Government is a main channel of communication in many countries, especially in developing countries. However, there are always lags and misinformation when implementing measures on a National scale. Given this, one realizes that with the urgency of improving nutrition and combating hunger there needs to be a more personal and closer channel to reach the people and this is where the Civil Society and Private Sector comes in. The Civil Society is a main advocate and implementer of necessary policies and strategies for the improvement nutrition. The Scaling Up Nutrition Movement (SUN) gives a very insightful list of the roles the Civil Society must fulfill as the watch dog and advocate of improving nutrition, they include: Know what has to be done; Do what has to be done; Be part of inclusive partnerships for planning and policy making; Advocate for the most marginalized and disadvantaged and finally Be accountable.[1] The Private sector has one major role and that is to be the investment drive to make these strategies practical.
The need for a nutrition sensitive and healthy population is a drive for overall development in a country. In Guyana, a lot of people are able to go about their daily lives and be comfortable because these struggles are unknown to them. The Stabroek and Bourda Markets in the capital city are full of produce, the supermarkets and shops are successful; on the exterior everything looks fine. So what Guyana needs are persuasive methods to force the private sector to see beyond the exterior and look at important issues and realize that they can play a major role and steer Guyana to become a humanitarian conscious country with a keen eye on future prosperity.
In this post we would like to address the issue of Partnerships between the Private Sector and Civil Society in order to improve nutrition. This issue brings to mind the Chinese proverbial saying, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” We are not saying that the Private Sector and Civil Society need to fully donate food to the needy people; we are saying that there are other ways of outreach that should be utilised before this method. Our first suggestion is for the Private sector and Civil Society to engage in worthy Agriculture based investments such as finding out ways in which they can get access to unused fertile lands and lease or sell them at reasonable prices so that the average man can get access to them without hassle and this can encourage farming. In short, we are saying that the Private Sector and Civil Society can team up and petition for land allocation activities which will contribute positively to the economy, meaning that the more produce in the economy can encourage the use of fresh, healthier meals by the populace. Another partnership which can be helpful is for the Private Sector to fund the Civil Society to operate coop societies in the different villages so as to encourage bulk purchasing of fruits and vegetables so that farmers’ produce will not go to waste if they are not sold out in the market and villagers can enjoy healthy selections at a reasonable price.
The Civil Society should organise awareness campaigns in order to educate households and businesses alike in the form of “House to House" visits on issues such as how junk and processed food cause malnutrition. Given that we are on the topic of awareness, the media is a very important player in spreading the word. The private sector can play an important role here to educate people through health conscious television advertisements, radio announcements and newspaper articles.
Our final suggestion is for the private sector to give out vouchers to the civil society. The Civil Society will now filter out the best candidates (single parents, poor low income families, those who are chronically ill, etc) to receive the vouchers.
Partnership between the Private Sector and Civil Society is vital in the struggle to improve nutrition. Their interdependence as a team is a very important factor which can make a big difference all over the world to fight many issues as addressed in this post.
Reference to Guyana:
Government is a main channel of communication in many countries, especially in developing countries. However, there are always lags and misinformation when implementing measures on a National scale. Given this, one realizes that with the urgency of improving nutrition and combating hunger there needs to be a more personal and closer channel to reach the people and this is where the Civil Society and Private Sector comes in. The Civil Society is a main advocate and implementer of necessary policies and strategies for the improvement nutrition. The Scaling Up Nutrition Movement (SUN) gives a very insightful list of the roles the Civil Society must fulfill as the watch dog and advocate of improving nutrition, they include: Know what has to be done; Do what has to be done; Be part of inclusive partnerships for planning and policy making; Advocate for the most marginalized and disadvantaged and finally Be accountable.[1] The Private sector has one major role and that is to be the investment drive to make these strategies practical.
The need for a nutrition sensitive and healthy population is a drive for overall development in a country. In Guyana, a lot of people are able to go about their daily lives and be comfortable because these struggles are unknown to them. The Stabroek and Bourda Markets in the capital city are full of produce, the supermarkets and shops are successful; on the exterior everything looks fine. So what Guyana needs are persuasive methods to force the private sector to see beyond the exterior and look at important issues and realize that they can play a major role and steer Guyana to become a humanitarian conscious country with a keen eye on future prosperity.
In this post we would like to address the issue of Partnerships between the Private Sector and Civil Society in order to improve nutrition. This issue brings to mind the Chinese proverbial saying, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” We are not saying that the Private Sector and Civil Society need to fully donate food to the needy people; we are saying that there are other ways of outreach that should be utilised before this method. Our first suggestion is for the Private sector and Civil Society to engage in worthy Agriculture based investments such as finding out ways in which they can get access to unused fertile lands and lease or sell them at reasonable prices so that the average man can get access to them without hassle and this can encourage farming. In short, we are saying that the Private Sector and Civil Society can team up and petition for land allocation activities which will contribute positively to the economy, meaning that the more produce in the economy can encourage the use of fresh, healthier meals by the populace. Another partnership which can be helpful is for the Private Sector to fund the Civil Society to operate coop societies in the different villages so as to encourage bulk purchasing of fruits and vegetables so that farmers’ produce will not go to waste if they are not sold out in the market and villagers can enjoy healthy selections at a reasonable price.
The Civil Society should organise awareness campaigns in order to educate households and businesses alike in the form of “House to House" visits on issues such as how junk and processed food cause malnutrition. Given that we are on the topic of awareness, the media is a very important player in spreading the word. The private sector can play an important role here to educate people through health conscious television advertisements, radio announcements and newspaper articles.
Our final suggestion is for the private sector to give out vouchers to the civil society. The Civil Society will now filter out the best candidates (single parents, poor low income families, those who are chronically ill, etc) to receive the vouchers.
Partnership between the Private Sector and Civil Society is vital in the struggle to improve nutrition. Their interdependence as a team is a very important factor which can make a big difference all over the world to fight many issues as addressed in this post.
Sources: [1] http://scalingupnutrition.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/archived/SUN-Civil-Society-Meeting-Report-final-25July-2011.pdf