PepsiCo Foundation

Safe water

Access to safe water in urban communities 

Water quality and scarcity are key issues in urban underserved communities. PepsiCo and WaterAid came together to improve access to clean drinking water for the urban poor in Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad, with support from the PepsiCo Foundation. Since 2006, 68 million people have received access to safe water globally through this program. This is the Pakistan extension that was initiated in March 2019 and the first phase concluded in February 2022. The second phase of the program was launched in January 2023 and will be expanded to other localities in Karachi, as well as in Peshawar and Quetta, hence covering all four provinces.

In the first phase, community members and local administration were engaged in the planning, construction, and management of reverse osmosis (RO) water filtration plants, which are providing safe and clean drinking water in communities. So far, 200,000+ people have directly and indirectly benefited from the program.

Women in these communities especially played a critical role by becoming guardians and operators of these plants in their areas. The plants were designed to ensure accessibility for women and girls, as well as the elderly and people with disabilities. The communities were also educated on personal hygiene, water conservation, safe handling and management of water resources.

Rural Safe Water Access program

PepsiCo and WaterAid started the ‘Rural Safe Water Access’ program for rural communities in early 2022. The overall objective of this project was to ensure the provision of safe drinking water and support hygiene behavior change for farmers and their families in 12 villages and 10 schools of Tehsil Depalpur, District Okara in the Punjab province. This rural farming community is also known as the “potato growing belt” in Punjab and is one of the places from where PepsiCo Pakistan sources sustainably grown potatoes for Lay’s from its partner farmers.

For the community’s needs, community based reverse osmosis (RO) water filtration units were installed in seven villages of District Okara while one plant was installed in the office of the Deputy Commissioner Okara where approximately 3,000 people visit daily and need clean drinking water sources. A total of seven community level water schemes are now providing safe water to 23,300 individuals including men, women, children, and people with disabilities. In addition, five small-scale RO units are providing safe water to 4,940 school children.

Apart from access to safe and clean drinking water, the communities have also been empowered with water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) training through 12 WASH committees with 180 members. Under school WASH activities, 120 boys and girls in 10 WASH clubs have been trained on hygiene behavior change. They are progressively supporting their own communities. Awareness campaigns about menstrual hygiene for young girls were conducted by female social mobilizers and female teachers at the schools in the program area.

The rural extension of the program is also funded by the PepsiCo Foundation, enabled with technical support from WaterAid and local implementation by Doaba Foundation.

PepsiCo Foundation

Food security

Food for Good is the PepsiCo Foundation’s global platform for advancing food security and making nutritious food accessible.

As a contributor to meeting pep+ (PepsiCo Positive) commitments, Food for Good has delivered more than 245 million meals to over 41 million people around the world. We’ve partnered with more than 60 nonprofits across 28 countries to implement local solutions that meet the unique challenges of each community. 

In Pakistan, the work to support food security is being done through various community uplift initiatives that identify community nutrition needs and address them. 

Ramadan food distribution 

We launched a nationwide Ramadan food distribution initiative “Filling Hearts, Outside the Box” in partnership with our community outreach partner Akhuwat. Under this initiative, food ration boxes were provided to communities in need near the company’s operations across Pakistan. The “Filling Hearts” initiative was a heartwarming community support and uplift endeavor that was implemented with support from the PepsiCo Foundation. Through Akhuwat, we distributed food ration boxes in communities across Muzaffarabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Gujranwala, Peshawar, Okara, Depalpur, Dadu, Faisalabad, Multan, Kasur and those residing near the company’s manufacturing plants. The ration boxes contained food essentials that provided three meals for an average family of seven persons for a month, including Ramadan-special items.

The initiative was a concerted effort across various PepsiCo in the Africa, Middle East, and South Asia (AMESA) region, with PepsiCo teams in Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia supporting communities in their countries with food provision efforts. This regional Ramadan initiative is an extension of PepsiCo’s global commitment to strengthening food security around the world through various local and regional programs and initiatives that are part of the company’s “Food for Good” agenda. Filling Hearts is inspired by a similar ambition so that the communities PepsiCo works with and in are provided access to food in the holy month of Ramadan.

Millions of Meals for flood-affected communities 

In 2022, Pakistan faced historic floods that devastated every part of the country. 33 million people were affected and displaced. Hundreds of thousands of farm animals and cattle heads were lost, and there was extensive crop loss. This climate catastrophe brought life to a standstill in many parts of the country. 

At PepsiCo Pakistan, we knew that in such disasters, hunger is the first issue that arises after safety of people. The impacted communities were unable to access food provisions and essentials, and keeping this in mind, we mobilized our on-ground community support partners Rizq, Akhuwat and Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund and have provided 7.5 million meals to communities in 33 districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Balochistan, and Punjab provinces. 

The food distribution program is funded by PepsiCo Foundation and is part of the global food security platform Food for Good to make meals more accessible to communities, especially in times of crisis and disaster. 

Millions of Meals during COVID-19

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, economic uncertainty and lockdowns impacted access to essential food items for thousands of families in underserved communities. PepsiCo partnered with on the ground charitable organizations and mobilized 500+ volunteers and civil society partners to distribute over 13 million meals to meet the nutritional needs of the most underserved communities impacted by the pandemic.

