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May 31, 2025
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HP Collaborates With Akshara Foundation To Transform Education

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The CSR Journal
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BANGALORE: HP recently announced an innovative collaboration with Akshara Foundation that aims to improve the education experience for more than one million school children across the Indian state of Karnataka. Akshara Foundation is a leading Indian NGO that delivers innovative solutions in its pursuit to provide equitable educational access to young school children, with a mission to have every child in school and learning well. The Foundation needed to identify the resources and facilities needed in schools to improve the reading and math skills of students in government primary schools in India. However, the vast amounts of data from multiple, disparate government and corporate sources made it difficult to gain meaningful insight.

HP data scientists volunteered to analyze data on resources, facilities and records of education attainment to identify the triggers for better learning outcomes. The data analytics uncovered insights, such as the link between education resources, facilities and student retention and empowers Akshara Foundation to make better informed decisions on initiatives with the greatest student impact.

As a result of the project the HP volunteers were awarded the “2014 Global Volunteer Challenge: Most Impactful Program”, securing a U$20,000 grant for the Akshara Foundation. “Akshara Foundation had a wealth of data on over a million school children across nine years,” said Ashok Kamath, Chairman, Akshara Foundation. “We needed a way to turn this data into information that would enable us to make better decisions on which initiatives were helping students to learn and which weren’t.”

The volunteers were inspired by the HP Living Progress program that encourages HP staff to use their creative talents to transform lives, energise business and empower communities. The partnership was pioneered by Rajesh Krishnan, an experienced data scientist from HP’s Analytics and Data Management Practice. Motivated by the abundance of primary data available, HP approached Akshara Foundation with a fresh analytical perspective to turn the data into useful information identifying the links between education resources, facilities and Indian children’s education experiences.

In their personal time, over the course of nine months, the team of volunteers from India and Australia undertook the task of data preparation, involving the cleansing and amalgamation of four disparate corporate and government data sources. Cluster analysis was subsequently applied on the facilities and programs available across all Karnataka government schools. Despite large data sets and incomplete, unformatted data sources, by adapting to commercial algorithms, the team was able to provide accurate insights down to an individual classroom level.

However, the solution went beyond mathematical algorithms, presenting the results in clear and easily understood formats was key to the project success. For example, a custom dashboard was built by HP that provided insights including the optimal pupil teacher ratio and the ideal number of books per child for the best educational outcomes. It has also revealed some surprising insights as Krishnan explains: “A valuable insight the dashboard provided was that engagement was particularly low among 11 to 14-year-old girls,” saidRajesh Krishnan. “However, on further analysis we found that the introduction of separate bathrooms helped to significantly reduce drop-out rates. To have identified a way to keep this demographic in school is incredibly valuable.”

Akshara Foundation plans to use the HP grant to further develop the Karnataka Learning Partnership collaborative platform. The non-profit plans to combine school and community data on education and engage HP’s data analytics capabilities for greater impact. With this progressive use of data and analytics, HP and Akshara Foundation hope to extend the program across India, and will continue to improve learning outcomes for millions of students.

SunEdison ‘Solar Empowers’ Students in Chennai

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The CSR Journal
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CHENNAI: SunEdison, Inc. has announced the installation of a 100 kilowatt (kW) solar system on the premises of the Ramakrishna Mission Students’ Home as a part of its Social Innovations mission to bring electricity to 20 million people by 2020. The project will enable the students at the Mission to be more energy independent and, under a net metering arrangement, can raise revenue for the Mission when surplus electricity is generated. The Ramakrishna Mission Students’ Home serves approximately 700 students in the Indian state of Tamilnadu, and has sister organizations throughout the world providing spiritual and educational opportunities as well as medical services to the public.

Reverend Swami Gautamanandaji Maharaj, Adyaksha of the Sri Ramakrishna Math Center inChennai and Senior Trustee and Governing Body Member of the Ramakrishna Math Center and Mission, stated: “The Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission centers in India and abroad always strive to reduce pollution by using clean and efficient technologies. Generating electricity from renewable energy helps mitigate the air and water pollution emitted by coal power plants that is linked to certain health risks.”

