Journal

Peter Brabeck hands Award to IDE’s Mike Roberts

The first Nestlé Prize in Creating Shared Value was awarded today to International Development Enterprises (IDE) Cambodia, for a rural development project which aims to increase the standard of living of Cambodian rural population by improving agricultural productivity and income. As a member of the Nestlé Creating Shared Value Advisory Board, I was one of the judges.

Since 2005, IDE Cambodia has trained a network of small rural entrepreneurs to become Farm Business Advisors (FBAs), selling a range of products and services to help small-scale farmers improve their farming techniques and income. Through this approach, farmers become more effective producers and marketers, thereby increasing their revenue. In turn, FBAs earn an additional income from selling their products and services at a profit.

IDE uses market-based approaches to increase the income of the rural poor by improving market access, increasing agricultural production and creating sustainable local businesses. Starting in 2005, IDE Cambodia developed a network of 60 independent small rural entrepreneurs in Cambodia. IDE Cambodia Country Director Mike 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.”

The Prize was created in 2009 to provide financial support of up to CHF 500,000 to individuals, NGOs or small enterprises who offer innovative solutions to nutritional deficiencies, access to clean water, or progress in rural development.

Top of the Gherkin View west 1 View west 2 Tower Bridge Charmian (Love) and David (Grayson)

Across by taxi with Charmian and David Grayson to the Gherkin to chair a dinner discussion for Nestle ahead of their Creating Shared Value Forum tomorrow. We arrived slightly early, so we had the top floor almost to ourselves for a short while – extraordinary. Some 50 people came for the dinner and I pulled in a series of speakers (including Nestlé Chairman Peter Brabeck, Nestlé CEO Paul Bulcke, Professor Michael Porter, Jane Nelson and Ruth Oniang’o, a member of the National Assembly of Kenya) and attendees. A remarkably uplifting occasion.

Dozing 1 Dozing 2 The photographer

There are times when it all becomes a little overwhelming – and a sofa can come in handy. This afternoon was one of those times. Have been feeling wrung out for a couple of days – and managed to grab 10 minutes in the spirit of Churchill’s brief naps. All I need is a boiler suit of the sort he wore and an endless supply of Pol Roger.

This morning in our garden The oasthouse Daleks of Sissinghurst Private Wisteria, I think Shadow Tower 1 Egyptian moment Beehives My shadow, but where’s my echo? Habitations Meditation Floral fireworks Blues and yellows Blue Spectrum 1 Spectrum 2 Weathervane Tower 2 Orb speaks unto orb Reflections Will plots Elaine’s shoes Overhead Hippo, when we drop Will and Carla off in Chelsea

Utterly glorious day, blue skies throughout. Will and Carla (Rosenzweig) arrive early for breakfast – and then we drive out on the M25 and M26 to Kent, and to Sissinghurst. Abominable traffic jam headed clockwise as we head anti-clockwise, with people out of their cars for miles on end, but somehow we get through unscathed.

Have only once been to Sissinghurst before, when we took cousin Hollister Sprague there perhaps 30 years ago. In many ways, better than I remembered, though fairly busy. The smell of flowers and blooms was ravishing, though Carla was suffering from a form of hay fever – and has the Chelsea Flower Show to ensure tomorrow.

Two of the highlights for me were (1) having a bottle of National Trust Viceroy Pale Ale for lunch and (2)  pausing by the beehives and watching the bees buzz in and out. Later, I rescued a bee that looked as if it was on LSD, but failed to rescue another this evening in our kitchen. Couldn’t initially work out where the frantic buzzing was coming from, then saw that a fatal drama was playing out over my head, with a large spider stabbing a bee and wrapping it in silk. A mummification that was slightly different to that in my mind when I was pondering the Egyptian head on a Sissinghurst flower pot today.

Playing Google’s Pacman game 1 Playing 2

Google’s homepage sports a Pacman-style game today, which had Charmian and Sam in raucous raptures for a while this afternoon.  Having never played such games, I didn’t want t be shown up and continued with my writing tasks, although couldn’t resist a snapshot or two.