Month: June 2023

SAIC embraces individual authenticity

LGBTQ+ Pride month is a time for celebration and an opportunity to reflect on the importance of allowing everyone to be their authentic selves. This right is at the core of our SAIC values of integrity, innovation, inclusion, passion and empowerment.

It is exciting to work for a company where everyone works together productively to solve our customers’ most challenging problems regardless of our backgrounds. SAIC fosters an environment recognizing that our differences – whether gender, race, orientation, religion or politics – make us stronger, better and more effective.

Individuals thrive when they have the security of knowing they can be themselves without fear of retribution, channeling the energy they would otherwise expend to conform into productive energy that benefits the individual, customer, coworkers and communities. Being authentic at work contributes to job satisfaction, fosters creativity and innovation, builds trust and credibility, enhances leadership skills and promotes a healthier work-life integration. When employees feel safe to be themselves, they are more likely to bring their best selves to work and make meaningful contributions to our organization.

Now more than ever, society needs to know and see LGBTQ+ people. So much confusion, misunderstanding and intolerance can be overcome by the simple act of knowing someone who is gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. SAIC lives this every day through the support of our LGBTQ+ employees and the communities where we live and work.

SAIC’s Equality Alliance employee resource group (ERG) serves our LGBTQ+ and allied coworkers with resources and engagement opportunities to create greater understanding, educate and raise awareness while also creating opportunities for greater visibility and interaction across the company. In 2023, the Equality Alliance will again sponsor Night OUT tickets to baseball games, participate in community Pride festivals, donate time and resources to LGBTQ-focused community organizations and promote a greater understanding of gay history, challenges and issues through communications and virtual and live events.

“People need to know they are free to be themselves to be the best they can be,” said Jeff Raver, Vice President of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Integration and Equality Alliance Executive Sponsor. “Experiencing the company’s commitment to this culture is empowering.”

Our workforce is passionate and diverse. SAIC’s commitment to ensuring that everyone can work together in an environment that is free from harassment and intolerance is central to our employee-focused culture and helps us to both attract and retain an amazing workforce to deliver outstanding value to all our stakeholders.

As we celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride month, take a moment to appreciate the diversity of the people around you and remember that everyone succeeds when we bring our authentic selves to work. SAIC proudly supports our LGBTQ+ workforce and wishes everyone a Happy Pride.

Are you interested in learning more about working for a company named “Best Place to Work for LGBTQ+ Equality” by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation? Check out our careers page at saic.com/careers.

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In an effort to mitigate hunger and malnutrition in Colombia, Herbalife’s Nutrition for Zero Hunger and the Herbalife Nutrition Foundation (HNF) has united with Fundación Comparte por una Vida Colombia to provide funds for the purchase of MixMe™, a nutritional macronutrient supplement powder, for children in the city of Cúcuta.

This initiative will help 2,000 children in Cúcuta for the next 2 years and will offer training and awareness sessions around the fight against children hunger in the country.

Children’s nutrition is a complex issue in Colombia, due to persisting poverty and poor access to healthy nutrition. According to the latest 2015 National Nutritional Status Survey, 62 out of 100 children aged 6 to 11 months have anemia due to iron deficiency, which is also the case with 25 out of 100 children aged 1 to 4 years old.

“This fact, plus our commitment to nutrition, encouraged us to foster this initiative, consisting of programs and interventions for the continuous improvement of vulnerable people nutrition,” said Andrés Peñuela, Director, Herbalife Colombia.  “It is especially relevant to ensure good nutrition to school-aged children as they can better develop their skills.”

The project seeks to fight against malnutrition arising from lack of vitamins and minerals. DSM MixMeTM product offers broad benefits to supplement children’s nutrition with essential vitamins and minerals for their healthy development.

“The alliance with Herbalife allows us to articulate with key actors for development, strengthening our structure as a civil society organization for the effective fulfillment of the 2023 agenda.”” Lala Lovera, Executive Director, Comparte por una Vida Colombia.

HNF looks forward to supporting the nutrition of hundreds of vulnerable children in Colombia. Learn more about how you can help us provide support to vulnerable children around the world.

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“Food & Nutrition and Health & Wellness come together at the core of our giving priorities for Bayer Fund, and we are proud to have helped to provide nearly 100,000 medically tailored meals – and counting – as part of Food Outreach’s direct impact on people’s lives,” said President of Bayer Fund Al Mitchell.

