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USAPEEC ASEAN

IHG Hotels’ partnership with VietHarvest aims to cut down on food waste and feed vulnerable communities. (Photo: IHG)

IHG Hotels & Resorts, one of the world’s top hotel companies has announced a partnership with VietHarvest’s food rescue program to cut down on food waste and feed communities most in need in Vietnam. Last June, in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, the Action on Poverty (AOP) and VietHarvest signed a collaboration to address the issue of food waste and hunger in the country’s marginalized areas. The team is partnering with local businesses to collect high-quality food fit for human consumption from establishments like hotels, caterers, restaurants, and supermarkets that would otherwise go to waste. Through its network of charitable organizations, IHG will also provide funding for operational and logistics support, and scale up food rescue to send more than 10,000 meals to underprivileged areas. This commitment will grow across all its properties in Vietnam, where it has opened 15 hotels, with 22 on the way.

VietHarvest Social Enterprise Model. (Photo – VietHarvest)

In recent months, the Vietnamese government has allocated VND75 trillion (USD3.2 billion) for the national action plan on sustainable poverty reduction. The No More Poverty in Vietnam Till 2025 program is focused on “no more food waste, no more food loss.” Through this initiative, the government anticipates annual reductions of 1–1.5% in the national poverty rate, 4-5% in the rate of poor households in poor areas, and 3% in the rate of poverty among eminently disadvantaged groups according to the multi-dimensional poverty approach.