VIACOM18 | How to impact through the media lens

In a time where majority stakeholders were concentrating on building infrastructure to achieve the mission of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Viacom18 utilized the weapon they knew best – storytelling to create lasting impact in a society that has long been captured by the screen.

The Viacom18 story

With the launch of Swachh Bharat Mission, availability and access to toilets had improved tremendously. But social and behavioural change communication were far from implementation questioning the long-term adoption of infrastructure usage. Lack of sanitation has many rippling effects. 

The economic deprivation increases manifold when healthcare expenses and the cost of lost potential due to sickness arising from inadequate sanitation is added.

With the belief that sustained change in behaviour is at the helm of creating long term impact, Viacom18 worked with Samhita to design an intervention that aimed to address the issue of Open Defecation in Mumbai’s slums and inadequate sanitation in schools.

How did we impact 8,000+ lives

Samhita designed and implemented a community sanitation program with a focus on strong behaviour change in addition to providing basic infrastructure. Our theory of change centered around changing behavior, beliefs, and myths around toilets as a key to ensuring sustained open defecation free status in all communities and schools. The idea was to design visual messaging at key locations in slum areas, followed with awareness campaigns that brought together a social message with Viacom’s unique panache for storytelling.

Our vision of multiplying the impact by evolving the approach from infrastructure to behavioral change was distributed in 3 stages.

Geography

Impact

The revival of the informal sector is crucial to our economy

‘It is evident that there are strong linkages between the formal and informal, as well as between large and small segments of the economy. In order to comprehend the extent and scale of these linkages, it is important to take a closer look at the labour force participation data for the Indian manufacturing sector.’

LSE’s blog article serves as an important reminder that India must make the effort to secure its supply chains, especially in the manufacturing sector.

STFC: How to drive impact in the line of business

With an aim to convert the corporate social responsibility, STFC adopted an impact lens for the same sector their financial products and services are aimed at – transportation and logistics. Mobilizing resources to bridge the skill gap in the industry, STFC trained more than 35,000+ people across India to become skilled commercial drivers. 

The STFC Story

STFC was set up with the objective of offering the common man a host of products and services that would be helpful to him on his path to prosperity. Over the last few years, while their financial products and solutions did help the logistics and transportation industry, a host of external factors adversely affected the number and quality of truck drivers – the primary human capital.

All these factors have contributed to reduce the desirability of truck driving as a profession and created a shortage of skilled drivers in the country. About 28% of the 8.5 million trucks in the country are currently idle, with the shortage projected to rise to about 50% by 2022. To address the shortage of skilled commercial vehicle drivers and create dignified working opportunities for them in other segments, STFC and Samhita curated a flagship program that aims to augment livelihoods through vocational and skill training.

IMPACT ACROSS THE PEOPLE, PLANET, PROFIT (PPP) FRAMEWORK

People – At – risk population, employed within the logistics and transportation industry, who hail from marginalized communities to create better livelihood opportunities for them

Profit Addressing the supply gap of skilled commercial vehicle drivers in the logistics and transportation industry which forms the main customer base for STFC’s financial services.

HOW WE IMPACTED 3,500+ LIVES

We designed a skill training program that provided commercial driver training for Light Motor Vehicles and Heavy Motor Vehicles to candidates across geographies with a focus on including women candidates and candidates from marginalized communities. 

The program included technical and practical components such as stimulator driver training, driving track practice as well as life skills and wellness training components such as on-the-road yoga exercises.

We designed the end-to-end journey of the candidates right from mobilization and training to placement and post-placement tracking. 

To ensure effective delivery, we identified suitable implementation partners, designed processes and developed a monitoring and evaluation framework that included success metrics. From the get – go, the program was designed with a pay-for-performance model with the key performance metric being placement of candidates at the end of the training period.

At each step in the training lifecycle, Samhita introduced enhancements such as targeted mobilization of candidates, capacity building of on-ground partners, life skills and wellness training, simulator training at state-of-the-art facilities, official certification, placement support and post placement tracking of upto one year to improve adaptability and reduce attrition.

