army, The Better India – for bringing to masses positive stories of change and inspiration, Goodera – for helping social organizations measure and improve their outcomes and impact, Ms. Trupti Jain – for Bhungroo, an innovative product helping improve agriculture yield in drought affected areas
Mr. Shridhar Venkat, CEO Akshaya Patra commented on the occasion that “Collaboration is key to tackling some of the largest developmental challenges that face our country. While Akshaya Patra has been working collaboratively with Government and leading corporates for the last 18 years; Feed The Future Now is an initiative to scale up that cross-sector partnership. As a step in this direction, we instituted ‘Nourish the Change’ Awards along with UNGC to recognize upcoming change makers and to create a forum for key stakeholders to interact and identify opportunities of further collaboration. We are hopeful that with more
like minded individuals & institutions coming together, we shall be able to bring around positive social change faster & on a larger scale.”
The event was well attended by senior executives from leading corporate houses such as Ms. Priyanka Mittal – Director KRBL India Ltd, Mr. Vijay Sethi – CIO & Head – HR & CSR, Hero MotoCorp, Mr. G K Chaukiyal – Exec. Director CSR (Airports Authority of India), Ms. Pooja Mahajan – CEO, IFCI Social Foundation, Mr. Sanjiv Garg – Exec. Director, CSR (Rural Electrification Corporation Ltd.), Ms. Geetanjali Bhatia, Leader – CSR & Communication, Ingersoll Rand India, Mr. Rajesh Mediratt – Director Business Development, Indian Energy Exchange, Mr. Joydeep Sen – CSR lead, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, Ms. Poonam Kaul – Vice President, Communication, PepsiCo.
Mr. Kamal Singh, Executive Director UNGC said” UNGC is committed to achieve Sustainable Development Goals outlined by United Nations and initiatives such as ‘Nourish the Change’ Awards help significantly in mobilizing the community of change-makers to achieve those goals. We are very happy to partner with Akshaya Patra to nurture the Impact ecosystem in India and are hopeful that our sustained collaborative efforts will lead to positive social outcomes.”
About Feed The Future Now
Feed The Future Now is a movement for social change based on the premise that every child deserves a nutritious diet, a fulfilling education and a bright future. It is a seminal movement to bring everyone on a common platform and commit to the cause of ‘Nourished India, Educated India’. The Akshaya Patra Foundation, along with its coalition of partners – GlaxoSmithKline, PepsiCo, Nestle, Reliance Fresh, Viacom18, Facebook, Big FM PVR Cinemas and The Lalit Group of Hotels, founded #FeedTheFutureNow in 2017.
Feed The Future Now aims to provide 5 Billion Meals to school children by 2020 while also ensuring to:
– Build a collaborative multi-stakeholder campaign and ensure an increase in pro-nutrition investments
– Create awareness drives on the problem of hidden hunger
– Help generate donations to reach the goal of providing 5 billion meals by 2020
– Advocate Right to Food, and address region-wise nutrition requirements and education for all
For more details, please log on: https://www.feedthefuturenow.org/
About The Akshaya Patra Foundation
The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation headquartered in Bengaluru, India, which strives to address issues like hunger and malnutrition in the country. By implementing the Mid-Day Meal Scheme in Government and Government-aided schools, Akshaya Patra aims to fight hunger and at the same time, bring children to school.
Since 2000, Akshaya Patra has worked towards reaching more children with wholesome food on every single school day. The Foundation is continuously leveraging technology to cater to millions of children. Its state-of-the-art kitchens have become a subject of study and attract curious visitors from around the world.
In partnership with the Government of India and various State Governments, and the inestimable support of many philanthropic donors and well-wishers, Akshaya Patra has grown from humble beginnings serving just 1,500 school children across 5 schools. Today, it is the world’s largest (not-for-profit run) mid-day meal programme, serving wholesome food to over 17,12,460 children from 14,173 schools across 12 states in India. For more details, please log on: www.akshayapatra.org