THE COMMENDED PROGRAM

Nile Breweries engages its supply chain on health issues with a truly comprehensive approach-supporting small and medium enterprises ranging from small-scale farmers to truck drivers to the very bartenders who sell its product. The program is particularly relevant given that small and medium enterprises form the base of the Ugandan economy.

The company's supply chain efforts build off Nile Breweries's strong workplace program, which integrates across HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria. That program includes awareness and prevention education, voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) and the provision of antiretroviral therapy (as needed) and anti-malaria bed nets. While expanding from the workplace into the community, Nile Breweries ensured that peer educators worked within their own groups. For example, the 290 sorghum and barley farmers who were trained as peer health educators have reached 4,000 of their fellow farmers with critical HIV/AIDS information.

The supply chain program is executed through a co-financing partnership with Emerging Markets Group's Health Initiatives in Private Sector (HIPS) program.

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

Supply Chain Engagement "From Grain to Glass"
Nile Breweries takes a comprehensive view of its supply chain, engaging employees at every level. Health interventions begin at the very bottom of the chain (sorghum and barley farmers and suppliers) and end with the final point of consumption (bartenders and bar-goers who sell and consume the beer).

Close Alignment with Parent Company Programs
As a subsidiary of SABMiller plc, Nile Breweries initially relied on expert guidance from its parent company's African headquarters in Johannesburg to undertake a workplace and supply chain needs assessment. Nile Breweries now operates its health programs in close alignment with those of its parent company.