Deutsche Bank and Swades Foundation today announced a CSR initiative by which 40,000 fruit-bearing trees will be planted in the Raigad district of Maharashtra, impacting the lives of over 4,000 people living there.
The initiative marks 40 years since Deutsche Bank opened its first branch in India (in Mumbai) and also four years of a successful corporate social responsibility (CSR) partnership with Swades Foundation in Raigad district. The trees, which will begin bearing fruit in 3-4 years, are expected to generate an annual income of INR 6 crores for the beneficiaries.
“Supporting small-scale agriculture has a significant impact on reducing rural poverty as it offers the most direct route for people in rural areas to benefit from land and labour – their principal assets,” said Kaushik Shaparia, Chief Country Officer, Deutsche Bank India. “We’re confident that our partnership with Swades Foundation will meaningfully transform the lives of people in Raigad district.”
“Deutsche Bank’s relentless efforts towards rural upliftment in India are noteworthy and we are happy to be part of the shared vision to transform and empower India at a grassroots level. Deutsche Bank has been one of our biggest supporters in rural transformation in the last four years and we look forward to celebrating many more exciting milestones together,” said Ronnie Screwvala, Founder, Swades Foundation.
Deutsche Bank’s CSR partnership with Swades Foundation, now in its fourth year, has impacted the lives of 43,500 people in the Raigad district of Maharashtra so far and has involved the bank’s employees volunteering over 2,500 hours since April 2018. Through its ‘In the Community’ programme, Deutsche Bank has worked with Swades Foundation to touch the lives of over 10,000 rural families, providing sustainable access to clean water in homes as well as in the fields to promote agri-based livelihoods.
Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Deutsche Bank and Swades Foundation have together distributed over 11,000 grocery and daily essentials kits in rural homes in Raigad since April. In Mumbai, the bank has also supported Swades Foundation in providing nine ventilators and 14 oxygen concentrators to Dr R N Cooper Municipal General Hospital and HBT Trauma Care Hospital.
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Apart from states like Rajasthan, MP, Odisha and others establishing their own CSR portals, district administrations are jumping in on the action for a share of the Indian CSR pie. Chief among them is Pulwama District, which made national headlines for the infamous 2019 attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed. Deputy Commissioner (DC) Pulwama, Dr Raghav Langer on Saturday launched the website Taawun. It will be the Pulwama district’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) portal. Taawun means partnership in Urdu.
The DC said the aim of the portal is to create a common platform between district NGOs, voluntary organisations, community-based organisations and district administration. He added that the CSR portal shall disseminate data and information on the status of projects. On the occasion, DC hailed the efforts put by various NGOs, voluntary organisations and volunteers in fortifying the efforts of government in the fight against COVID-19.
A felicitation ceremony was also conducted in which certificates of appreciation were distributed among the representatives of various NGOs, CBOs (Community-based Organisations) and volunteers like Chinar Foundation, J&K Yateem Trust, Ehsaas Trust Foundation, Hayaat welfare, Noble Hands and Art of Living Kashmir who have been at the forefront in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier, SBI Pulwama branch donated protective equipment worth one lakh to the Pulwama District Administration.
The portal has tabs for CSR Committee Composition, Model Estimates, Non-binding MoU format, Multimedia Scroll Gallery, Query box, and list of activities by NGOs. The district CSR committee has been given the mandate to explore various sources of donations and contributions besides identifying critical gaps.
The economic hardship induced by the lockdown has left the boatmen in Varanasi with no source of income. Their misery has been compounded with the onset of monsoon as they cannot venture into the Ganga river. The timely intervention of the Mukul Madhav Foundation (MMF), and Finolex Industries to provide them with grocery kits helped them overcome a humanitarian crisis.
MMF has collaborated with Vikas Khanna, Michelin Master Chef and Feed India Initiative to support these communities in Varanasi. For those living on the banks of the Aasi Ghat, Varanasi, tourism is the mainstay. The lockdown robbed them of their livelihood as they were not allowed to venture into the river at a time when it’s their main season before the onset of monsoon.
Rations for boatmen in Varanasi
The Foundation stepped forward to support not only 700 boatman families but also Widows, transgender and physically challenged who have been left helpless during the crisis. A cumulative 2,000 grocery kits were distributed in the presence of Nikhil Zanvar Mushtaque Ali, ex-Indian Football team captain Lalit Upadhyay, Indian Men’s Hockey team player Vinod Singh, Director of Sheat Engg College.
