Nuri Nutrisi
Bank Rakyat
INTRODUCTION
As the bank for the people, Bank Rakyat is committed to giving back to the community and believes that giving back should be a demonstration of what an organisation stands for, outside of profit and reputation. Hence, sustainability is integral to the Bank as it plays a pivotal role in the Bank’s ongoing success and their ability to create long-term value for their wide range of stakeholders. With the launch of United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Bank has ensured that it is aligned with six of the SDGs. The six goals are, no poverty, zero hunger, good health and wellbeing, quality education, clean water and sanitation, and partnerships for the goals. In line with these goals, Bank Rakyat started Nuri Nutrisi which aims to create a sustainable life for the local community. Malnutrition is one of the world’s most serious but least-addressed development challenges. The Global Nutrition Report 2018 reported that Malaysia was among 41 countries of the 141 reported which had three burdens of malnutrition - obesity, stunting and anemia. Thus, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes focusing on nutritional food for underprivileged school children have been one of the primary initiatives of Bank Rakyat since 2019.
FRAMEWORK AND STRATEGY
In line with United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Bank Rakyat, through its nutrition programme, coined as Nuri Nutrisi, aims to create a sustainable life for the local community with various efforts to improve the nutritional status of the underprivileged school children, as well as to protect their social needs. Nuri Nutrisi programme also aims to raise nutrition, health and wellness awareness through the provision of nutritious food for school children, along with making available safe drinking water for the poor and other deprived sections of the community. According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia, Malaysia has succeeded in reducing its incidence of poverty from 5.5% in 2000 to 0.4% in 2016. While it is a big improvement, narrowing inequality and uplifting the standard of living of the people require urgent attention. The underprivileged students who were selected by their schools were provided with nutritious meals for 3 months during recess. On top of that, to ensure sustainability of the programme beyond 3 months, the Bank initiated the Nuri Nutrisi Farm project where they worked with schools and universities to install vegetable gardens and urban farms for continuous supply of nutritious food for the underprivileged students. The Bank’s Head Office team also organised various nutrition education programmes to share information and guidance with the students on healthy eating practices and nutritious food choices.ACHIEVEMENT AND IMPACT
The aim of the Nuri Nutrisi programme was to solve the issue of malnutrition among school children, particularly those from underprivileged backgrounds by ensuring food and nutrition security, empowering social mobility, providing sustainable fundraising, promoting social inclusion, creating awareness and leveraging partnerships. In total, 45 schools, 3 universities and 2,321 students from underprivileged backgrounds directly benefitted from the programme. The garden project, or Nuri Nutrisi Farm, has managed to impact 5,700 students, while the exhibitions, walkathon and run and ride programmes have impacted more than 2,500 people.
Bank Rakyat was established on 28 September 1954 under the
Cooperative Ordinance 1948. Today, Bank Rakyat is the biggest Islamic
cooperative bank in Malaysia. In 2002, Bank Rakyat went through a
transformation, from a conventional banking system to a banking
system based on Syariah and the Bank recorded encouraging profits
year after year. Moreover, Bank Rakyat continues to expand their
product range and customer facilities that are varied and innovative.