“SunEdison is proud to donate and install this 100 kW solar system to the Ramakrishna Mission Students’ Home,” said Pashupathy Gopalan, President of Asia-Pacific for SunEdison. “The system allows the mission to increase its energy independence and frees up resources to help them focus on vocational training and universal education to students.”

The rooftop installation is composed of 345 high performance SunEdison solar panels, and is connected to the state electricity grid. Under the net metering arrangement, the Mission can export excess electricity produced by the solar panels to the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO), powering nearby buildings with clean solar energy.

‘Smart Cities’ Find No Place In Budget, But Renewable Energy Gets Boost

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The CSR Journal
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DESPITE the Modi government’s repeated commitments to building 100 smart cities in India, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s budget announcement on Saturday made no reference to the ambitious project. However, the Prime Minister’s pet campaigns of Make In India, Digital India, Swachch Bharat, and Clean Ganga did feature prominently in the announcements, as did some initiatives to kick-start renewable energy projects.

Instead of smart cities, the Budget pushed the affordable housing agenda, with Rs. 22,407 crore allotted for the construction of 6 crore homes – 4 crore in rural areas 2 crore homes in urban areas. The lack of allocation for smart cities is not being viewed too negatively by the industry as the government has already signed three agreements with the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) just last January, for developing smart cities in Ajmer, Allahabad and Visakhapatnam, signaling what could be serious contributions to building such cities in the country.USTDA would contribute funds for feasibility studies and pilots, workshops, etc. and other projects to be mutually determined and while the three states would fund advisory services to support the development of smart cities.

The renewable energy sector got a boost with Jaitley doubling coal cess and increasing emphasis on achieving the 1,75,000-megawatt target set for clean energy installations by 2022. Over the next five years, he has promised to provide electricity to the remaining 20,000 villages that still don’t have access to electricity, mostly through off-grid solar power. According to the latest Economic Survey released on Friday, India’s clean energy sector is likely to generate business opportunities of $160 billion over the next five years.

Rail Budget 2015: India to Get Cleaner & Greener Railways

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The CSR Journal
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The Rail Budget for 2015 has been created in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiatives – Swachch Bharat Mission, Make in India and Digital India and has also introduced several environmentally sustainable components. Here are the key ‘green’ highlights of Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu’s presentation of the Railway Budget.

Environment Directorate – a special cell has been set up to improve green practices in the railways.

To reduce dependence on fossil fuels, Indian Railways plans to expand sourcing of solar power by installing 1,000 MW of photovoltaic (PV) arrays at its land and buildings over the next 5 years.

LED lights and appliances will be adopted by the Railways and a detailed Energy Audit is to be carried out to identify potential for energy saving.

An additional 17,000 bio toilets will be added to the existing 17,388 bio toilets.

Indian Railways also plans to demonstrate sensitivity to wildlife by reducing noise levels in wildlife areas.  This is in addition to the previously announced plans to build access points for wildlife to cross without hindering rail traffic.

As part of the water conservation mission of the railways, an audit is proposed, post which water recycling plants will be set up at major water consumption centers.

CSR Spend of Services Sector Should Target J&K, North East

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The CSR Journal
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At the national level, there certainly does not seem to be any bias against the Valley. During the 2014 J&K floods, the civil society had responded positively and immediately. Individuals and many social welfare organisations became active all across the country. Industry body CII formed a special task force to assist in relief work in flood hit J&K in coordination with the state administration. Bollywood actors Hrithik Roshan, Kunal Kapoor and Varun Dhawan also joined hands with crowd-funding site Ketto foundation to raise funds for survival kits. There were countless other initiatives mainly from the local community, organisations across the country and smaller NGOs that worked to provide immediate relief. The Govt of India pledged unlimited financial and material support, other States also chipped in with financial assistance.