Food Outreach extends a healing hand to people battling hunger and a cancer diagnosis

When you’re not feeling well, finding the strength to prepare healthy foods can be a challenge. When you’re not feeling well and you don’t have the resources to purchase nutritious food, eating healthy can seem impossible.

“People living in economically distressed circumstances and diagnosed with cancer are most vulnerable in their fight to regain their health, as they generally do not have access to critical nutritional support, putting them at a greater disadvantage than others battling the same illnesses,” says Julie Lock, Executive Director, Food Outreach, Inc., St. Louis, Missouri.

Food Outreach addresses this need by providing nutrition services, free-of-charge, to qualified clients who are battling food insecurity and a cancer diagnosis. It is a mission that aligns perfectly with the priorities of Bayer Fund, notes Al Mitchell, President of Bayer Fund. “Food & Nutrition and Health & Wellness come together at the core of our giving priorities for Bayer Fund, and we are proud to have helped to provide nearly 100,000 medically tailored meals – and counting – as part of Food Outreach’s direct impact on people’s lives.”

Scratch-Prepared Entrees and Sides

A Food Outreach executive chef oversees the creation of the program’s scratch-prepared, medically tailored meals. Once a client is enrolled, they are eligible to receive up to 60 meals per month, or 2 meals per day. Meals include both scratch-prepared entrees and sides, as well as fresh produce and shelf-stable grocery items.

Food Outreach also employs two full-time dietitians to assist with menu creation and to meet with clients to discuss their diet and nutrition needs as it relates to their cancer diagnosis, set goals, and provide counseling and education about available resources.

For clients who are disabled, elderly, too ill to travel, or do not have access to public transportation, Food Outreach has a home delivery program for meals, thanks in part to a Bayer Fund grant which allowed them to purchase a new vehicle for the program. “In 2023, we anticipate serving up to 500 clients per month through home delivery across 150 zip codes,” Julie says.

Bayer Fund donations also enabled the purchase of a walk-in cooler/freezer combo, allowing Food Outreach to increase its storage capacity by 150 percent. “We can now store up to 15,000 scratch-prepared medically tailored meals on site at any time,” Julie says.

Increasing food costs remain one of Food Outreach’s largest obstacles, with costs increasing 42 percent in 2022. Despite this, the organization remains focused on keeping its meal unit costs as low as possible. “Medically tailored meals provided through for-profit retail outlets can cost between $8-$20 per meal. Food Outreach’s medically tailored meals are, at a minimum, 50 percent less expensive than retail.”

Food Outreach purchases 95 percent of its food from grocery distributors rather than depending on in-kind donations of food. “This is important to provide our clients with consistency and ensure the high nutritional quality of our food,” Julie says.

Grants and individual donations allow Food Outreach to continue to provide high quality food at lower costs. Another important contribution is the support from more than 1,200 volunteers annually. “This is the equivalent of 8.5 full-time employees, which dramatically reduces our overhead costs,” Julie says.

If you live in the St. Louis area, Food Outreach warmly invites you to volunteer with them! Please contact alyssa@foodoutreach.org to find the right opportunity. Click here to donate to Food Outreach.

“Small interactions with clients let us know that the work we do makes a difference in their lives,” Julie says. “From hearing that the food we provide feeds clients when they ‘don’t have money to cover groceries – even with a full-time job’ to the ‘services being a blessing’ and encouraging clients to try new foods they otherwise wouldn’t try, we find joy in spending time and building connections with clients.”

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PARIS, June 13, 2023 /3BL Media/ – The Consumer Goods Forum’s (CGF) Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative (SSCI) is pleased to announce that SIZA, the Sustainability Initiative of South Africa, completed the SSCI Benchmarking process and achieved SSCI Recognition. SIZA’s standard, SIZA Social Standard February 2020 v.6, was successfully benchmarked against the SSCI Benchmarking Requirements for Scopes AI – Manufacturing and Processing and BI – Primary Production Version 1.0. In achieving SSCI Recognition, SIZA demonstrates leadership in the effort to build credibility among sustainability standards worldwide.

SIZA, the Sustainability Initiative of South Africa, is enabling the South African agricultural sector to become a global leader in sustainable farming, ethical trade, and environmental stewardship. The aim is to encourage continuous improvement in practices over time. SIZA aims to have a cost-effective approach for growers by supplying one standard and one audit, no matter which market a producer supplies. SIZA engages directly with stakeholders throughout the value chain to improve supply chain sustainability, ensuring compliance and reducing risks while at the same time offering support and training with regard to best practices and continuous improvement. Verification occurs via third-party audits.

