june 2007 catalyst magazine

EDITORIAL TEAMDr. Bhamy V. ShenoyChief [email protected]

Ms. Bharati KalasapudiMr. Nasy SankagiriMs. Aarti IyerMr. Lakshman KalasapudiMs. Padmaja AyyagariMr. Rajesh Satyavolu

Dr. Srinivasa Rao (Editor)[email protected]

Advisory BoardDr. Thomas AbrahamDr. Nirupam BajpaiDr. Suri SehgalMr. M. ChittaranjanDr. Rao V.B.J. Chelikani

Editorial BoardDr. Abraham [email protected]

Dr. Ratnam [email protected]

Mr. Anil [email protected]

Mr. Ram [email protected]

Mr. Balbir [email protected]

Mr. Yogi [email protected]

Dr. Raj [email protected]

Dr. Viral [email protected]

Ms. [email protected]

DisclaimerCatalyst for Human Development,its Staff or Editor assume noresponsibility, directly or indirectly,for the views and opinionsexpressed by the authors as well asfor the pictures used in the articles.Any omission of reference tomaterial from the Internet or othersources is unintentional.

MISSIONMISSIONTo present people, ideas, news and views periodically to

readers to promote networking among NGOs;

To publish peer reviewed professional articles on the NGO movement that can promote sustainable development and best practices;

To disseminate information on the NGO movement to improvecommunication that can, in turn, catalyze human development;

To provide a platform for all concerned with sustainable development to catalyze the process of human development.

Published by:Dr. Vasundhara D. Kalasapudi

Bharati Seva Sadan Srinivasanagar Colony

Saluru- 535 591Vizianagaram District, A.P., India

Contact:

An insight into the complex problems of development and an

attempt to provide solutions

CatalystFOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

CSRCATALYST FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

conveys its thanks to

Editorial Coordination by P.S. SundaramFormer Editor, The New Indian Express & Managing Editor, Media India

Media India for helping in the editorial production of all articlespublished herein and in the overall assistance of review and

design services as well as printing of the Sixth issue.

HIGHLIGHTS OF JANUARY '06 ISSUE� Scaling up Primary Education Services in Rural India�Healthcare in India�Water Management in 21st Century - Policy and Planning� Food and Nutrition Through Value Addition to Agri Resources� Scaling up Primary Health Services in Rural India�Cross-Fertilization Needed Between Universities & Scientific Labs� Balasakhi - A Village Voice�NRI Pioneers - Catalytic Agents for Development

HIGHLIGHTS OF APRIL '06 ISSUE� Agenda For the Nation: An Approach� Economic Reforms in India - The Unfinished Agenda� A Villager's Agenda For a Healthy India� Consumer Movement - An Agenda� India's Development - Agenda for NRIs� Stop Child Poverty� Could Our Classrooms Shape India's Destiny� Unscrupulous NGOs are Denting Movement

HIGHLIGHTS OF OCTOBER '06 ISSUE� Scaling up Primary Education Services in Rural India� Healthcare in India�Water Management in 21st Century - Policy and Planning� Food and Nutrition Through Value Addition to Agri Resources� Scaling up Primary Health Services in Rural India� Cross-Fertilization Needed Between Universities & Scientific Labs� Balasakhi - A Village Voice� NRI Pioneers - Catalytic Agents for Development

HIGHLIGHTS OF JANUARY '07 ISSUE� Non-Resident Indians' contributions - Answering a Call to Action� Eliminating Elephantiasis and Waterborne Diseases� Association for India's Development - Improving Literacy in Rural India� Leading India toward Millennium Development Goals� How NRIs Can Help in Poverty Alleviation� Is Mega Philanthropy Going to Make a Difference?� Nobel Peace Prize 2006 - Muhammad Yunus� Indian National Development Congress

