Pushti Ambassador Project is a four-year initiative of Arla Foods Bangladesh Ltd that began in 2019 to create jobs for female entrepreneurs in rural communities. The project contributes to women’s economic empowerment and helps improve nutrition in rural Bangladesh. To date, it reached over 28,000 people in isolated villages with nutritional goods and information.
The Pushti Ambassador program recruits and educates a team of female micro-entrepreneurs who serve as community nutrition experts and Dano agents, raising nutrition awareness while also earning money by selling Dano® Daily Pushti in their communities. Arla recruits ambassadors in collaboration with the Dutch NGO BoP Innovation Centre and the iSocial in Bangladesh.
The ambassadors organize courtyard sessions to convey the message of the necessity of nutrition in day to day lives & the benefits of milk as a daily nutritious product. This also includes free milk tasting sessions, along with proper awareness of the daily intake of milk for all members of the family, not just women and children. To raise awareness, free door stickers, and free products like milk sachet/tiffin boxes are also awarded to participants.
The Ambassadors visit the consumers and potential customers door to door to deliver nutritional products from their baskets; making it easy for the consumer to get affordable nutrition at their doorsteps. Arla’s target with the program is to onboard 5,000 microentrepreneurs as ambassadors whose monthly income will reach BDT 5,300 by 2023 while reaching out to 1.25 million people.
In an interview with CSR Window, Peter Hallberg, Managing Director, Arla Foods Bangladesh Ltd says, “We need to be wary that we do not limit ourselves with charitable deeds only – but rather empower the communities and their people for a sustainable society.”
With the execution of Pushti Ambassadors, Arla Bangladesh integrates communities with its business and vision of healthier, better communities everywhere. For more inspiring CSR stories shared by corporates, check out our Youtube Channel.