Over the last 4 months, CSR of Finolex Industries and MMF have been providing grocery kits to daily wage workers, slum dwellers, rag pickers, migrants, transgender communities, sex workers primarily in Maharashtra and a pan India effort to support the plumber community. MMF was at the forefront to assist those affected in West Bengal by the Amphan Cyclone. A total of 80,000 people have been supported by the Foundation so far thanks to the support received from like-minded individuals, donors and partner organizations.
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CSR funding can be utilised to effectively develop the value chain for sports employment in India including training programmes and curriculum for coaches and service personnel, infrastructure and equipment for training. Training and placement of youth in emerging sports jobs in the sector can be well-funded by corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes.
A success story
Take the example of Homkant Surandase. Homkant is the son of a marginal labourer who comes from a remote village called Ner, near Yavatmal in the state of Maharashtra and left his home when many farmers in his village were committing suicide due to the harsh economic situation they were facing.
In Yavatmal, he came across kids participating in the Zopadpatti Football Tournament one day and before he knew it, his life took a new direction. Joining in with a competing team, his “can do” attitude was noticed more than his ability. Homkant was successful in the trials for the Homeless World Cup team in 2008, he represented India in Melbourne.
Returning from Australia, he began to help out with the Slum Soccer tournaments and was given a full-time post with them early in 2009. Slum Soccer is a nonprofit organisation that uses the game of football to transform the lives of street kids. The NGO itself has various social and CSR partners including FIFA Football for Hope, Sony Pictures Networks and Reliance Industries.
India was chosen as one of the pilot countries for the Football Plus programme and Homkant took the opportunity to train as a coach. He also went to Sweden in 2017 as a “role model” from India at UN camp Sweden. The camp is part of a 5-year co-operation between The Power of Sport Foundation and the United Nations. The initiative is about creating Role Models in societies around the world through sport.
Homkant with role models from 10 other countries at UN camp Sweden in 2017
Homkant is now a full-time staff member of Krida Vikas Sanstha in Nagpur. He regularly delivers coaching sessions to kids from different slums and rehabilitation projects. He was trained under Football Plus Programme, which was run by Homeless World Cup Foundation.
Scope of Sports Employment
According to NSDC skill gap estimates, India is short of 2 million coaches to achieve its 2022 goal for 26 elite sports. In addition to that, supporting trainers, medicine experts, psychologists and nutritionist are in short by 80,000. We are in short of 40,000 PE teachers every year.The sports goods industry has been in existence for more than a century in India and is pegged roughly at about USD 3.6 billion. Meerut and Jalandhar account for nearly 75% of the total production of sports goods in India and employ more than 4 lakh people. India exported sports goods worth around $180 million in 2015 growing by 17.2% year-on-year.
As for entrepreneurship and employment, sports startups are on the rise. Companies involved in sports infrastructure, data/ content aggregation, education and training, online retail, technology and online ticket booking are springing up. From ventures such as Smaash Entertainment and Kick which provide experiential infrastructure for playing outdoor games, to data analytics firms like SlamdunQ and Fantain providing information to help athletes improve their performance, tech startups in sports are on the rise. These startups are generating more avenues for sports employment in India.
The slowdown of the economy rendered youth hailing from shelter jobs over the age of 18, jobless and unable to manage their living expenses. While temporary relief through donations was available during the initial months, it has started dwindling and raised the requirement of a regular earning source for their sustenance. Youth care-leavers (youngsters who leave the shelter homes) lack awareness and exposure to career guidance, finding employment and work skills. As a result, they take up low-paying, odd jobs in the unorganized sector, which is one of the worst affected sectors during this pandemic.
Nonprofit organisation Muskurahat Foundation launched Project Saarthi with the aim to equip these youngsters to find employment on an emergency basis and work with them in the long term to identify and take steps towards building their choice of career. The long-term vision of the project is to support the youngsters in equipping them with life skills and mental health support to be able to uplift themselves from their current situation.
Due to the on-going Covid-19 situation, Muskurahat Foundation identified a pressing need of income source for a cluster of youth care-leavers in Kolhapur (youth of 18 years and above who are required to leave the care of shelter homes as per the JJ Act). An emergency job readiness training was conducted in Kolhapur for a pilot batch of 35 youngsters to help them identify and secure job opportunities in line with the current job trends. Parallel to this, the youngsters will be paired with one-on-one mentors to guide them in identifying their life goals and action plans to achieve it.
