One Young World Scholarship 2023

The Brighter Living Foundation, officially (in Dutch) the Stichting Royal DSM – Brighter Living, was established in 2018 at the initiative of Royal DSM. The Foundation is an independent charity that supports the health of people and the planet, in line with DSM’s purpose of creating brighter lives for all and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

The DSM Brighter Living Foundation is proud to offer four impactful young leaders to participate in the One Young World Summit 2023.

The DSM Brighter Living Foundation | One Young World Scholarship will support young entrepreneurs making a local or global impact on agri-food systems in one of the three focus areas.

• Health for the Planet: Unsustainable food production and consumption methods are putting humanity on the brink of exceeding what the planet can physically provide. Climate change is accelerating an already volatile situation; add to this growing global population, and people must rethink the current food systems to ensure healthy diets for all within planetary boundaries.

  Through science-based solutions, partnerships, and advocacy efforts, DSM is helping the food value chain take better care of the planet by producing and consuming more sustainably. ‘Health for Planet’ is one of three focus areas for DSM and the company has made two major commitments in this domain:

  • Enable double-digit on-farm livestock emission reduction by 2030, and
  • Reaching 150 million people with nutritious, sustainable plant-based protein foods by 2030.

• Health for People:

  Mass industrialization of food has provided an abundance for many, but not for all. Meanwhile, poor food composition, accessibility to nutritious foods, and changing lifestyles are leading to undernutrition, hidden hunger, and diet-related illnesses such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease. These issues are further compounded by climate change, conflicts, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

  Good nutrition is essential for good health. ‘Health for People’ is one of three focus areas for DSM and the company has made two major food systems commitments in this domain:

  • ‘Enable to close the micronutrient gap of 800 million vulnerable people by 2030’, and
  • ‘Supporting the immunity of half a billion people by 2030’.

• Healthy Livelihoods:

  ‘Healthy livelihoods’ in this context means the ability for farmers and other food workers to meet basic needs such as food, shelter, and education for their families, with the support of steady, livable incomes (1). Sufficient incomes are a prerequisite for providing healthy diets, education, and shelter for farmers and are a topic of interest by governments and financial donors as steady supply chains are needed for resilient supply chains. Unfortunately, many people working in the food supply chains, including farmers, traders, and factory workers, are unable to afford or have access to healthy food which also imposes supply chain risks:

  • Inequality: Of the nearly one billion farmers in the world, more than 492 million live in extreme poverty,
  • In most developing countries, smallholder farmers make up around 90% of food production and agriculture and employ up to two-thirds of the population, and
  • Farmers and other workers along the food supply chain need fair, steady incomes that will support their basic needs.