As it ‘verifies the verifiers,’ the SSCI awards an additional, yet essential, layer of trust to sustainability standards that demonstrate alignment with the SSCI Benchmark Criteria and achieve SSCI Recognition. As SSCI-Recognised standards, third-party auditing, monitoring, and certification schemes and programmes signal a strong commitment to raising the bar in their certification processes and driving harmonisation in a diverse field of sustainability standards, while at the same time remain free to innovate their approaches to ensure sustainability a dynamic way. Today’s announcement demonstrates the SIZA Social Standard February 2020 v.6 meets the industry’s expectations and SIZA is now fully recognised by the SSCI.

Didier Bergeret, Director of Sustainability, The Consumer Goods Forum, said, “We congratulate SIZA on completing the SSCI Benchmark process and achieving SSCI Recognition. Not only is SIZA the first scheme to achieve SSCI Recognition under two sectoral scopes, but it is also the first to be recognised in our Primary Production scope. The SSCI is proud to work with this leader in sustainable agriculture and support a more aligned, efficient approach to sustainability certifications in South Africa.”

Retha Louw, CEO, SIZA, said, “SIZA strives to assist South African agricultural growers in achieving effective ethical labour and environmental compliance in their business while minimizing costs related to auditing. By closely aligning with recognised certification bodies and standard holders across the globe, SIZA aims to avoid duplicating market requirements for South African suppliers. The Benchmark with SSCI exemplifies how aligned standards can significantly reduce benchmarking time and cost, enabling the creation of a unified platform that ends up reducing audit fatigue and costs for suppliers. Through this collaborative effort, we can aim to drive ethical labour practices that are relevant on the ground and contribute to meeting the global Sustainable Development Goals.”

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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 Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative

The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative (SSCI) builds trust in sustainability standards worldwide by benchmarking third-party auditing and certification programs and recognizing schemes that meet industry expectations. By providing an open-source list of recognized programs, the SSCI delivers clear guidance on which schemes cover key sustainability criteria and apply relevant verification practices. The SSCI improves transparency in the market, facilitates decision-making on schemes at both buyer and supplier level and sets the responsible sourcing expectations for the industry. The Initiative initially focuses on social compliance with the potential to expand the scope to environmental compliance. For more information, visit www.tcgfssci.com.

For further information, please contact:

Didier Bergeret 
Sustainability Director 
The Consumer Goods Forum 
ssci@theconsumergoodsforum.com

Madelaine VanDerHeyden 
Communications Manager 
The Consumer Goods Forum 
m.vanderheyden@theconsumergoodsforum.com

KYOTO, June 13, 2023 /3BL Media/ – Officials from leading businesses, the Japanese government, and the United Nations met in Kyoto for a roundtable discussion to strengthen collaboration and accelerate respect for human rights in Japan’s consumer goods value chains. Taking place during The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF)’s prestigious Global Summit, the roundtable featured fruitful exchanges on how to best implement responsible business practices – particularly human rights due diligence (HRDD) – to enable respect for Workers’ rights in Japan. Following the recent meeting of G7 countries in Hiroshima in which leaders discussed ambitions for creating a more inclusive labour market, the roundtable marks an important step to realise this ambition in the Japanese context.

During the two-hour event hosted by the CGF’s CEO-led Human Rights Coalition (HRC), in collaboration with the CGF Japan Sustainability Local Group (JSLG), leaders shared perspectives from the private and public sectors on how to best collaborate to enable respect for Workers’ rights in the consumer goods industry. Gen Nakatani, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister of Japan for international human rights issues, and Tetsuo Nishimoto, Food Manufacturer Affairs Division, New Business and Food Industry Department, Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), spoke to the Japanese government’s approach for encouraging responsible recruitment and employment practices. They referenced the government’s recently published Guidelines on corporate HRDD, which build on the 2019 National Action Plan on Human Rights and support Japan’s ambitions as president of the G7 to ensure just working conditions for all. With these advancements, Japan is poised to become the first country in Asia with a strong framework for HRDD, aligning it with other G7 counterparts.

