After the successful 100 years of Coca-Cola in the Philippines, Coca-Cola together with Attorney Adel Tamano the Vice President for Public Affairs and Communication, Cecile Alcantara the President of Coca-Cola Foundation Philippines, and Gilda Patricia Maquilan the Manager on Government, Industry Affairs and Live Positively announces the latest sustainability framework of the company that focuses on wellbeing, women and water. Under the framework Me, We and World, Coca-Cola strengthen their advocacies on education through their Little Red Schoolhouses and NutriJuice Program, on women’s economic empowerment through the 5by20 S3TAR Program and water stewardship through the Agos Ram Pump Project.
The “Me” framework focuses on education and wellbeing of the children through the Little Red Schoolhouses where as of 2012 Coca-Cola Philippines has already build 100 classrooms and they will be targeting 30 more until 2014. Meanwhile, aside from helping in the infrastructure side of the schools, they also created a non-commercial product called NutriJuice that will address the problem on the Iron Deficiency Anemia (IDA) among school children ages 6 to 12 years in their partnered schools and communities. From 2008 up to the present, there are more than 200, 000 students benefit from the NutriJuice Program of Coca-Cola. And in the opening of school year Coca-Cola will be enrolling 35, 000 school children on a 120-day NutriJuice Program to further address the problem on IDA in public elementary schools.
Meanwhile, on the “We” framework, Coca-Cola recognizes the significant role of women as potential engines of economic and social development. In 2010 they launched the 5by20 program that will empower women as entrepreneurs and in 2012 Coca-Cola Philippines adapted this campaign and created the S3TAR Program or known as the Sari-Sari Store Training and Access to Resources Program. It empowers women who owns sari-sari stores and involves them to basic entrepreneurship training, access to capital and merchandising, peer mentoring and nurturing until their business becomes stable with the help of TESDA, various women NGOs, LGUs and micro-finance firms. The program aims to economically empowers 100, 000 women by 2020 and up to date there are already 10, 000 beneficiaries on this project of Coca-Cola.
Lastly, the “World” in the Coca-Cola sustainability framework focuses on the water stewardship with their project Agos Ram Pump that help communities to have access on clean water. Since it was launched in 2011, Coca-Cola Agos Project has already installed 25 ramp pumps that benefits more than 4, 000 families in different communities. And by 2014 they are targeting to install 100 ram pumps with the help of their partner Earth Day Network and the Alternative Indigenous Foundation Incorporated.
Coca-Cola has proven they aside from being the leading beverage brand in the world they also have a heart that will reach out to children and help them fulfill their dreams through education and health, empower women through entrepreneurship, and the helping communities in having the access to clean drinking water.
