“Premio Henri Nestlé” is an award aimed at distinguishing social programmes that have a positive impact on the wellbeing of a community in any part of Chile. The project must be innovative and have resolved a specific problem in a community in an associative way. In other words, it must create value for its own society through effort and capacity to persist until the goal of improving standards of living is achieved.
Each year a different area of enterprise is chosen. For instance, 2006 focused on preventive health in alignement with the 1st United Nations Millenium Development Goal to erradicate extreme poverty, 2007 on pre-scholar education in alignement with the 2nd Millenium Development Goal to achieve universal primary education, and 2008 on environmental sustainability.
With this award Nestlé wishes to contribute to social empowerment through the discovery of innovative projects that constitute a real example to other communities and for them to be repeated throughout the country. Awarded projects constitute a bank of valuable initiatives of empowerment, innovation and associativeness that are true examples of how to create shared value for society.
Every year ministers as well as renowned opinion leaders are invited to be a part of the jury, contributing to the award's reputation among the Chilean public opinion and opinion leaders.
Medical team at Centro Comunitario de Salud Rural de Los Lagos Región in 2006
In 2006 the winner was Proyecto de Salud Rural de la Comuna de Los Lagos. This is an associative programme where public and civil organisations work together making regular preventive health controls in the local areas and with limited resources.
Results are successful: reduction in mortality rate, reduction in the detection of cancer, there are no more infectious diseases - among others. With the prize the beneficiaries decided to build an odontology room named “Henri Nestlé”.
During the prizing ceremony, the leader of the project, Tomás Rojas, stated, “We are really grateful to Nestlé because we are used to living isolated in this extense piece of land doing our work and all of a sudden the company comes and discovers us and appreciates the silent work we have been doing for more than 12 years.”
In 2007 the winner was the project “Madres e hijos aprenden juntos en Tirúa”. At the awarding ceremony, the Ministry of Planification, Clarisa Hardy, expressed the following, “Chile’s efforts for development lie on two pillars that Nestlé is working hard on: one has to do with giving equal opportunities in education to our children and the other has to do with innovation and knowledge (refering to Henri Nestlé Award – Scientific version). For that I thank Nestlé very much."
In 2008, the project “Transformando Villa 4 Alamos en el Primer Ecobarrio de Chile” won the award as an outstanding project of environmental sustainability. Within 5 years, this Maipú community transformed their neighbourhood into a pleasant place to live with a set of innovative ecological practices.
Inauguration of the Odontology room Henri Nestlé at Los Lagos in 2006