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The CGF and GAIN Join Forces on Employee Health

Move Part of CGF’s Global Health Agenda and Its Collaborations for Healthier Lives Initiative

The CGF and GAIN Join Forces on Employee Health

Move Part of CGF’s Global Health Agenda and Its Collaborations for Healthier Lives Initiative

Published 07-22-19

Submitted by The Consumer Goods Forum

 The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) have joined forces to drive the conversation on health and nutrition in the workplace. On July 3rd and 4th, the CGF and GAIN held a collaborative workshop in Geneva, Switzerland to address the main challenges around workforce nutrition, to share best practices and learnings regarding implementation of programmes in the workplace, and to look to the future to seek shared opportunities. The event, titled Better Nutrition for a Healthier Workforce, gathered key figures and showcased programmes from manufacturing, farming, NGOs, international development organisations, and government sectors, and represented Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania.

Caring for employees around the world is a key part of the CGF’s Health & Wellness Pillar’s leadership agenda, Collaboration for Healthier Lives (CHL). They aim to explore ways to help drive the industry forward in a collective effort to empower people to live healthier lives. As such, the CGF is constantly looking into ways to collaborate with recognised leading organisations to support their programmes globally. Therefore, joining forces with GAIN, a foundation that works with both governments and businesses to end malnutrition, is in line with the CGF’s aim to drive positive actions.

Globally, approximately 2 out of 3 companies with effective health and productivity programmes believe they perform better than their competitors. The workforce nutrition workshop provided an excellent platform for multi-stakeholder conversations in this regard. Participants got the opportunity to delve into discussions about the business case and benefits of investing in workforce nutrition and to review the existing literature and evidence in a series of presentations, round-table talks, and panel sessions over the two days.

Some of the key points that recurred throughout the workshop included: the need for progress in access and affordability to food that is nutritious and safe, enhancing education around better nutrition for workers, assessment of employee health, support for breastfeeding women, and behaviour change. The workshop also included a marketplace session which gave participants the opportunity to showcase their work on workforce nutrition while connecting with their peers.

Commenting on the importance of such collaborations, GAIN’s Executive Director, Dr. Lawrence Haddad, said, “Over three billion people spend a third of their lives in an employment setting and employers have a duty of care to their workforce. The business case is incredibly strong when analysing the return on investment when scaling up on workforce nutrition programmes. It increases productivity and loyalty and shows that employers care about their employees. Our objective to drive workforce nutrition across private and public sectors, which will have enduring effects, is not only about employees but also their families and communities”.

Sharing insights from the private sector perspective, the CGF’s Health & Wellness Pillar Co-Chair, Isabelle Grosmaitre, Danone, said, “As the CGF members directly employ close to 10 million people, we collaborate to empower people to live healthier lives while supporting our members to implement health and wellness programmes for the benefit of their employees and their businesses. It is critical to learn from the front runners on employee health and nutrition programmes across supply chains and to explore how we can all work together to drive the conversation and push these issues to the forefront of business agendas”.

The CGF looks forward to continued collaboration with GAIN to drive positive change in workforce nutrition and wider health and wellness programmes around the world.

Find out more about the CGF Health & Wellness Pillar’s work on employee health and wellbeing.

List of participants’ companies:

●      Access to Nutrition Foundation (ATNF)

●      Ajinomoto

●      Alive & Thrive

●      Barilla

●      BDA Work Ready

●      Bel Group

●      Danone

●      Department for International Development (DFID), U.K.

●      Eat Well Global

●      Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP)

●      European Marketing Distribution (EMD)

●      Ferrero SpA

●      FReSH, WBCSD / Nestlé

●      Global Living Wage Coalition

●      IDH the Sustainable Trade Initiative

●      Indian Tea Association

●      Intercementos

●      International Labour Organization (ILO)

●      Kellogg Company

●      Kenyan Tea Development Agency (KTDA)

●      Koninklijke DSM N.V

●      Lenny Fashions Ltd.

●      Mars, Incorporated

●      Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka

●      Ministry of Labour and Employment, Bangladesh

●      NewForesight

●      Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Secretariat

●      SUN Business Network (SBN)

●      The Institute of Grocery Distribution

●      Touton

●      UNICEF

●      Unilever Tea Tanzania

●      Unilever Global

●      University of Sydney

●      VF Corporation

 

ABOUT THE CONSUMER GOODS FORUM

The Consumer Goods Forum (“CGF”) is a global, parity-based industry network that is driven by its members to encourage the global adoption of practices and standards that serves the consumer goods industry worldwide. It brings together the CEOs and senior management of some 400 retailers, manufacturers, service providers, and other stakeholders across 70 countries, and it reflects the diversity of the industry in geography, size, product category and format. Its member companies have combined sales of EUR 3.5 trillion and directly employ nearly 10 million people, with a further 90 million related jobs estimated along the value chain. It is governed by its Board of Directors, which comprises more than 50 manufacturer and retailer CEOs. For more information, please visit: www.theconsumergoodsforum.com.

 

ABOUT THE GLOBAL ALLIANCE FOR IMPROVED NUTRITION

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is a Swiss-based foundation launched at the UN in 2002 to tackle the human suffering caused by malnutrition. Working with governments, businesses and civil society, GAIN aims to transform food systems so that they deliver more nutritious food for all people, especially the most vulnerable. For more information, please visit: www.gainhealth.org.

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The Consumer Goods Forum

The Consumer Goods Forum

The Consumer Goods Forum ("CGF") is a global, parity-based industry network that is driven by its members to encourage the global adoption of practices and standards that serves the consumer goods industry worldwide. It brings together the CEOs and senior management of some 400 retailers, manufacturers, service providers, and other stakeholders across 70 countries, and it reflects the diversity of the industry in geography, size, product category and format. Its member companies have combined sales of EUR 3.5 trillion and directly employ nearly 10 million people, with a further 90 million related jobs estimated along the value chain. It is governed by its Board of Directors, which comprises more than 50 manufacturer and retailer CEOs. For more, please visit: www.theconsumergoodsforum.com.

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Contact:
Lee Green
Director, Communications
+33 1 82 00 95 70

Louise Chester
Communications Officer
+33 1 82 00 95 91

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