Tomoya Obokata, the UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, then joined the rountable to welcome Japan’s ongoing efforts to strengthen HRDD together with the business community and other stakeholders. As the global trend of voluntary and mandatory HRDD requirements continues – and more people are in cases of forced labour and modern slavery than ever before – he encouraged ongoing collaboration among roundtable participants for the benefit of human rights globally.

The roundtable also provided space for member companies of JSLG to share their experiences implementing HRDD systems in their value chains. Yoshiaki Hiramatsu, ESG Division, Division Head, Fuji Oil Holdings introduced a case study on HRDD implementation while Jonathan Kushner, Chief Communications Officer, VP, McDonald’s Company (Japan), Ltd., shared a case study of McDonald Japan’s efforts to introduce due diligence practices in its supply chain. Yumiko Watanabe, General Manager, Sustainability (Social) Group, Sustainability Development Dept., Ajinomoto, and JSLG Social Sustainability Working Group leader, also explained the work of the group and the efforts to enhance collaboration among businesses and Japanese government.

Christine Montenegro McGrath, SVP and Chief Impact and Sustainability Officer, Mondelēz International, and Salla Ahonen, Vice-President, Sustainability, Neste, also joined the roundtable to share global consumer goods brands’ perspectives on these efforts, providing examples of how HRC members are implementing an aligned HRDD approach in their own operations globally. HRC Co-Chair, Paul Lalli, Global VP, Human Rights, The Coca-Cola Company, also spoke with Nishimoto on how the efforts of both Japanese companies and global brands and retailers can be aligned and accelerated to achieve greatest impact for Workers.

Paul Lalli, Global VP Human Rights, The Coca-Cola Company, and HRC Co-Chair, said, “We are delighted to see the Japanese government’s leadership in driving corporate sustainability across supply chains. Embedding respect for human rights in businesses across the globe is a pressing challenge for all who care about building a better tomorrow. As today’s discussion highlighted, meeting the moment depends on true collaboration of business, government, and civil society to deliver meaningful progress for the world’s most vulnerable stakeholders. The CGF HRC will continue to seek inclusive partnerships and support best practices among consumer goods companies around the world to drive respect for human rights across corporate value chains.”

Yoshiaki Hiramatsu, ESG Division, Division Head, Fuji Oil Holdings, said, “We hope that our case studies will help many companies and government officials to accelerate their efforts to build sustainable food value chains in the future.”

Tomoya Obokata, UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, said, “Protection of Workers’ rights and the implementation of human rights due diligence goes hand-in-hand with business prosperity. As greater collaboration advances between government and businesses in Japan, I look forward to seeing the positive impacts for Workers that will result from their collective efforts.”

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EDITOR’S NOTE: The HRC is a CEO-led Coalition of Action advancing human rights due diligence throughout consumer goods value chains to enable respect for Workers’ rights; with nearly 30 members, the Coalition represents one of the world’s leading initiatives of consumer goods companies ensuring responsible recruitment and employment of Workers globally. In parallel, the JSLG Social Sustainability Working Group consists of 21 Japanese CGF members collaborating on key sustainability issues in the regional market, notably around human rights.

About the Human Rights Coalition 
The Human Rights Coalition is the leading collective of consumer goods companies strengthening due diligence throughout their business practices to ensure Workers’ rights are protected, respected, and remedied at every step of the value chain. As a CEO-led initiative hosted by The Consumer Goods Forum, the only organisation to convene manufacturers and retailers globally, the HRC supports companies to effectively address salient human rights impacts, notably around forced labour, in their business practices through aligned, accelerated action driven at the highest levels of leadership. The work of the HRC continues the CGF’s long history of engagement on the issue of forced labour within consumer goods supply chains by building on the CGF’s Social Resolution on Forced Labour, the first of its kind in the industry; its Priority Industry Principles; and ongoing relationships with key stakeholders in the industry. To learn more about the Human Rights Coalition, visit www.tcgfsocial.com.

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 55 manufacturer and retailer CEOs. For more information, please visit: www.theconsumergoodsforum.com

For additional information, please contact:

Didier Bergeret 
Director, Sustainability 
The Consumer Goods Forum 
social@theconsumergoodsforum.com

Noriko Shindo 
Senior Manager, Sustainability 
The Consumer Goods Forum, Japan office

Madelaine VanDerHeyden 
Manager, Communications 
The Consumer Goods Forum 
m.vanderheyden@theconsumergoodsforum.com