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Search Earlier this month, members of the Health & Wellness Steering Committee met in London to discuss the latest developments and plans for the Pillar moving forwards. Taking place in the London boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark, the 12th-13th March meeting was held to coincide with the launch of Collaboration for Healthier Lives (CHL) UK, which is also taking place in the two boroughs. To celebrate the launch, members met alongside other key stakeholders to explore all the CHL initiatives taking place around the world.
On 12th March, members met alongside representatives from the Mayor of London’s office, Guy’s & St Thomas’ Charity, the University of Oxford, Public Health England, BCG and others to discuss the work being done on CHL UK before visiting a couple of local Tesco and Sainsbury’s stores to see how CHL UK is being activated in-store.
The CHL Marketplace allowed all CHL initiatives to showcase the work being done and the successes being seen all around the world, with presentations from the CHL teams in the US, Turkey, Japan, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and France. The plans for CHL development in China were also revealed.
The team then had the pleasure of welcoming Frans Muller, CEO of Ahold Delhaize and CGF Board Co-Sponsor of our Health & Wellness Pillar. Frans addressed the Board’s position on health and wellness and helped answer questions related to the strategic direction of our work, its governance, resourcing and challenges. The two-hour session was instrumental in helping Steering Committee members understand how the Board – specifically Frans and his fellow Board Co-Sponsor, Mark Schneider, CEO of Nestlé – see our work and in sharing how the CEOs can better support.
On 13th March, the Steering Committee members discussed implementation strategies for the Pillars work on digital, employee health and wellbeing, as well as the work being done on the Pillar’s industry-defining Health & Wellness Commitments.
Key outcomes from day two revolved around building more coalitions of the willing, within the membership and with external stakeholders, and driving greater CEO support to help implement and accelerate actions on health and wellness. Being able to provide the business case and showcase results are considered key to success.
Of the challenges, members discussed the potential conflicts around areas that could be considered competitive and how to improve overall efficiency, allowing members to implement faster and see faster returns on investment. Other topics discussed were data and confidentiality, labelling and innovation.
Steering Committee members will next meet as a group in Berlin in October, just ahead of the CGF’s 4th Sustainable Retail Summit.