PROJECT REACH

Samhita managed the end-to-end program for STFC ensuring standard implementation and working with 5 partners across 10 centres in 6 states.

Project Outcome

Investing CSR in Incubators – A Unique Model of Partnership

Authored by P.R. Ganapathy, President ( India), Villgro Innovations Foundation 

After, USA and China, India has the largest incubator and accelerator ecosystem in the world. But few companies have sufficient information on this ecosystem to be able to invest in it.

Samhita, and Villgro, supported by GIZ are addressing this information asymmetry and facilitating partnerships between companies and incubators and social enterprises(SEs).

The traditional model of CSR involves selecting an NGO working in an area of your interest (livelihoods, education, etc.) and funding them for a specific project, say, training 500 women artisans, or setting up a computer lab in a school.

But, the smart CSR managers of today are asking harder questions of this model.

What happened to those women artisans after the training was completed? Who buys their products and connects them to consumers? Is the model sustainable? What do children actually learn from the computer lab? Who teaches them? What content is available? Who maintains the computers and the lab to ensure it continues to deliver value?

One way to find these answers is to partner with social enterprises or for-profit entities who use market-based approaches to solve social problems.

The next logical question is : “Is it legal?” Does the Companies Act permit CSR funding to be used for support for-profit social enterprises?

The answer is a resounding Yes! Under Section (vii) of the Companies Act, CSR funds can be used to support Government-approved Technology Business Incubators (TBIs) located within academic institutions. A subsequent clarification also specifies that any TBI can be supported using CSR funds.

So, why should your company invest its CSR in social enterprises and incubators?

Innovation: Social enterprises, by definition, use innovative approaches to solving social problems. From the Biosense non-invasive anemia measurement device to the Adhyayan school transformation rubric, these enterprise use fundamental new ways of approaching social challenges, with significantly better outcomes.

 More resources:Because social enterprises attract financing from impact investors, they have significantly more resources than traditional non-profits or NGOs. This allows them to leverage your CSR money for much greater impact.

Focus on talent:More resources and a for-profit structure means the ability to pay better salaries, and attract the talent they want. They can also offer stock options. We’ve see our social entrepreneurs capitalize on the start-up craze to attract experienced and seasoned talent, leading to significantly better execution.

Sustainability:Because social enterprises have a revenue model, they have high potential for sustainability. Which means that even after your CSR funding project finishes, their solution and service continues to live on.

Scale: The combination of a sustainable revenue model, more resources and focus on talent means that these organizations have the potential for scale far greater than the traditional NGO/Non-profit model. Which means that the small amount of CSR funding you provided at the beginning is leveraged multi-fold, to achieve outsized, national-level scale and impact.

How should your company engage with social enterprises through a TBI ?

From my experience working with many corporates and social enterprises, I believe there are five dimensions to consider while designing your engagement.

Money: Social enterprises need money, especially at the early stages when they’re being incubated by a TBI, to hire the initial employees, develop their product, test-market their solution, etc.

You could fund a TBI to fund a social enterprise in four different ways:

  • Select a specific company from their portfolio that aligns with your CSR priorities – for example, agriculture or education. Your MOU with the TBI then specifies which social enterprise the funding should go to, and perhaps also what that funding should be used for and the milestones that should be achieved. Most CSRs currently work in this model.
  • Select together from a pipeline that the TBI surfaces around your CSR theme areas — you’re leveraging the TBI’s network and processes for selection and diligence, and also having a say in the process by participating in their “Investment Committee.” This way you can fund new ideas, and yet have a say in the process. Marico worked with Villgro to find and select a social enterprise working in the field of diabetes, their focus area.
  • Provide an open grant and leave it to the TBI to select and incubate enterprises within your theme areas. This stage implies you have developed trust in the TBI’s selection processes, and can depend on them to find good enterprises that fit your mandate. A corporate recently engaged Villgro to find and support skill training social enterprises, which is their CSR theme area.
  • Fund the TBI’s program costs like incubation staff, mentors, knowledge building sessions, etc., and not fund incubatees directly. This often allows the TBI the flexibility to provide the much-needed handholding that plays an equally important part in the incubation process. A large IT multi-national in Bangalore funded IIT Bombay’s incubator for the costs of running an accelerator program.