 

Strangely, there wasn’t much buzz or awakening on the part of Corporate houses as was evident during the natural disaster faced by Uttrakhand in 2013. Relief and rehabilition effort was well coordinated in Uttrakhand where State Govt supported by IDFC Foundation had setup Corporate & Civil Society Partnership for Action (CPACT) for facilitating shared and coordinated action of State Agencies, Corporate and Civil Society Organisations towards reconstruction of affected areas and rehabilitation of victims.NGOs such as Plan India, HelpAge and  Pragya were quick to jump into the relief and construction activity.  And the Tata group, through the Tata Relief Committee and the Himmotthan Society, in collaboration with the Government of Uttarakhand, was on a war footing towards providing relief to impacted local communities in three districts of the state. They extended support not only through manpower, but also by providing relief materials to the affected.

So why was it that while the central Govt had removed all stops in relief and rehabilitation, not much enthusiasm was visible on the part of business houses and the NGOs to help the people of Jammu and Kashmir? In it’s report ‘Emerging Philanthropy in India’ the National Foundation for India (NFI) points out that ‘a review of geographic area of philanthropic operations seems to suggest that certain regions – particularly theNorth East and Jammu and Kashmir – are underrepresented in wp spending.’ Their findings further elaborated that ‘the selection of focus areas for philanthropic giving by family foundations, and foundations linked to Corporates was primarily based on personal experience and beliefs of the donor rather than a detailed analysis of gaps, strategic fit and potential intervention strategies.’

The Indian industry faces peculiar problems particularly in the State of J&K. There are certain road blocks which prevent them from acquiring, creating and ownership of permanent assets in the State. This could possibly lead to some sort of disconnect or lack of interest on the part of the industry. Article 370 of the Constitution has effectively prevented Indian Industry from establishing and creating permanent assets in the State. However, another report by CII & PricewaterhouseCoopers Private Ltd titled ‘Handbook on Corporate Social Responsibility in India’ points to a possible solution. According to the report, ‘the Companies Act, 2013 encourages companies to target their wp interventions in their local region. While this is an obvious choice for companies that are in manufacturing, those in the services sector (like banking and telecom) with a wider footprint have no concentrated local region. Companies must decide whether their wp activities will be focused on a few geographies (this can be around their plants or specific backward districts) or whether they will prefer to particularly work anywhere in India’. And this is where regions like the North East and the state of J&K may potentially stand to benefit. While frameworking their wp Strategy Corporate companies in the Services sector can choose where they wish to work and their wp Committees could show leadership in selecting these hitherto discounted regions of India and prioritize their wp spend in addressing their needs.

Development & Sustainability Discussed at IPE Global Summit

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The CSR Journal
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New Delhi: IPE Global, in its endeavor to create a knowledge base across relevant stakeholders in India, launched the first edition of the IPE Global Annual Leadership Engagement Programme around the theme of ‘Development and Sustainability’ recently. The engagement programme has been designed to encourage discussion around current economic events and address, in particular, the sustainability concerns and a viable model for the development space in the country. Some of the key attendees at the event, Mr. Onno Ruhl (Country Director India, World Bank) and Mr. Amitabh Kant (Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion) the man behind the successful ‘Make in India’ campaign delivered an address on the need for realizing our socio-economic and environmental goals towards securing global public good.

Mr. Onno Ruhl, said, “This is a great opportunity for us to explore the myths about trade-offs between development and sustainability. It seeks to touch on how all of us can contribute to sustainability bringing opportunities for innovation and job creation.” With India at the cusp of change, Mr. Kant whose ‘Make in India’ campaign has been very crucial in sustaining country’s growth momentum through beefing up the manufacturing sector, also addressed the need to give impetus to the various development projects in India. “We are delighted to launch the first of its kind Annual Engagement Programme in the Development sector. There is a need to realign the efforts of the sector and the government and evaluate the development projects in the country. IPE Global has been growing as an organization providing development consultancy to government, bilateral and multilateral agencies. The engagement programme seeks to bring together industry leaders towards reorienting our awareness system to address sustainability and the related economic development”, as shared by Mr. Ashwajit Singh, Chairman & Managing Director – IPE Global

