Case Study: bringing the power of corporations to water and food security

PLACE: Copenhagen, Denmark

SITUATION:  A group of successful entrepreneurs take up the challenge from NGOs working with hunger. These entrepreneurs have seen the power of human endeavor, innovation and inspiration. Can the power of entrepreneurship be harnessed to stop world hunger?

And yet hunger is like the elephant in the room: it is hard to talk about, hard to take in.

FRAMING QUESTION: How can entrepreneurs bring the water and food situation in the world to the attention of more in a way that stimulates entrepreneurial energy  and engages corporations and the broader public?

SOLUTION:  Create a Humanitarian Water and Food Award that celebrates initiatives that are bringing food security in sustainable, innovative ways.  Use the inspiration of these initiatives to inspire corporations to focus their CSR and humanitarian programs on not just avoiding creating food insecurity (for example by stopping  pollution) but by making it a central part of their mission.

Slowing growth, dwindling resources, changing environment, and increasing inequality. All these changes challenge corporations to get involved somehow. We need resilient communities. Resilient communities mean  continued prosperity . But food security is central. Weakened by hunger, entrepreneurship fades and  there is no  prosperity. Nearly one in seven of the Earths’s inhabitants are longing for their chance to thrive, for their chance to be entrepreneurs. But they want to do it sustainably, without destroying forests, soils or the climate.

The Water and Food Award has been looking into the challenge of creating water and food security in a sustainable way since 2009, seeking out initiatives that give us hope.