Mentoring: Your corporate has several experienced, seasoned, senior executives, and social enterprises are often founded by relatively inexperienced founders who are trying to do something radical to solve a social problem. In our experience, mentoring from senior executives is at least as valuable as the funding we provide our incubatees. By engaging your senior management in mentoring these entrepreneurs, you’re giving them a chance to “give back” while adding significant value to the incubatee. Mphasis senior management were closely involved with one of Villgro’s incubatees, providing mentoring and guidance.

Expertise: You may have technical experts in your organization who can add great value to social enterprises by giving them advice from time to time. For example, GE’s 5.38 accelerator for med-tech social entrepreneurs provides access to technical experts within GE Healthcare. That sort of expertise is hard to come by, or well-nigh impossible to access, and can significantly assist a med-tech social enterprise in product development. Your employees also benefit by using their expertise for social good, and it enhances their sense of goodwill for their employer, because they can witness first hand the social impact of their company’s CSR program.

Facilities: A social enterprise, especially one working on an innovative new physical product like a medical device, doesn’t have the capital required to invest in labs, fabrication facilities, etc. However, it does need access to these facilities for product development. Corporates have these assets, and they are generally under-utilitized. By creating a way by which social enterprises can leverage these facilities, you could provide they a valuable and timely resource that reduces the cost, improves the quality, and cuts the time of product development.

Go to market: Lastly, social enterprises need partnerships to take their products to market. Established distribution channels are often out of their reach, because of their innovative product, lack of market demand, and low marketing resources. A corporate that can distribute a social enterprise’s product through its own distribution channels will provide that social enterprise significantly value. A large agri conglomerate’s recent tie-up with one of Villgro’s agriculture social enterprises is an example of how this could work.

In conclusion, we’re seeing the shift from tactical, project-based CSR, to strategic, programmatic CSR. By adding social enterprise support to your CSR program, and engaging corporate resources such as senior management mentors, technical experts, leveraging facilities and using distribution channels to make the support strategic, you can maximize your impact and effectiveness.

Interested? GIZVillgro and Samhita are working to help Corporates find TBIs and engage with them. So, if you are a corporate or an incubator, looking to explore new horizons of partnerships, get in touch.

Development through community participation

As part of its CSR services, Samhita Social Ventures undertakes community needs assessment for companies to align the expectations and intentions of the company with priorities identified by the community that it seeks to benefit as a key stakeholder. This is accomplished by conducting door-to-door surveys, interviews with key informants in the village (such as sarpanch, asha worker, aanganwadi workers) and focused group discussions with the residents.

Through our intense and in-depth interaction with communities across the country, we have realized that community participation and acceptance are critical in ensuring the success of CSR programs. While the theoretical discourse on development has always acknowledged the importance of participatory approach (you may have heard of Robert Chambers and Paulo Freier), this takes on a pragmatic connotation for companies beginning to think about CSR in India.

Our work has shown that the aim should be to address social implications of corporate activities by securing community participation in decision-making and consideration of local knowledge and the environment. The community should drive and own these initiatives. Any tendency to superimpose or force CSR or other development initiatives top-down on communities could be disastrous.