“As we explored this segment, we realised the lack of NGO penetration in Kolhapur and surrounding areas, a result of which is the lack of exposure for the children in shelter homes. These children anyway grow up with the absence of a family that takes care of your basic needs till the time they are able to earn their own living,” says Himanshu Goenka, Founder, Muskurahat Foundation. “The requirement was urgent and of their survival, we took quick decisions to support them in the interim to resolve their immediate requirements while keeping our focus on the long term that is to help them build quality lives for themselves.”
The day-long workshop was packed with identifying their existing skills and interests and matching it with the current availability of jobs in and around them. The participants were exposed to different avenues of finding jobs, preparing for application, job query and interview preparation, etc. All tangible takeaways that would help the participant to start their job search immediately and rationally. The need for on-ground training proved essential as the participants didn’t possess smartphones or reliable networks and to ensure their buy-in into the project.
With the pilot batch underway, the learnings are helping Muskurahat plan and execute more batches that will serve the large community of youth care-leaves currently in need in Kolhapur. Additionally, a scholarship is made available to all participants to take up skill-building courses to bridge their skill gap.
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Over 200,000 tourists came to Corbett Tiger Reserve in 2019 and left behind a mountain of waste for local villages to deal with. In January 2020, a tigress and her cubs were photographed chewing plastic drums in Corbett, but this is just one of the countless unnoticed incidents over the years.
Imagine a national park that’s famous for accumulating plastic waste more than its Tigers or Elephants. This is where Corbett might be headed if nothing is done. It’s no doubt that India’s first Tiger Reserve and Asia’s first National Park, Corbett is iconic for both national and international tourists. As tourist numbers boomed, so did the amount of solid waste.
Dehradun-based waste management NGO Waste Warriors has partnered with Wishonary to raise funds to clean up the forests and borders of Corbett Tiger Reserve in the Himalayan Terai Arc landscape. Since 2013, the team at Waste Warriors Corbett, initiated by local resident Minakshi Pandey and consisting of 9 local youth and 15 Self-help Group women, have managed to remove over 450 tonnes of solid waste in local villages like Dhikuli, Sunderkhal, and Kyari. Apart from over 450 clean-ups with 6500 volunteers, including with Forest and CTR authorities, the teams regularly engage villages and schools to change behaviours and build SWM (solid waste management) systems. But much more support is needed to continue their efforts.
Waste collection at Corbett Tiger Reserve
Their fundraising campaign, called ‘Adopt A Village’, aims to support grassroots efforts to reduce the environmental impact on animals and forests caused by habitat degradation and plastic waste pollution, by building systems for solid waste management in 20 villages around Corbett. This fundraiser will support the ongoing efforts of trained local underprivileged youth and women-led SHGs, thereby keeping villages and forests cleaner, reducing the impact of wildlife, and providing meaningful livelihoods at the same time.
Puspendu Mandal (Project Manager, Waste Warriors Corbett), says, “Most (people) don’t realize plastic pollution itself is also an unacknowledged pandemic. It is present in the air, water, and soil, building up in our environment. There’s a strong need to work together to prevent and solve this. Our work in Corbett shows how this can be done in rural areas across India.” Mandal was the Tourism Manager at MP’s famous Satpura Tiger Reserve.
On 17th July, Waste Warriors launched a fundraiser with Wishonary, a social enterprise and online platform that connects grassroots organizations and social workers with corporates and supportive individuals, with the intention of solving local development issues. COO Vivek Saxena, Wishonary adds, “Our partnership with Waste Warriors is an extension to our effort in creating community-level engagement for bringing social change. We wanted to share the true picture of wildlife conservation in our country and support waste warriors with the community that can enable Waste Warriors with financial support and visibility they need to save wildlife at Corbett.”
Waste Warriors hopes that people, especially wildlife enthusiasts, environmentalists, and even those who have experienced the beauty of nature reserves, will respond to this call to adopt a village and support a cleaner Corbett.
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GAIL (India) Limited has been included in the prestigious FTSE4Good Index Series for the fourth time in a row, affirming the Company’s strong commitment towards Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices in the Oil & Gas Sector. Created by the global index and data provider FTSE Russell, the FTSE4Good Index Series is designed to measure the performance of companies demonstrating strong ESG practices. The FTSE4Good indexes are used by a wide variety of market participants to create and assess responsible investment funds and other products.
