Sustainability in agriculture and
food supply
Contents Management report Corporate governance Consolidated financial statements Financial statements Pillar 3
Measuring social impact of Rabobank Foundation and Rabo
Development
Rabobank measures the social effects of its policy and activities,
but we take it a step further than just the direct, concrete
result. We try to measure the social impact of policy to better
understand Rabobank's role in plays in the realisation of
changes. We see measuring social impact as an important
development in the way we account for our sustainability
performances. If we can better understand where exactly our
influence lies, hopefully we can have a larger impact with our
activities. Moreover, not all activities have an immediate impact,
making it necessary to conduct research over a longer period
of time.
Within Rabobank, Rabobank Foundation and Rabo
Development are the most advanced when it comes to
measuring their social impact. The collection, evaluation and
aggregation of information take place during the year following
the year-end close, so our current impact assessment is based
on the figures at the end of 2014.
Our main goal is investing in the self-sufficiency. We measure
our impact by collecting information from our partners
and by carrying out case studies. We analyse trends in the
professionalisation of organisations and take account of
the number of people we can reach. In 2014 we achieved
the following:
The cooperatives that are financed by Rabobank Foundation
indicate that they have over 4.7 million active members.
Organisations that are supported by Rabobank Foundation
in the Netherlands declare that over 400,000 people directly
benefit from that support.
The mission of Rabo Development is focused on the expansion
of access to financial services in developing countries and
emerging markets. We call this 'financial inclusion', and
implement it through strategic partnerships with financial
institutions in Africa and South America. We these partner banks
to report the numbers of people they reach in developing
countries and the services customers purchase from our partner
banks. The partner banks reported the following 2014 figures:
Around 6 million people used the services of Rabo
Development's partner banks.
The combined financing portfolio of Rabo Development's
partner banks totals over USD 14 billion, of which 47% in
loans in food and agri value chains.
Around 2.5 million of our partner banks'customers in
developing countries have access to mobile banking, and
almost 1 million of these partner banks'customers have
access to internet banking.
Social impact of DLL
DLL makes a social contribution by making a number of
donations, for example to the Make-a-Wish Foundation of
South-eastern Philadelphia, Foundation LEF (Living and
Finances) andT+Home. Furthermore, 32% of DLL employees
have invested time and expertise worldwide into charities that
contribute to education and improvement of living conditions.
In the Netherlands, DLL has organised matchmaking dinners for
businesses and charities, linking them on the basis of their non-
financial needs. In addition, DLL has continued the initiative
Samen040 in cooperation with the County of Eindhoven and six
other companies that wanted to enter into strategic relations
with regard to social issues in the region.
Our ambition for 2020
Food is a primary need and food supply comprises a global
growth market, so the topic is both socially relevant and macro-
economically attractive. According to the United Nations, food
production needs to grow by 60% by 2050. A large part of the
demand growth comes from the emerging markets in Asia
and, after 2030, Africa. In view of our roots as an agricultural
cooperative bank, we can and want to make a relevant and
sustainable contribution to the global food production.
The vision Banking for Food means that we want to play
a prominent role in the public debate on the broad issue of
food. We connect producers with consumers, and farmers
with people. We actively participate in roundtables on
sustainability in agribusiness value chains globally. And we help
our customers integrate the outcomes into their operations.
In addition, Rabobank cooperates with innovative customers
and social partners on ambitious sustainability projects in
59 Corporate social responsibility report