The Millions of Meals campaign covered 90% of the districts in Pakistan across Balochistan, Gilgit- Baltistan, Azad Jammu Kashmir and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

PepsiCo also partnered with the Prime Minister’s Ehsaas program to ensure food access to the most vulnerable communities in urgent need of nutrition. At the heart of the program were the nine on-ground partners including RIZQ and Association for Gender Awareness & Human Empowerment (AGAHE) in Punjab, Peoples Primary Health Initiative (PPHI) in Balochistan, The Orange Tree Foundation, Network of Organisations Working for People with Disabilities Pakistan (NOWPDP) and Layton Rahmatulla Benevolent Trust (LRBT) in Sindh, National Rural Support Program (NRSP) in Azad Jammu Kashmir, Al-Khidmat Foundation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Mehnaz Fatima Foundation in Gilgit Baltistan. 

PepsiCo Foundation

Youth development

60% of Pakistan’s population is under the age of 30. The youth is a key factor in future economic growth of the country, and we are dedicated to empowering these changemakers of tomorrow to reach their full potential. To do this, PepsiCo has partnered with Amal Academy for the PepsiCo-Amal Career-Prep Fellowship.

Amal Career-Prep Fellowship

The fellowship is a 3-month leadership program focused on developing the mindsets (purpose, self-efficacy, resilience, etc.) and job skills (confidence, interviewing, CV writing etc.) of students from government and tier-two private universities entering the job market. The PepsiCo Foundation has been supporting the Fellowship program since October 2018. The partnership, now in its fourth year, has been instrumental in expanding Amal’s reach and impact across Pakistan and has impacted tens of thousands of lives.

The program has had a holistic and empowering impact on the fellows, especially on young women whose inclusion in the workforce and economic empowerment is one of our key priorities. We also empowered the students to think beyond traditional career paths and instead attempt entrepreneurial ventures as well.

PepsiCo Foundation

Education

Education is the right of every child, yet millions of children remain out of school in Pakistan. According to a recent National Commission on the Rights of the Child report, 22.8 million children between the ages of 5-16 are out of school in the country. 

There are various reasons for this lack of access to education for children, and PepsiCo Pakistan has committed to addressing the issue in communities we work with and in. We are increasing children’s access to education in various meaningful ways. 

Child Education Program

PepsiCo Pakistan launched its ‘Child Education Program’ in partnership with the Institute of Rural Development (IRM) to educate out-of-school children (OOSC) residing in rural agricultural communities near PepsiCo’s operations and prepare them to integrate into the mainstream education system.

Under the Child Education Program supported by the PepsiCo Foundation, IRM has established five Smart Schools for the rural communities in district Kasur, Punjab. The Smart schools are low-cost, high efficiency educational setups that leverage existing resources to educate out-of-school children in a multi-grade classroom setting. The program aims to prepare them to integrate into the mainstream education system.

The program offers free education in compliance with the national curriculum and is tailored to the needs of children who are unable to access public school systems due to limited access or other common barriers to education. The schools are established in the homes of local teachers who are recruited based on a set criteria and merit. 

Spreading smiles

At PepsiCo, we believe in spreading positivity and creating smiles with every sip and every bite. This passion for connecting with people extends to the communities we work with and in, and we engage with them in heartfelt and wholesome ways.

In addition, we organize meaningful opportunities for PepsiCo associates to give back to our communities. These opportunities are powered by the company to create meaningful impact for the people and communities to grow, prosper, and thrive.

Ramadan book and toy donation drive and community iftar

During Ramadan 2023, to help spread smiles and foster a sense of empathy and kinship between our associates and our community, we organized a special toy and book donation drive and a community iftar at the SOS Children’s Village in Lahore. As part of the initiative, PepsiCo associates across our offices and plants were invited to donate toys and books. The collected toys and books for children of different ages were packed lovingly and gifted to the children of the SOS Children’s Village at the community iftar event.

The community iftar was organized in partnership with Akhuwat to celebrate the spirit of togetherness and unity, building upon the age-old tradition of breaking bread together for peace, love and understanding within a community.

At the iftar, Furqan Ahmed Syed, CEO PepsiCo Pakistan and Mohammad Khosa, Senior Director Commercial and Corporate Affairs along with PepsiCo associates shared meals with the SOS community and spent time with them. There were heartfelt conversations and sharing of hopes and dreams, which led Furqan Ahmed Syed to reflect upon the fact that the children of the SOS Children's Village possess a remarkable clarity of thought and visions of success so specific that they must be supported.

Dr. Amjad Saqib, Founder and Executive Director of Akhuwat and Saba Faisal, National Director at SOS Children’s Villages Pakistan were also present at the occasion. Many PepsiCo associates brought their own children to participate in the event to multiply the cheer that was shared by all. The children invariably made many new friends and were happy to spend time with them.

The colorful and vibrant event was filled with exciting child-friendly activities such as face painting, storytelling, henna application, puppet and magic shows, and an art corner for budding artists to spread smiles and create lasting joyful memories. The puppet show was the uncontested hit of the evening, and it kept everyone engaged, from the youngest children in the audience to even our most senior colleagues!

We remain committed to further advancing and enhancing these notions of bringing people together in unity, and to continue delivering smiles.