The company also aimed at commemorating global leaders and thinkers who have significantly contributed to the ever-evolving development sector of the country. IPE Global announced their ‘Development Sector Excellence Awards 2015’ across various categories such as Corporate Social Responsibility; International Relations; Government Department; NGO and Bilateral/Multilateral Donor Agency. Experts from civil society and public institutions came on board to extrapolate the requirement and reforms to develop India’s economic landscape and thereby, emerge as global players. The awardees are –

  • Tamanna Foundation – NGO category for the path breaking work carried out by Tamana Foundation in mainstreaming differently abled children and making them self-reliant
  • Her Excellency Ms. Gennet Zewide Ambassador Extraordinary & Plenipotentiary Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia – International Relations category for the inspirational work carried out by her on global dialogues on women’s issues, and improving relations between Ethiopia and India;
  • Cairn India – wp category for their path-breaking work in impacting communities through their wp programs;

About IPE Global

IPE Global is a development sector consultancy that works with multilateral, bilateral, governments and development agencies in sectors which include Health, Nutrition and Water & Sanitation, Urban Development, Education and Skill Development, Private Sector Development, Infrastructure Development, Forest Governance, Agricultural Development, Tourism, Heritage and Conservation. The organization focuses on six practice areas, Democratic Governance, Grant and Fund Management, Monitoring Evaluation and Learning, Social and Economic Empowerment, Economic and Public Financial Management and IT and e-Governance. It is headquartered in Delhi, India with four international offices in United Kingdom, Kenya, Ethiopia and Bangladesh. It has undertaken more than 700 projects for international agencies including the World Bank, ADB, UNICEF, UNDP, DFID, USAID and JICA.

CSR & You: Amhi Amchya Arogyasathi

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The CSR Journal
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Kurukehda, Gadchiroli, Maharashtra, Project by: Amhi Amchya Arogyasathi

CATEGORY: Eligible CSR Activity Under the Companies Act 2013 Schedule VII, (i)-(iii)  ‘promoting preventive health care and sanitation…’  ‘promoting education, including special education …

especially among children, women…’  ‘promoting gender equality, empowering women,…’

Want to Fund this Project?

Write to us at editor@thecsrjournal.in and we will assist you with the process.

CSR & You: Craft Ashram

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The CSR Journal
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Belda, West Bengal  Project by: KADAM  CATEGORY: Eligible CSR Activity Under the Companies Act 2013 Schedule VII, items: (ii) ‘…employment enhancing vocation skills especially among children, women, elderly, and the differently abled and livelihood enhancement projects’ (iii) ‘…promoting gender equality, empowering women…’ (v) ‘…promotion and development of traditional arts and handicrafts.’ Funding Required: Rs 28 Lacs (approx) The Organization: KADAM was set up to address the issues of the poor women & youth in eastern India villages via Handicrafts- their local trade. Today 500-600 artisans are able to

CATEGORY: Eligible CSR Activity Under the Companies Act 2013 Schedule VII, items: (ii) ‘…employment enhancing vocation skills especially among children, women, elderly, and the differently abled and livelihood enhancement projects’ (iii) ‘…promoting gender equality, empowering women…’ (v) ‘…promotion and development of traditional arts and handicrafts.’ Funding Required: Rs 28 Lacs (approx) The Organization: KADAM was set up to address the issues of the poor women & youth in eastern India villages via Handicrafts- their local trade. Today 500-600 artisans are able to

Funding Required: Rs 28 Lacs (approx)

The Organization: KADAM was set up to address the issues of the poor women & youth in eastern India villages via Handicrafts- their local trade. Today 500-600 artisans are able to self-sustain their families and 12 of them run their own enterprise with KADAM’s intervention.

Want to Fund this Project?