So for example, during one such assessment in two clusters of Vadodara District, Gujarat it was observed that 87% people defecate openly every day. While reducing open defecation is a national and international priority, it was most interesting to note that communities in one cluster did not perceive it to be an issue. The assessment found that these communities defecated in the open not only because of the unavailability of toilets but due to low awareness of the potential health hazards, internalized behavior, accustomed practice, perception of high costs of maintaining and constructing toilets, caste based differences in terms of maintenance and cleaning, etc. It was seen that these communities appeared resistant to using toilets because of all these reasons. In this context, CSR initiatives of companies to set-up toilets for such communities to eliminate open defecation, disregarding the voices of the community, would be futile and bound to fail. The company would have, in effect, spent its funds putting up concrete structures with its branding – not used by anyone and soon falling into a state of disrepair and neglect. In fact, this is a very common sight in many villages dotted across India. One of the ways to then incorporate the community’s views and mitigate the risk of failure would be to start a behavior change communication or campaign on a long term and sustained basis. Another example flows from the needs assessment conducted in northern India. The study revealed rampant usage of traditional fuel for cooking. About 83% of people relied on cow-dung and wood as the means of cooking.  It was obvious to our eyes that this was leading to many respiratory problems among women and also causing indoor pollution. Surprisingly, the women did not seem to be too bothered. When we suggested using smokeless chullahs or stoves, most of them thought it to be flippant. Conversations with these women revealed that they preferred these smoke generating stoves because they believed that it kept the house warm, drove away insects etc. They said that they were accustomed to cooking in this way.  It is anyone’s guess as to what the results of a CSR initiative distributing free smokeless stoves to a community like this would be. Promoting smokeless chulhas in such households becomes challenging unless their beliefs are changed.

A similar reaction was observed in another needs assessment study when a group of women said they did not want personal taps and that they preferred community pumps as it was the only activity that gave them a chance to come out of their houses and socialize with other women.

In conclusion, we opine that CSR initiatives by companies or social developmental activities by NGOs should be planned in a participatory manner, in consultation with the community, literally sitting with them, and gauging their basic needs. We must take recourse to “participatory rural appraisal” and other mapping tools to identify the community needs. This, in turn, results in greater outreach and smoother implementation. And thus, a project is born.

Reckitt Benckiser | How to leverage core competencies to create impact

Urbanisation and climate change have led to an increase in the need for improved water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH).  While companies across India try to address the critical gaps in WASH through their CSR, RB decided to take a shared value approach and unlock advantages for both business and society. 

The Reckitt Benckiser Story

Children spend a significant portion of their day at school where WASH services (including access to drinking water, sanitation and hygiene) can impact student learning, health and dignity particularly for girls. Most water and sanitation related diseases can only be prevented by improving a number of hygiene infrastructure and behaviours.

With a view to harness the potential of India’s next generation to become sanitation change leaders, RB and Samhita designed an intervention which recognizes the role of children as key drivers of change and arms them with the right tools to drive change as well as collaborated with the government to scale the impact.

How did we impact 1 lakh students

Samhita designed a program with a focus on driving behavior change through community ownership and advocacy at the level of government and the school administration, in addition to imparting education on hygiene practices among children. Our approach to multiply the impact was two fold:

This project has adopted the proven route of community engagement to reach thousands of lives. The Behavioural Change Communication (BCC) plan covers not only hand washing but also the importance of personal and environmental hygiene practices. Wall paintings, celebration of important international and national events related to WASH were observed in large scale in the states. In addition, students and teachers engaged several community leaders and school management committees in their locations to spread awareness on best practices in the communities.

Geographies

Impact

Demystifying the CSR law: with Nishith Desai

Nishith Desai, founder of Nishith Desai Associates led an enlightening discussion on approaching CSR strategically, building knowledge about the CSR and the various legislations affecting the development sector. The discussion was held with CSR and sustainability heads of India’s biggest and most recognisable firms. This discussion was part of the release of Transforming India: The CSR Opportunity, a report by Samhita Social Ventures supported by The Rockefeller Foundation.

Skilling the unskilled: Why should companies get involved? | Part I

A look at how companies can align their CSR strategies to the Government’s Skill India Mission, increase programmatic impact and invigorate the economic well-being of India’s unskilled and unemployed workforce.

The announcement of the Skill India Mission on the 15th of July 2015, a Government initiative that aims to train 500 million people by 2022 in different skills, created a high level of expectation from corporate India, implementation agencies and the individuals who badly need those skills. For many, the Government’s drive to skill India couldn’t have come at a better time.

