BrazilProtiviti in Oman joins in fight against hunger with delivery of food packages
Protiviti’s Omani member-firm has recently helped deliver care packages to needy local families as part of the global consultancy’s efforts to fight hunger.
After reaching the five million meal milestone late last year, just three years after the programme’s inception, the international consulting firm Protiviti’s global hunger and malnutrition-fighting initiative ‘i on Hunger’ has continued its strong progress with the delivery of food and other assistance to 70 financially-challenged families in Oman.
“The i on Hunger program has had a positive impact beyond our expectations. We're incredibly proud of reaching the five million meal milestone in only three years, however, we have no plans to rest on our laurels," Protiviti President and CEO Joseph Tarantino said of last year’s milestone, with the firm since proving to be true to its word.
Having worked together with more than 130 non-profit partner organisations in over 30 countries worldwide, and driven by the consulting firm's staff along with volunteers from the it’s client base, the i on hunger programme has now provided nearly six and half million meals across the globe – well in excess of its initial target of one million meals within the first year.
Contributing to that global figure is the efforts of Protiviti’s member firm in Oman – one of seven in the Middle East together with branches in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, Doha, Kuwait City, Manama and Riyadh – which in a staff collaboration with local charity Nidaa Al Khair delivered supplies for up to 126,000 meals across the Sultanate last year alone.
“We’ve had everyone chipping in, from doctors to members of the Royal Family. I too have been out on the road and given food to people,” Managing Director of Protiviti Oman, Shatha Al Maskiry – a former Advisory Manager with PwC in the US who has previously been named as one of the most powerful businesswomen in Oman – told the Times of Oman.
“We try to give food, toys, cakes and cookies to the families and the children and make it a bit of a festive day for them. There are different methods of giving away meals. Because of the weather here, we don’t give meals, but instead, we convert whatever ingredients we are giving into the number of meals that can be made out of them,” Al Maskiry said.
“A lot of them don’t have fridges, air conditioners and other cooling systems, so giving them vegetables, meat and other groceries is not practical unless they are cooked on the same day,” the Protiviti managing director further elaborated, telling the local publication that the needy in the country were often overlooked, through either a lack of awareness or cultural denial.
“What was shocking was that we didn’t know that such disadvantaged people lived so close to home. Yes, you hear about it and you read about it but you don’t actually see it so close to where we work… These people don’t even have air-conditioners, some of their homes don’t even have windows, they have complications with their diet and have issues such as Vitamin D deficiency.”
Hunger-busting
As to the future of the i on Hunger social initiative at a global level, Protiviti senior managing director and programme leader Dan O'Keefe says the firm will look to further tap into its own network of expertise – which with 70 offices worldwide encompasses a range of finance, technology, operations, analytics, governance, and risk offerings among others to diverse sectors such as energy, healthcare, manufacturing, telecommunications and more.
“Looking ahead, in the next phase of i on Hunger we plan to focus on sustainable impact in our fight against hunger, specifically in the areas of dependable food sources, waste reduction, improved nutrition and community improvement,” O'Keefe said. “We believe we can also bring our professional expertise to bear on these issues as well as continue our efforts to provide meals to those in need… Together, we'll continue to fight world hunger because hunger doesn't stop and neither do we."
