Annual awards for donating food to the most vulnerable were given for the third consecutive year at this year’s CSR & ESG Forum. During the award ceremony, twenty outstanding donor companies and eight organizations successfully facilitating the connection between these companies and end-users were highlighted.
Since 2021, the Responsible Business Forum and the Coalition for Giving have been awarding annual prizes for donating food to the most vulnerable, contributing to the fight against poverty and achieving Sustainable Development Goals. These awards are presented to companies and civil society organizations that stand out in these areas, either through media presence or effective collaboration with the Coalition for Giving members and local partners.
This year’s award winners among donors include AD Imlek, Pionir doo, Atlantic Grupa, Bambi, Bosis, Coca-Cola HBC, Delhaize Serbia, DM drogeriemarkt, Jaffa Crvenka, La Linea Verde, Lidl, Marbo Product, Mercator-S d.o.o, MK Group, Mlekara Šabac, Mlekoprodukt, Nectar, Nestle Adriatic, Nicefoods Restaurants doo, and Zentiva. Among the intermediary organizations are ADRA Serbia, Food Bank Belgrade, Food Bank Niš, Food Bank Vojvodina, Red Cross Belgrade, B92 Fund, Foundation SOS Children’s Villages Serbia, and Red Cross Serbia.
The Coalition for Giving members are Ana and Vlade Divac Foundation, Trag Foundation, Serbian Philanthropic Forum, Catalyst Balkans, SMART Kolektiv, the Responsible Business Forum, and the Serbian Chamber of Commerce. The Coalition for Giving advocates for improving the legal framework for food donations and encouraging food donations, emphasizing that, as of this year, food donations are exempt from VAT in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Over the past two years, the Coalition for Giving has implemented the award-winning campaign ‘Save Food, Save Humanity,’ involving more than 50 companies and organizations and collecting 143.5 tons of food for the most vulnerable.
This year’s CSR & ESG Forum conference was supported by the “Job Fit: Economic Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities” project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by the Youth with Disabilities Forum. Other project partners are the Ana and Vlade Divac Foundation, Caritas of Serbia, Smart Kolektiv and the Center for Independent Living of Persons with Disabilities. The conference is further supported by the “Sustainable Development for All” platform supported by the Governments of Switzerland and Germany, and implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH as part of the Public Finance Reform Project – Agenda 2030. The conference friends are Coca Cola HBC Serbia, Ahold Delhaize Serbia, Elixir Group and Heineken Serbia. The ESG Conference Patron is Erste Bank Novi Sad. The media partners of the conference are Bizlife, Održi me, New Economy, InStore and Daily Green.
