On the 27^th May 2010, IDE Cambodia won the Nestlé Prize for Creating Shared Value, worth over £327,500.  The prize was awarded for an innovative project which trains Farm Business Advisors (FBAs) to improve productivity and incomes for poor farmers in Cambodia.

With the prize, IDE has been able support the FBAs to reach over 1,000 more farmers  (a total of 5636).  They have also recruited a Training Co-ordinator to improve the quality of information given out to farmers through the project.

Mike Roberts, Country Director from IDE Cambodia, stated “The new highly skilled and qualified Training Co-ordinator will enable us to build up local experts through creative and progressive training techniques.  The Training Co-ordinator will ensure that the FBAs not only give out quality information, but also provide good customer service.”

Ninety per cent of Cambodia’s poor live in rural areas, relying heavily on agriculture for their livelihoods.  Poor access to market information has prevented many of these people from earning enough to support their families.

IDE Cambodia has been responding to these challenges by introducing the Farm Business Advisors initiative.  These FBAs can provide training, products and services to help farmers improve their techniques and increase their income.  So far, IDE has been successful in ensuring this project reaches a large number of farmers.  To date, all this has been achieved mainly through word of mouth.  With the prize money, they are currently investigating new marketing strategies and putting together promotional materials in order to reach even more farmers.

Related Links:

http://www.ideorg.org/OurResults/SuccessStories/Cambodia_FBA_Story.aspx

http://www.ide-cambodia.org/fba/

http://www2.nestle.com/CSV/CreatingSharedValueAtNestle/NestlePrize/Pages/NestlePrize.aspx

IDE Cambodia was awarded the first Nestlé Prize in Creating Shared Value for its Farm Business Advisors programme at an awards ceremony in London on 27th May.

Since its inception in 2005, the Farm Business Advisors programme has enabled 60 rural Cambodian entrepreneurs to start small farm advisory businesses, which in turn have helped 4,500 small-scale farm households increase their net income by 27 percent or £103.

Photo Credit Nestle - Sam Faulkner

The prize of 500,000 Swiss Francs (about £300,000) will improve the project by recruiting and training an additional 36 advisors, generating approximately £1.25 million in new income to positively impact 20,000 people in more than 4,000 rural households across Cambodia.

Nestlé Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, who presented the award to the IDE, said: “We congratulate IDE Cambodia on being the first to be awarded the Prize. The work they do is inspirational. The support and training from IDE ensures that all involved work together to create sustainable farming enterprises.”

Accepting the award, IDE Cambodia Country Director Michael Roberts said, “It is an honour to receive this recognition from Nestlé. The prize will help us further IDE’s mission to create income opportunities for poor rural households. We hope to leverage the Prize to reach more than 75,000 rural Cambodian households in the next few years. On a global scale this is still very small but we think there are big implications in what we are learning.”

Michael Roberts accepts prize from Nestle Chairman

The Creating Shared Value Prize – which received 549 applications from 79 countries – was awarded during Nestlé’s Creating Shared Value Forum, an international gathering of leading experts in water, nutrition, rural development, and the role of business in society which took place in London on 27 May.

Watch the forum and prize ceremony

The Prize was created to provide financial support of up to 500,000 Swiss Francs to individuals, NGOs, or small enterprises who offer innovative solutions to nutritional deficiencies, access to clean water, or progress in rural development. The prize money will be disbursed over a three-year period to assist in the scaling-up of the project.

Learn more about IDE’s Farm Business Advisor Programme.