Write to us at editor@thecsrjournal.in and we will assist you with the process.

Mondelez India’s ‘Shubh Aarambh’ To Adress Development Needs Of Children

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The CSR Journal
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Mondelez India Foods Private Ltd. (formerly known as Cadbury India Ltd.) today announced its national community initiative ‘Shubh Aarambh’ to address the development needs of children by promoting healthy and active lives.
The CSR programme is expected to impact close to 200,000 beneficiaries across 5 states over the next three years. Shubh Aarambh will be initially activated in 65 villages across the states of Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu – around the company’s manufacturing and cocoa operations. The company has partnered with NGOs Save the Children and Magic Bus to develop a unique delivery to implement this multi-pronged and multi-year programme in India. The programme is supported by the Mondelez International Foundation in addition to local funding.
Shubh Aarambh is designed to address children across the age groups of 0-6, 7-14 and youth from 15-18 and will have a holistic approach to development. Working alongside parents, educators and community health workers, the programme aims to improve nutrition and health, encourage sports and play, deliver development messages, provide access to fresh foods through kitchen gardens, train youth leaders, encourage and support education and skills development.
Chandramouli Venkatesan, Managing Director, Mondelez India Private Foods Ltd., said, “Shubh Aarambh is symbolic of new beginnings for young children and youth in the communities in which we operate. As a company, we believe good values and good business go hand in hand and we hope to see Shubh Aarambh gaining acceptance and growing over the years into a programme that has made a real difference to communities and achieved key development goals. Our vision is that Shubh Aarambh will create a long term grassroots sustainable which will build communities of healthy, educated and productive young people. Given the importance of India to Mondelez International, we are delighted to receive initial funding from our global foundation for the next three years to build and sustain the programme.”
Thomas Chandy, CEO, Save the Children said, “I am excited about the newly launched partnership between Mondelez India, Magic Bus and Save the Children as it represents yet another wonderful opportunity to positively impact the lives of children in India. This unique collaborative effort, through its focus on active play and good nutrition, will help to create an environment that fosters the all-round development of children and their families. We at Save the Children are proud to be a part of and to contribute to the creation of such an initiative.”
Pratik Kumar, CEO, Magic Bus said, “We are very happy to be part of Mondelez India’s initiative to better our children’s nutrition and active life. Magic Bus’s work is centered around changing children, youth and communities’ behaviors and skills such that they learn how to grow up healthy. The focus on active play is an underserved cause in Indian communities. We are very hopeful that our partnership with Mondelez India will help us in making sure children living in some of India’s poorest areas stay healthy and grow up well.” Shubh Aarambh has a multi-pronged approach and will include programmes targeting:
– Mothers and their children in the age group of 0-6 for early healthcare, nutrition and health education – thereby impacting young children.
– Children in the age group of 7-14 to promote physical and sports activities, nutrition education and positive social and life skills.
– Youth in the age group of 15-18 trained to become peer leaders to build a sustainable, active and healthy community.
– Community to build awareness and knowledge of affordable nutrient rich fruits, vegetables and establishment of kitchen gardens.

CSR To Bring Smiles & Financial Literacy To 18mn Children In India

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The CSR Journal
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NEW DELHI: MetLife Foundation and Sesame Workshop in India, the organization behind Galli Galli Sim Sim (the Indian adaptation of Sesame Street), have recently launched a new multimedia global initiative called “Sapna, Bachat, Udaan: Aarthik Bal, Har Parivar ka Haq.” This initiative is the Indian adaptation of the global programme “Dream, Save, Do: Financial Empowerment for Families.” The programme, focuses on young children and their families (in particular the heads of households, more often women) with an intention to help them acquire prudent healthy financial skills and behaviour. The programme will provide engaging content featuring the Galli Galli Sim Sim Muppets, language for discussion, and effective strategies for spending, saving, sharing and donating.