In 2020, India is set to experience a ‘demographic dividend’ where 65% of the population will be under the age of 35[1], which will give the country the unique advantage of having one of the world’s youngest populations.

However, this is only an advantage if new entrants to the workforce are properly trained and given access to skilled employment opportunities. The National Sample Survey currently estimates that of the 470 million people of working age in India, only 10% receive any kind of training at all[2].

While many believe that the Mission could potentially close this gap and help meet the Indian Government’s ambitious target of skilling 550 million people by 2022[3]; translating these expectations into action is a significant challenge that can’t be overestimated.

The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) has identified over 24 high-growth sectors for which people need to be skilled. Of these manufacturing, textile, construction, automotive, retail, healthcare and transportation are expected to witness the highest growth. Companies operating within these sectors stand to gain from investing in skill development as they can strategically align with the Mission to train workers with skills that are needed in their respective sectors.

To harness the country’s 2020 demographic dividend and move a step closer to making India ‘the human resource capital of the world[4],’ there will need to be a concerted effort from multiple stakeholders across the livelihood ecosystem – within which companies will need to play an integral part.

Setting standardized benchmarks for skilling

While the Indian Government has instituted a number of constructive policy measures under the Skill India mission and allocated Rs. 5,040 crore (770 million USD) to skilling programs[5], it has failed to do something fundamental – and that is to define what a ‘skill’ in this context is.

This is problematic for a number of reasons. People are considered to be ‘skilled’ whether they have taken part in training that involves short 2 day workshops, or extensive 3 year courses. Without setting standard benchmarks for different skills taught, which include the nature of the training, the duration and depth of courses and a mechanism to measure the program’s success – any future statistics on the number of skilled workers created as a result of this initiative will have significantly reduced value.

Furthermore it is important to have appropriate levels of training for appropriate skills which will be critical for the effective implementation of programs.

Skill development ? livelihoods

The widely accepted definition of livelihoods, developed by Chambers and Conway, reads as follows, “a livelihood comprises the capabilities, assets (including both material and social resources) and activities required for a means of living.” Livelihood interventions therefore aim to build the social, physical and financial capital and capacity of people with the aim of bettering their employability or income generation prospects.

Skilling programs, on the other hand, are concentrated on building the capacity of individuals and communities and do not necessarily tackle other aspects like creating assets or resources for communities and providing access to employment opportunities.

It is therefore crucial to place skill development within the larger context of livelihoods and encourage companies, NGOs and social enterprises to think about skilling as a means for people to access livelihoods and not as an end in itself.

In order to design and implement impactful programs it is important to realize that training forms just one aspect of creating livelihoods and does not automatically translate into a means of livelihood. While training people in new skills is critical, companies need to look at skilling through the lens of creating livelihoods and ensure that there are support mechanisms in place after training.

A holistic approach to skill development

To do this, what really needs to change is the way in which skilling programs are currently implemented. Conducting isolated training with no follow-up and no connection to market demands will reduce their effectiveness. Adopting a lifecycle approach to skilling is the only way to ensure meaningful, long-term impact. A lifecycle approach looks at all aspects of skilling, from the aspirations of people before training, to counselling and following up with beneficiaries during their employment. Skill development programs conducted in this manner will ensure that the training received has an impact on livelihoods and contributes to the economic well-being of communities.

The role of companies

The Skill India Mission aims to actively involve companies in skilling the country. In July, at a conference in New Delhi about engaging the private sector, Pawan Agarwal, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India talked about the government’s drive to involve companies and said, “private sector engagement is part of the DNA of the Skills Ministry of India.” By consolidating its efforts under the Ministry of the Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and increasing the budget of the National Skill Development Fund (NSDF) managed by the NSDC, the Government is pushing for the active participation of companies[6]. Engaging with the NSDC through public-private partnerships (PPPs), CSR programs and scaling up skilling operations is critical to the success of Skill India.

Why should companies get involved?

