This evening, the non-profit organisation, International Development Enterprises (IDE) Cambodia, was awarded the first Nestlé Prize in Creating Shared Value for a rural development project which aims to improve the living standards of the Cambodian rural population by increasing agricultural productivity and income.

Since 2005, IDE Cambodia has developed 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.

The FBAs are given training and business support by IDE to assist farmers to initiate, intensify, or expand market-oriented agricultural production.

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.

Creating  Shared Value is right at the heart of this project.  If the farmers are successful, the FBAs are successful.  The system flourishes only if there is real value being created at the farm level so everyone in the project is heavily invested in the farmers’ success. 

Thanks to our commitment of CHF 500,000 (approximately, USD 475,000), IDE Cambodia will significantly expand this project and positively impact an additional 20 000 people in more than 4 000 rural households. This adds to the 4 500 farmers the IDE already supports in Cambodia.

More information about the CSV Prize can be found here.

The Nestlé Prize in Creating Shared Value is awarded every other year to an individual, NGO, or small business. 

This is to encourage and reward an outstanding innovation for improving access to and management of water, improving the lives of farmers and rural communities, or bringing improved nutrition to populations suffering from nutritional problems.

You can watch a film about IDE Cambodia here. Pictures of the project in action are also available here.  

Make note of this upcoming seminar at Harvard Business School. Called Corporate Social Responsibility: Strategies to Create Business and Social Value the program is designed to help executives align corporate social responsibility with business strategy and successfully manage through the downturn. Now in its fifth year, this annual Executive Education offering will be held November 4 to 7, 2009, on the HBS campus in Boston. Click here for more information or to apply online. Early application is encouraged.

Consultant Cindy Gallop, former chairman of BBH, New York, is working to establish her vision for a new corporate-social-responsibility model through IfWeRanTheWorld.com, launching this fall. Here, she discusses her plans to transform CSR as it exists today. Her premise is quite similar to Creating Shared Value – that there is “an opportunity to integrate social responsibility and day-to-day business objectives -- to do good and make money simultaneously.”

Note this interesting study from ZDNet Asia about how online communities are making a bigger impact on corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the Asia-Pacific region. According to CSR Asia's The Future of CSR: 2009 Report, the Internet and online community emerged No. 10 on the list of factors driving CSR agendas, marking the first time the category is listed in the report. The biggest CSR influencer in the region are local governments, followed by stock exchanges, securities regulators and institutions tasked with tackling health and safety.