GAIL Chairman & Managing Director Shri Manoj Jain said, “I am pleased that GAIL (India) Limited has been included in the FTSE4Good Index Series for the fourth year in a row. This is proof of our commitment towards sustainable development while also doing business responsibly and focusing on our stakeholders.” GAIL is striving to implement Sustainability initiatives across all sites of the company, he added.
FTSE Russell evaluations are based on performance in areas such as Corporate Governance, Health & Safety, Anti-Corruption and Climate Change. Businesses included in the FTSE4Good Index Series meet a variety of environmental, social and governance criteria. It ranks the largest global companies based on ESG performance and transparency in information disclosure.
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The digital revolution permeating every aspect of daily life has made it essential for the CSR domain to play catch-up or else be left out. This actuality rings true more so in the case of the digital economy since social projects rely on private and public funding. This evolution was necessary even before COVID-19 changed the definition of ‘normal’. In the post-pandemic world, it’s practically an emergency for tech companies to take up the baton of reinventing CSR to make the digital transformation easier for other companies. One global tech firm that has already been building organised systems in this regard is IBM. We take a look at how IBM CSR has taken the lead in using technology such as AI and cloud, techniques including agile and Design Thinking.
IBM is reinventing its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices to meet the emerging needs of communities around the world. Leveraging IBM’s latest technology, techniques, and talent, IBM CSR is empowering civil organizations and communities to equip themselves for the future. The CSR Journal presents below excerpts from a white paper outlining how IBM is reinventing CSR in the digital economy to achieve scaled impact across the world. Excerpts from the paper:
1. IBM’s approach to Corporate Social Responsibility
Through all community efforts, as through business pursuits, IBM seeks to provide meaningful leadership in creating solutions, bringing them to scale and making them sustainable. Corporate Social Responsibility programmes are good for business too — strong communities coincide directly with strong business outcomes.
IBM leverages what it does best to provide the most impact. IBM CSR practices are aligned with the IBM business model, which enables identification causes that the company is best suited to positively impact. This means choosing focus areas that are aligned to IBM’s business imperatives as well as utilizing IBM’s technology, tools, and IBMers’ talent to make a difference. IBM CSR focuses primarily on education and skills, where the technology, techniques, and talent of the company can make a true difference globally.
Digital technologies have transformed the lives of billions, but in doing so have also changed the types of workforce skills demanded by various industries. The World Economic Forum states that required job skills will shift significantly by 2022. IBM CSR focuses on education and skills to prepare the current and future workforce to meet these demands; with special focus on underserved communities. As a leading technology company, there is not only a huge opportunity but also a duty to equip the workforce with the technological skills required to be successful in the evolving job market.
As Ginni Rometty, CEO of IBM, stated: “Ultimately, our challenge as a society isn’t about AI replacing jobs—it’s about people and skills. If we introduce new technology into the world but don’t equip our workforce with the necessary skills, we’re not living up to our obligation as responsible innovators”. With IBM’s expertise in AI, blockchain, cybersecurity, cloud, and a multitude of other rising technologies, the company is suited to leverage its combined resources to provide this education to communities in need.
2. IBM CSR in India
STEM for Girls India is the flagship programme of IBM CSR our country
STEM learning (short for science, technology, engineering & mathematics) is the key to innovation and the future. Girls are pushing the boundaries of traditional social restrictions, and with STEM learning, effective mentorship and career opportunities, they can thrive in the digital economy.
Among IBM’s efforts in this regard is STEM for Girls India, a 3-year CSR programme to help high-school girls throughout India by promoting digital literacy, coding/tech skills, career development, and girls’ empowerment. Its goal is to advance the STEM skills and career prospects of over 200,000 girls, as well as 100,000 boys. STEM for Girls India began in 2019, working with 10 states to reach over 600 secondary schools and 78,000 students.
https://youtu.be/YdmUET2bM_0
“Schools need to break any ‘gendered notions of intelligence’ and encourage girls not only to learn science at secondary and higher levels, but also to pursue careers in STEM.”
– Manoj Balachandran, IBM India CSR leader
STEM for Girls India uses a multiyear learning curriculum, starting in eighth and ninth grades. Students get access to the latest technical knowledge, and an environment to test these skills in real-life situations. The initiative includes professional development for teachers, and IBMers are engaged as mentors throughout the year to provide girls with much-needed role models.