Align with government priorities

At this point, publicly funded initiatives are just not enough to create significant impact. Companies shape industry demands, set trends and therefore, have a greater understanding of what is needed in various sectors. Currently the Indian Government is only able to train 3.1 million of the 12.8 million entrants into the workforce each year and it is vital that companies step in to close the gap. Kalyan Chakravarthy, Executive Director at the PanIIT Alumni Reach for India Foundation (PARFI), reiterates the need for companies to get involved, “The government does not have the resources to train 40 crore people (500 million). India cannot afford this kind of budget, not unless it’s on a grant basis. Ultimately, (skilling) has to be market driven.”

As part of CSR

Luis Miranda, a Board Director at Samhita, sees the CSR mandate as a win-win opportunity for companies to invest in skilling without worrying about profitability, “because you are training people for your own business, if you’re doing good that’s great if not, you spend 2% and it goes against your CSR.”

Companies can design training programs that align to their business and use such programs to create a pool of skilled workers that could be potential future employees.

Many companies have expressed reluctance to spend money on training as this involves high costs and trainees often leave for higher salaries after training is complete causing companies to lose out on their investment. By including skilling under the CSR mandate, companies that were previously reluctant may be encouraged to contribute to the cause.

Increasing employability

Skill training programs also need to be linked to market demands so that trained individuals are seen as valuable assets and are employable. Establishing links with the private sector is a good way to do this. An evaluation of one of the programs run by Gram Tarang Employability Services, a social enterprise that trains people in underdeveloped regions of the country, showed that due to the extent of private sector links built into the initiative, 100% of the beneficiaries were placed at the end of the program. (The study was published by GSE research and Practical Action Publishing.) Programs that do not have such corporate connections as the Gram Tarang, may not necessarily be as impactful, as people might not see the opportunity for employment afterwards, so it becomes important for companies to step-in and provide those much-needed links.

How can companies engage in skill development?

Through Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs)

The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) is a not-for-profit company administered jointly by the Indian Government and the private sector. This unique public-private partnership (PPP) initiative aims to narrow the skills gap between demand and supply in India. It acts primarily as a funding organization that catalyses the creation of large, quality, for-profit vocational institutions. The NSDC acts a facilitator by providing capital for start-ups to set up skill development centres and training programs. It has also set up 38 Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) that connect the needs of industry with the training that is done on-the-ground and builds capacity in respective sectors.

Companies can work directly with or leverage the NSDC in a number of ways.

  • Fund the creation of quality vocational training institutes – this can also be done in partnership with social enterprises that have developed high-quality, low-cost business models
  • Assess the validity of programs run by accredited organizations, contribute to NSDC’s curriculum design and ensure that it is regularly updated
  • Work with the SSCs to ensure that training meets market needs and is updated accordingly
  • Work with NGOs or SEs that are affiliated with the NSDC (as part of their CSR)

Train students through apprenticeship programs

Germany’s highly successful “Vocational Education Training (VET)” apprenticeship model is a good example of how companies can train people to build industry capacity. Companies work with vocational centres to train students that enroll in various courses. This system incorporates a ‘dual-training’ approach which allows students to split their time equally between the classroom and workplace. Companies give students a minimum wage and can absorb them into the existing workforce once fully trained. Students benefit from the training and salary and companies eventually get skilled and qualified workers that meet their requirements. While the Government of India has established a bi-lateral working group with the German Government to promote this system and the Ministry for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has made provisions for a similar model under the Apprentice Training Scheme (ATS), active participation and interest from companies will be needed to drive these initiatives forward.

Get involved at the policy level

Policy level reforms are also an avenue under which companies can contribute to Skill India. The government needs the presence of corporations on their boards to advise and help shape curriculum so they are aligned to market demands. Rajesh Kaimal, Business Head of Manipal City and Guilds, an education service provider that trains and certifies people across the country, believes that companies need to get involved at the governance level for effective impact. According to him, the formation of the Sector Skills Councils are a good move by the government but needs active participation from companies; “The idea is that the Sector Skills Councils should have a healthy representation from the industry itself – [appointments to the board] should not be political but representative of the industry body and have key players from industry. Otherwise what will happen is the certification will lose its relevance. [For example] If someone who has a certificate from a certain SSC and is hired to operate a crane, but he doesn’t know how to do this – tomorrow nobody will hire from that SSC.” The SSC needs to make an effort to attract industry participants to their governing boards and constantly revise their curriculum in consultation with companies to stay relevant and become a key resource for employers.