“Sapna, Bachat, Udaan” will expand to a total of 10 countries in the coming years. In India, it will reach the target population of 1.7 million people through community engagement (in Bihar, Delhi and Jharkhand) and over 18 million children through television (national). This programme will be evaluated by independent research to demonstrate the impact. The efforts are specifically tailored to address global needs as well as the particular needs of families in targeted countries. A core set of audio-visual, print and digital resources, were created for the initiative and will be shared and tailored in countries including India, Mexico, China and six other countries. “Both MetLife Foundation and Sesame Workshop have long histories of supporting the communities in which we work.

Our goal is to ensure that families have access to the knowledge which will put them on the path to financial security,” said Tarun Chugh, Managing Director & CEO, PNB MetLife.” In India we are also focusing on education and development of underprivileged through projects in Karnataka and Jammu & Kashmir.

Through our various CSR initiatives, we hope to create a positive impact on the lives of underprivileged children in the communities we operate in.” “Since 2009, Sesame Workshop in India and MetLife Foundation have partnered to deliver critical messages and content to children and the adults in their lives, using the power of multiple media platforms and the Sesame Street Muppets to help children grow smarter, stronger and kinder,” said Sashwati Banerjee, Managing Director, Sesame Workshop in India. “Being smart means knowing so much more than letters and numbers.

It means knowing how to solve problems and to think creatively. Our approach is to incorporate financial empowerment-related activities in daily routines and practices, facilitate open communication and interaction between children and adults. We will also provide valuable information and skills that address the needs of the whole child and help families and children be better prepared for the future and potential setbacks.” “Money is a part of a child’s everyday life, beginning at an early age with observations of the money habits of adults, and continuing to observe these habits throughout their entire lives,” said Dennis White, President and CEO, MetLife Foundation.

“It is important for children to develop a strong foundation that encourages wise financial decision-making.That’s why we’ve collaborated with Sesame Workshop, which has a proven track record of successfully educating communities in need worldwide. The partnership will help build financial empowerment among underserved families.” The benefit of acquiring healthy financial skills and behaviours goes beyond economic impact. Learning to set goals, plan, make choices, acquire knowledge and save through exposure to “Sapna, Bachat, Udaan” can assist families, for example, inaccessing preventative health services, which, in turn, decreases the likelihood of contracting serious health problems. In addition to family health, limiting access to education can have another ripple effect.

A lack of capital and financial reserves can be a barrier to families who want to provide for the education of their children. Over the last year, the two organizations have worked together to build a coalition of global and local advisors and specialists to inform content development. Financial empowerment is determined to have three core elements:

  • “We can do it!” Having a positive attitude including having confidence and aspirations.
  • “How can we do it?” Knowing behaviours related to self-regulation and executive function (conscious control of thoughts, feelings and actions) that can help set, plan and achieve goals.
  • “What information do we need” Having the knowledge and information needed to achieve financial empowerment and reach one’s goals.

Research and advice from the global and local experts were used to drive the creation of messages and to gauge reach, understanding, and educational and social impact. Families will be exposed to a wide-range of multimedia content including new animated and live action segments, interactive games, comics, songs, activity sheets, and caregiver guides featuring the beloved Galli Galli Sim Sim characters through digital media, broadcast, community outreach, local events and seminars. The programme’s audio-visual content, print materials, digital games and facilitator guides will also be available on its website www.dreamsavedo.galligallisimsim.com.

An estimated  2.5 billion people worldwide are particularly vulnerable because of low income and lack of capacity to access affordable, safe financial services and products to help manage day to day expenses, respond to the unexpected, and save for the future. In India, approximately 98 per cent of the previously unbanked households with no-frills bank accounts have already been covered – under the Jan Dhan Yojana.

The challenge now is to make sure that the families improve their livelihoods and secure the future for their children. In November 2013, MetLife Foundation announced its commitment of $20 million over five years to Sesame Workshop to address financial empowerment among families with young children throughout the world. The funding, which is part of MetLife Foundation’s $200 million, five-year commitment to financial inclusion will reach close to 75 million people worldwide.

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