“India’s huge talent pool has an amazing opportunity to contribute to our country’s tech prowess. IBM’s collaboration with state governments will help girls participate and become future-ready — better aligned with market shifts and industry needs.”
– Sandip Patel, IBM India/South Asia General Manager
3. Using Technology to Solve the Biggest Challenges
IBM embodies the idea of putting smart to work and is currently at the forefront of some of the most cutting-edge technology, including blockchain, AI, machine learning, and analytics. IBM CSR leverages those same cutting-edge technologies to enact Smart for Good, bringing the best in talent and technology to help people succeed and communities thrive. These powerful tools have empowered government, non-profit, and community partners to succeed in a changing digital landscape. By ensuring that innovations coming from the IBM business are readily available and transferable to IBM’s CSR work, the company will continue making an impact.
3.1 Case Study: Artificial Intelligence (AI)
United Way Worldwide (UWW) provides 2-1-1, a free, confidential service that helps people across North America find the local resources they need 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. When Hurricane Irma hit Florida in 2017, the 2-1-1 service was inundated with public inquiries. UWW requested assistance from IBM in determining how they could alleviate the strain on their call centres during such times. IBM developed a virtual agent, or chatbot, for them, using CARLA (Cognitive Automated Response Learning Agent) technology. CARLA uses AI to connect incoming callers with the right resources or people, learning over time to improve its outcomes.
When Hurricane Michael devastated the Florida panhandle in 2018, CARLA was quickly deployed to provide Florida residents with vital information — both in English and Spanish — about evacuation, shelters, food, medications, and applying for government assistance. Hundreds of people used CARLA following Hurricane Michael, and the technology will be available during disasters and crises in the future on 211.org and local 211 websites. IBM has also worked with United Way on a chatbot for their Louisiana 2-1-1 service with a vision to expand nationwide.
3.2 Case Study: Open Source
In 2018, IBM launched a $25 million, four-year IBM Code and Response effort to put open source technologies developed as part of coding challenges in the communities where they are needed most. As open source development makes source code publicly available, users can see how the software was designed, enabling a wide exchange of ideas to foster technological innovation and choice.
Call for Code, a Code and Response initiative, challenges teams of up to five participants to write code and leverage one or more IBM offerings to create solutions that can be deployed as a sustainable business model. The inaugural winner in 2018, Project Owl, developed an Internet of Things (IoT) and software solution to quickly activate a communications network, including after a disaster. The second annual winner, Prometeo, developed an AI-based platform to monitor and act on firefighter health and safety in real-time and over the long term.
Project Owl was the inaugural winner of IBM’s Call for Code challenge which has gone on to establish various sustainable models
Through Call for Code, IBM has the power to activate developer expertise and innovative ideas powered by IBM technology and furthered by open source communities. Additionally, dedicated campaigns are offered for university students and IBMers to participate. These competitions enable IBM to inspire, mobilize, and support target populations while developing skills and engaging employees to maximize impact.
3.3 Case Study: Data Analytics
Human Trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry with $150 billion in annual profits and 40.3 million victims of modern slavery globally. Information about human trafficking comes from diverse sources, from local news, financial transactions, and the web to official government agency reports. IBM partnered with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Deliver Fund, and Stop the Traffik to turn this information into actionable intelligence.
After two years of design and development, IBM, along with a multi-sector consortium of organizations announced the launch of the Traffik Analysis Hub (TA Hub) – an international data sharing and analytics platform to disrupt human trafficking. Nonprofits, law enforcement, and financial institutions are using the TA Hub to share vital data on trafficking and applying IBM’s Watson AI and other tools to analyze blended data to uncover hotspots and routes that have not been evident before. With IBM i2 software, teams can visually analyze trends and hotspots and use this information to target awareness programmes that ultimately help disrupt human trafficking.
4. Using Talent to Solve Big Problems
Rather than following an approach in which only dedicated employees carry out values-driven work, IBMers across the company deliver social impact. This helps maximize the force of efforts and holds everyone accountable to shared goals. While IBM CSR coordinates the global corporate responsibility portfolio, local leaders across the company manage social impact initiatives optimized for their geographies and industries.
IBM provides a spectrum of social impact opportunities – from long term engagements such as participating in IBM Service Corps or delivering IBM innovation grants to strategic nonprofits, to smaller activities that are aligned with the business and IBMers individual interests.