What are companies doing?

The Skill India Mission is an opportunity for companies to give some serious thought to how they can play an impactful role in bridging the skills gap in the country. Wide-scale impact cannot occur without the active involvement of the private sector. By leveraging the Skill India Mission and engaging with the government and implementation agencies, companies can work to provide much-needed training programs to the vast number of unskilled people, which will ultimately benefit industry and contribute to the growth and development of the country in the long-term.

About the contributors:

Praveen AggarwalChief Operating Officer, Swades Foundation, a foundation that focuses on creating livelihood opportunities for rural populations across India.

Kalyan ChakravarthyExecutive Director at the PanIIT Alumni Reach for India Foundation (PARFI), a not-for-profit registered society of IIT alumni committed to execute and scale self-sustainable business models that enhance incomes of the underprivileged sections leveraging PanIIT and other like minded networks.

Rajesh KaimalBusiness Head, Manipal City and Guilds, a joint venture between Manipal Education and City & Guilds, UK that trains and certifies people across the country.

Luis MirandaDirector at Samhita Social Ventures and Founder & ex-President, IDFC Private Equity

[1] (Planning Commission, XII Five Year Plan, Employment and Skill Development, pp 140-141)

[2] Ernst & Young, Knowledge paper on skill development in India

[3] (Planning Commission, XII Five Year Plan, Employment and Skill Development, pp 140-141)

[4]http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/FICCI_skill_report_2012_finalversion/$FILE/FICCI_skill_report_2012_finalversion_low_resolution.pdf

[5] http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/16/narendra-modi-unveils-bid-to-make-india-the-hr-capital-of-the-world

[6] http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/9zdTIPwwRT7VXd2Cv6Lu7L/Skill-India-How-we-can-spend-less-and-gain-more.html

Uttarakhand Bio-toilet initiative

At a time when the entire country is raging over the oh-so-popular debate of toilets over temples, Outlook India (an English weekly news magazine), declared sanitation as India’s No. 2 problem (in more ways than one) (You can refer to the article here). 64% of Indians still do it in the open which is a global record in itself. In the background of such a situation, the CSR initiative of a major Indian logistics company in partnership with Samhita is one step towards solving one of the oldest and large-scale problems of India.

To address this problem in a sustained manner, the company adopted sanitation as one of the top causes as part of its CSR policy. In pursuance of its CSR policy, it gave a go ahead to set-up environment friendly bio-toilets in and around its areas of operations to eliminate open defecation practice. These bio-toilets differ from the conventional toilets as all of the human waste is processed and converted into harmless water thus promoting environmental sustainability.

Just as it was approving the budget to go ahead with the installation of bio toilets at their Mumbai Port facilities, unfortunately, in Uttarakhand, thousands of people were killed/displaced due to devastating floods and landslides in the region. Being a socially responsible business that it is, the company decided to prioritize helping flood victims and encouraged employees to come forward and commit one day’s salary, which the company will match.

The company decided to undertake a more structured and holistic approach in order to ensure that the collected money is brought to an effective use and delivers the much-needed impact in the affected communities. So, in partnership with Samhita, a needs assessment was conducted in the flood affected villages to identify the imminent problems. It was identified that the villagers in the flood affected regions were left with very little sanitation facility due to floods; most of them going out in open spaces to defecate. Thus, there loomed a big danger of an epidemic breakout in the region. Community being an integral part of their operations, the company wanted to go beyond donations and overtake the execution of the relief project till the final stage until the affected people are not forced anymore to indulge in open defecation practice.

