Lahore: Coca-Cola joins hands with Rizq to share meals with Pakistanis who need them the most. The partnership begins in Ramazan and extends well beyond the holy month aimed to make Pakistan more food secure. A much-loved brand, Coca Cola reconnects Pakistanis to those in society they may not be familiar with – strangers, neighbors they don’t see often and people in the margins of society. Pakistan’s generosity combined with the Ramazan spirit creates a fantastic time to carry forth the mission to make ‘giving and sharing’ an everyday practice under the slogan – “Ao ehad karain: Mil kar bhook mitayain.”
The pledge is to sponsor a free meal for every Coca-Cola product sold in the market during Ramadan – share a Coke, share a meal. The initiative is part of a multi-faceted food donation campaign inviting everyone to celebrate the idea of togetherness, giving and solidarity.
According to UN’s World Food Program, about 135 million people globally suffer from acute hunger. Moreover, the Covid-19 pandemic impact has doubled this number making the challenge staggering – In Pakistan alone, about 8 million are going to bed hungry and children under the age of 5 years face severe malnutrition. This makes it imperative to roll out the effort to mitigate hunger, first by raising awareness and then by encouraging everyone to contribute to the cause.
While highlighting his vision, Fahad Ashraf, VP and General Manager for Pakistan & Afghanistan region at The Coca-Cola Export Corporation said, “Our brand value of togetherness and sharing resonates strongly with our partner, Rizq. The idea here is to nudge every Pakistani to join the fight against hunger by making it effortless to contribute. Our promise is to not just create a limited impact, but also approach the problem of food insecurity from a community perspective, one that we hope outlasts the campaign.”
Rizq is Pakistan’s leading food sustainability and social welfare enterprise. Speaking about the partnership with Coca-Cola, Qasim Javaid, Co-Founder of Rizq said, “Pakistan has the potential to become a rich breadbasket of the world, yet this potential remains untapped as majority of its population remains food insecure. Through this campaign we will use Coca-Cola’s nationwide outreach and our on-ground executional excellence to deliver free meals for millions during Ramadan. We are grateful to Coca-Cola for supporting us to in this noble mission of creating a hunger-free Pakistan.”
At Coca‑Cola, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are championed as an important framework for collective action and impact on the systemic challenges our world faces. Coca‑Cola has long embraced cross-sector collaboration as a best practice for addressing global challenges, as exemplified through meaningful partnerships and programs, many of which align with the SDGs. The above initiative is in line with UN’s SDG number 2 titled ‘Zero Hunger’ which is aiming to end acute hunger by the year 2030.