4.1 Case Study: IBM Volunteers
IBM enables its employees to give back to the communities where they live and work through volunteerism and donations. The IBM Volunteers global programme helps active and retired employees apply their professional skills to community needs with a wide range of resources to organize and deliver effective volunteer support. Since its inception in 2003, the CSR programme has recorded 22 million volunteer hours across 94 countries.
In 2018, IBM decided to build upon the flagship IBM Volunteers programme by aligning the programme with IBM’s smart technology and transforming the experience for both volunteers and beneficiaries. IBM.org, a new centralized social impact platform that launched in 2019, was designed for an engaging experience that connects IBMers to global CSR opportunities using data and insights. It simplifies and celebrates IBMer giving and volunteering, providing a single destination for IBMers to learn about and actively participate in the company’s social impact programmes.
IBMers can easily view a comprehensive list of thousands of opportunities in their local community, filter based on personal interest and location, and sign up to volunteer directly through the platform. In the same platform IBMers can seamlessly track giving and volunteering milestones and connect with peers across the globe while also learning about powerful stories of IBMers and community partners putting #GoodTechIBM to work around the world. IBM.org was deployed globally using a combination of DevOps capabilities for rapid sprints and agile engagement with users for testing, adoption and scalability. The most recent Net Promoter Scores (NPS) are in the high 70s.
5. IBM Design Thinking
At the heart of the company’s approach to human-centred experiences is IBM Design Thinking, a framework to solve users’ problems at the speed and scale of the modern digital enterprise. The IBM Design Thinking Framework stems from three underlying principles:
1) Focusing on user outcomes, which drives business by helping users achieve their goals.
2) Restless reinvention, for which IBM designers counsel to “treat everything as a prototype.” By continually iterating through a loop of “observe, reflect, and make,” IBMers are always moving toward great outcomes for their users and clients.
3) Engaging diverse empowered teams, to enable faster progress. Design Thinking teams at IBM must have a diverse composition of expertise, backgrounds, experience levels, gender, race, ability, and age. These teams are equipped with the expertise and authority to deliver outcomes without relying on others for leadership or technical support.
5.1 Case Study: IBM Service Corps Redesign
For more than 10 years, the IBM Service Corps programme gave IBM’s most talented employees the chance to help communities around the world tackle complex problems. Teams of 8 – 15 members from across IBM partner for four weeks with nonprofit, government, educational, and civic leaders to address high-priority issues such as education and skills, health and disaster preparedness.
IBM Design Thinking
In working to uphold the programme’s relevance and sustain its impact into the future, IBM CSR used Design Thinking workshops to envision how IBM could make the programme more accessible to a broader group of IBMers by scaling participation and simultaneously improving user experiences.
The team brought together over 100 IBM Service Corps alumni, prospective participants, and program staff over several workshops across the world. Working with these diverse stakeholders, IBM was able to successfully identify user pain points and build out a roadmap for the future and identify the stepping stones needed to achieve this vision, ensuring maximum impact for beneficiaries and employees alike. For example, by focusing on user needs, it became clear that providing both international and local volunteer opportunities would open the IBM Service Corps engagement model to thousands of other IBMers.
Further, the workshops demonstrated the power of alumni supporting participants, and they are now engaged for project scoping and providing local guidance when teams deployed close by. By using Design Thinking to regularly re-engaging participants, IBM will ensure that the programme continues to get feedback from various stakeholders and iterate as needed.
6. Collaborating to Build Better Outcomes
Corporate Social Responsibility at IBM is designed to enable IBMers to have a positive impact on the world. As such, CSR of IBM is engaged in a co-creation exercise with employees to build opportunities to create social impact for the future. The objective of this exercise was to gain buy-in during a period of significant change, improve the employee experience through more personalized programmes, and identify change agents to roll out the new strategic CSR vision.
The exercise resulted in an overwhelmingly positive response from IBMers and covered a diverse population – over 60 countries and 50 business units. This wide-reaching participation equipped management with specific insights to leverage as they continue to implement the CSR strategy. For example, an insight discovered through the exercise revealed that remote workers want in-person volunteer experience as this in-person interaction with fellow IBMers is something they feel they are missing in their regular work schedule. Overall, the IBMer co-creation exercise identified employee areas of interest and insights at scale allowing leadership to engage with employees and utilize these insights to redesign CSR programmes to be more impactful.