A local NGO Yusuf Meherally Centre (YMC) was identified for looking after the installation and maintenance of these toilets in the long run. The work began with Samhita and YMC teams getting together and conducting days of groundwork which included surveys and some social engineering to ensure only the needy and those who are severely affected by the disaster are selected as beneficiaries for toilets. Moreover, to make best use of capacity of bio-toilets, the beneficiaries were grouped together to use common toilets. This also ensured a sense of responsibility amongst the people to first build the toilets, and then use and maintain them collectively.

Impact

–  An amount equal to Rs. 7,22,760 was raised through the matching scheme with the employees

–  18 toilets would be built, spread out over six flood affected villages namely Dugadda, Shirwa, Durgapul, Bhumia ki Chaloti, Thatyur and Thapla. 15 were built for households and 3 were built for schools

–  More than 200 villagers and 325 children have been benefitted by getting access to toilets

–  Construction of toilets have provided a livelihood opportunity to around 45 villagers who worked as daily labourers

apmt_1

Role of Samhita

–  Identified sanitation as the major problem in alignment with the mandate of the corporate from a ground-level needs assessment in the villages of Uttarakhand

–  Recognized the right kind of social enterprise with its area of operation in and around Uttarakhand and as sanitation as the focus area. After a series of personal calls, market research and due diligence process, StoneIndia was identified as the partner social enterprise.

–  Carried out a door-to-door research and identified potential locations for setting up of bio-toilets where sanitation facilities were largely deficient. Feasibility studies and access issues were also carried out at this stage.

–  Helped in the setting up of bio toilets and supervised the working and functioning of bio-toilets. The NGO Yusuf Meherally Centre was identified and handed over the responsibility of installation and maintenance of these toilets in the long-run

–  Provided villages with a reporting and impact assessment framework to record the progress and sustainability of the project.

The leading logistics company has assured their commitment towards community development work in the long run and promised to stay closely associated with the local people to ensure sustainability of these efforts. The seriousness and commitment shown by the higher management ensured the project execution in a very small duration and brought a huge difference to the life of flood affected communities.

The Five Ways CSR Heads Can Create Lasting Change

The  inaugural session of CSR Café was held on July 4, 2018 and at Cafe Zoe, and was facilitated by Luis Miranda, Trustee – Collective Good Foundation, Chairman – Centre for Civil Society and Chairman – CORO, The session was focused around the ‘The Five Ways CSR Heads Can Create Lasting Change.’

Participants shared their insights and experiences on managing multiple mandates as a CSR Leader, the struggle with engaging stakeholders, the need for more sectoral research and the potential for collaboration among themselves and with the government. The following is a summary of themes explored:

  • The role CSR plays in addressing social issues has evolved. CSR leaders, the board and other stakeholders must now re-assess their definitions and approaches to CSR, and explore how it can play a role in inspiring change and social action in the wider ecosystem. This re-alignment must become part of both strategy and implementation for CSR to become an effective catalyst for social change.
  • Effectively communicating about CSR can build engagement with internal and external stakeholders, and keep them invested in the organization’s CSR activities.
  • Many articulated the need for continuous, rigorous research that analyzed what was going right, and how to manage what was going wrong. Forums such as CSR Café and a seminal industry publication, are required to share research and explore areas that need research while identifying relevant tools, models and resources.
  • Collaboration is the way forward for many. Of the many forms of collaboration, the following were the most commonly articulated:
  • The Government while being the largest delivery agent for social welfare, struggles to deliver effectively to the last-mile. Companies could bridge this gap by using their expertise and CSR funds to help the government deliver its solutions to the end beneficiary; and help beneficiaries access the government’s social welfare pool.
  • The sheer jump in the number of CSR interventions has led to replication of efforts with little cross pollination or dialogue. Companies, by working together, could increase the scope and scale of their CSR and impact. For instance, small companies can scale up effective solutions, while larger companies can create and sustain stronger grassroots network & linkages.

Follow us on social media to keep updated about the valuable learning from this formidable community of CSR leaders. If you and your company are interested in participating in this forum, do reach out to us at team.comms@dev.samhita.org.