SkillsBuild is IBM CSR’s new digital experience platform that provides job seekers, including the long-term unemployed, refugees, asylum seekers and veterans, with career-fit assessments, training, personalized coaching and the experiential learning they need to re-enter the workforce. Skillsbuild is available for users who register through local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). It provides personalized coaching and experiential learning as well as IBM Digital Badges, which strengthen digital resumes and connect skills to real job listings. The CSR programme goes the final mile to present users with employment opportunities.
IBM SkillsBuild platform imparts free skills, job and career growth learning
The underlying architecture of SkillsBuild.org based in the latest microservices: Kubernetes and dockers configuration technology allows plug ’n play flexibility for partners’ integration and unprecedented personalization for users. SkillsBuild is built on an open ecosystem through four different types of partnerships:
— Content providers in the microlearning, gaming, and coding spaces.
— Technology partners including My Inner Genius for assessments, Credly’s Acclaim badging platform, and Crowdsift for projects and coaching interface.
— Other companies that offer content, mentors, project opportunities, and employment opportunities.
— NGOs that serve as both go-to-market enablers, bringing their beneficiaries to the platform, and as beneficiaries for their own development and transformation.
The starting point for partner-driven engagements is to leverage existing relationships where a level of trust is already established. For SkillsBuild, IBM CSR drew on the relationship network of CSR managers in different countries (France, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany, Philippines, Turkey and India) to secure the first partners for SkillsBuild. After that, targeted engagement was helpful to get traction with new organizations who heard what IBM CSR was doing with existing partners and wanted to get engaged. “It was a contagious effect and happened very quickly” stated Lisa Neddam, IBM’s SkillsBuild lead.
Most importantly, co-creation with partners allowed SkillsBuild to increase its impact on beneficiaries. As every stakeholder knows something about end-users, using a shared vision and success metrics will enable an optimized approach. Co-creation allowed SkillsBuild stakeholders to come together and share knowledge to create something better than any of the individual organizations could have created alone.
7. IBM CSR is maximizing impact
The goal of scaling impact is to make a meaningful and sustainable impact by reaching greater numbers of people. Three CSR pillars (business alignment, user-centricity, and partnerships) underpin the strategies to scale key CSR programmes. Currently, IBM’s P-TECH program is spreading to many locations and also expanding through a growing partner base.
7.1 Case Study: P-TECH
Pathways in Technology Early College High Schools (P-TECH) are innovative public schools spanning grades 9 to 14 that bring together the best elements of high school, college and career.
P-TECH started in 2011 in Brooklyn (USA) as a partnership between IBM, the NYC Department of Education, and NYC College of Technology. Since then, IBM has opened hundreds of other schools in 24 countries in collaboration with key education and industry partners. Within six years, students graduate with a no-cost associate degree in applied science, engineering, computer science or other competitive STEM disciplines, along with the skills and knowledge needed to continue studies or step easily into high-growth, new collar jobs.
Some of the P-TECH graduates will move on to new collar jobs, ranging from associate analyst to digital design developer. Others plan to pursue their bachelor’s degrees, and some will do both — maintaining jobs that use the skills they gained in the programme while furthering their education. There are currently 25 P-TECH graduates working full-time at IBM in New York, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia. Some of these graduates are participating in IBM’s industry-leading apprentice programme, and more graduates are in the hiring pipeline. At Brooklyn P-TECH, the on-time graduation rate is four times the national average, and five times the national average for low-income students.
Critically, P-TECH is not a simple add-on programme to enhance curriculum, but rather a structural transformation model that merges high-school with technical university offerings to offer free-of-cost dual graduation opportunities to students in underserved communities. P-TECH uses IBM’s CSR values as guiding principles. By leading the upskilling of students in technology, IBM is helping the technology industry adapt and prepare for the unprecedented demand for tech skills.
Educators at P-TECH schools believe deeply in the mission of putting users first, and therefore use Design Thinking activities to ensure that they are meeting the needs of their students. Notably, students from low-income communities that deal with a variety of issues outside the classroom. It is critical that, teachers understand their students at the individual level and pull in the right stakeholders and learning to cater teaching to those students.
P-TECH schools were built in collaboration with hundreds of partners, from educators to policymakers industry and nonprofits. By engaging diverse stakeholders, each with a different area of expertise, the company was able to ensure the ongoing success of P-TECH schools around the globe. Co-creation amongst the many partners has allowed P-TECH schools to scale across the world, growing and changing to meet the needs of diverse student populations.
8. In conclusion
Aligning CSR programmes at the state or national level is a big enough challenge in itself. IBM CSR is pulling off the feat of aligning all its social projects in multiple areas of operations across the world with the same core values and embedding cutting-edge tech into the mix. IBM is considered a leader in corporate responsibility because it understands what is required to actualize its values, not only with clients, employees, and shareholders, but with the world at large. Making its social impact platforms and offerings (such as source code) available publicly generates goodwill not only among the public but also among other socially responsible companies that could replicate its models for the greater good.
Disclaimer: The contents of this report are largely excerpts of a white paper (written as a co-creation of the IBM CSR Team, under the orchestration of Michael Jacobs, Business Strategy Leader, IBM CSR). Published with permission
In every marine and coastal environment on earth, plastic litter threatens the environment, human health, and business. The threat has been exacerbated by a spike in the use of single-use plastics due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the High-Level Political Forum this week, UNEP within its Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Based Activities/Global Partnership on Marine Litter (GPA/GPML) convened key global actors – from government and the private sector – working on combatting marine litter through a crucial front: Engaging industry.
To date, involvement by industry has been a mixed bag. While some industrial actors are seen as historic culprits of ocean pollution, others are innovating on modes of production and consumption, waste management and digital approaches. UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen acknowledged that “Industry has a real opportunity to step up, lean in, and take responsibility.”
Simon Bennett, whose China Navigation Company and Swire Pacific Offshore Operations are leaders in the field of waste management through the Moana Taka Partnership, echoed her: “We need business to make this our day job.” Nicholas Holmes of IBM talked of SAM, an “AI human who lives on the internet” and can spend his time providing guidance to people about how to prevent marine litter. SAM is part of a larger digital toolkit being developed by UNEP, GPML, Science-Policy-Business Forum, and the Citizen Science Global Partnership. It involves data integration tools and multi-sector collaboration platforms to share information on marine litter.
There was consensus that we are entering a new phase of engagement with industry, one that governments are keen to scale. Dag-Inge Ulstein, Norway’s Minister of International Development, spoke of his government’s upcoming report on how industry can create the framework for healthy oceans, while H.E. Wallace Cosgrow, Seychelles’ Minister of Environment and Co-Chair of GPML noted that because “the entire value chain of plastic is a trans-boundary issue,” we must work to merge the disparate work being done on the ground into a shared vision.”
Lorna Innis, Coordinator of the Caribbean Environment Programme and Cartagena Convention Secretariat of Africa, made a call to action to unite private and public-sector interests: “We need to make real space, not token space, for industry and private sector actors,” she said. “Industry and the private sector have indicated they are ready. We need to open the door.”
USPL’s apparel line Wrogn, in association with wildlife channel Animal Planet, is launching a new collection – Animal Planet X WROGN. The apparel range aims to shine light on the cause of endangered species. Conceptualised by Black White Orange, Animal Planet’s licensing arm, each style in the range portrays an endangered animal including the Tiger, Sea Turtle, Gorilla, Sumatran Elephant and Panda, amongst others.
“I’ve been associated with Wrogn since inception and we take some exciting initiatives season after season. I couldn’t be happier that Wrogn is taking a step in the direction of creating awareness around animal endangerment,” said cricketer Virat Kohli, the face of WROGN. Megha Tata Managing Director – South Asia, Discovery, said, “Animal Planet has been striving hard to drive attention towards the importance of saving the endangered species in impactful ways. We are confident that this innovative collaboration with WROGN for this inspirational apparel line will help in spreading the message of conservation of endangered species as well as the wildlife.”
Speaking about the collaboration, Anjana Reddy – CEO, Universal Sportsbiz Pvt. Ltd said, “Animal endangerment is real. It’s a pressing issue and I’m aware that it really bothers the youth all over the world. We like the essence of this collaboration with Animal Planet as it enables people to wear their cause that they feel so strongly about and spread the word at the same time. The Rorschach art design is very interesting and hard to miss.”
Adds Bhavik Vora, Founder & CEO, Black White Orange Brands Pvt. Ltd, “What better way to spread awareness on endangered species among the youth of today, than collaborate with leading players in the segment – WROGN and Animal Planet. We worked closely with the Animal Planet team for almost a year, to conceptualize the art that you see on the range and it’s fantastic to see it come to life.”
Disclaimer: This media release is auto-generated. The CSR Journal is not responsible for the content