HIGHLIGHTS OF MARCH '07 ISSUE� Safe Drinking Water in Villages: A Step Towards Rural Transformation�Water Wars: National Problems from a Regional Perspective� Rain Centre in Chennai, India� Get real, Coke: Water Rights Protest� Promoting Effective Waste Management: The Clean Himalaya Initiative� Examples of Social Contribution from IIT Madras Alumni� Gravity Head Ensures a Green Plant and Sustainability: A Case Study of Gangtok City� Sustasinable Rural Water Management - A Replicable Case Study

CatalystTITLE PAGES AND HIGHLIGHTS OF FIRST FIVE ISSUES OF FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

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CONTENTSCATALYST FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

7

Preface: Dr. Bhamy V. Shenoy ... 8

A Better Understanding of CSR : Ruby Thapar ... 9

Evolving a CSR Model - The Bilt Experience : Yashashree Gurjar ...11

Toward CSR : Prabhudev Konana ... 15

Inclusive Development As Self-sustaining Business: P.V. Indiresan ...19

2007 CSR: Interesting Revelations from a Survey ... 22

CSR: Two Exemplary Corporations: Sandhya Rawal ... 23

CSR: The Other Point Of View: Gurucharan Das ... 24

But...Tata Lays the Path ... 25

PM’s Word of Advice to Corporates ... 27

China Late in Joining World of CSR : Sha Yu ... 28

Unending Debate on CSR: A UNDP Report ... 29

CSR Contact Database Grows Further ... 33

CSR Initiatives and Examples ... 34

Zulieben’s Success Story: Jayant Shroff ... 38

Non-Functioning MPs, Indifferent Citizens: C.V . Madhukar ... 42

Karmayog Plays Crucial Role In ResolvingPeople’s Problems: Vinay Somani ... 43

Thanks to Infrasys Kottapalayam is Out of the Dark: Murthy Sudhakar ... 45

Resource Alliance Helping NGOs in Developing Countries ... 48

Unfortunate Fall of an NGO Titan: Lessons to learn: Dr. Bhamy V. Shenoy ... 49

Pledge 2007 - An Evening for Child Rights ... 52

Premji a Crusader for Humane Society ... 54

Book Review ... 55

2007 Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship ... 56

Biodiversity for Development: Dr. K. Srinivasa Rao ... 58

Magic School Bus :Forging Successful Partnerships: Alison Adnitt 13

CSR to Society’s Advantageor Corporates’ ?: Rajen Varada 17

Corporate-backedCommunity Enterprises Flourish in Southern India:Muthu Velayudham 31

Yamuna River Cleanup Effort ... :Subijoy Dutta 40

FEC Initiative BuildingBusiness-Social Partnerships: Venkatesh Raghavendra & Malini Sekhar 46

Rural Innovations: A shining Example 51

W HILE working on this issue of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), it became obviousfrom the beginning that there is considerable variance in its interpretations and, as a re-sult, in its implementation. While almost all the large Indian corporations and MNCs have

well defined CSR activities, medium and small companies have yet to imbibe the true spirit of CSR.This is both because of the misunderstanding of CSR concept and their daily grind to survive in thecorruption–ridden inspection Raj.

There are some who think that merely generating maximum returns to the shareholders, whilecomplying with all the rules and regulations of the government, is the ultimate in fulfilling theneeds of responsible CSR activities. They think that applying corporate assets for solving socialproblems rather than maximizing shareholder value is an act of irresponsibility. There are otherswho think that private companies also have the responsibility of taking care of the poor and down-trodden in their areas as well as protecting the environment while practising sustainable productionstrategies. Who is right in the long term? Can we learn from the lessons of Shell in Nigeria or oilcompanies in Bolivia who failed to observe the true spirit of CSR?

To a large extent, most of the CSR activities, whether by MNCs or domestic companies in India,are influenced today by their counterparts in the developed world. This raises the fundamentalquestion of why they have failed to see the vastly different situation in India.

It is stating the obvious that when poverty, and that too grinding poverty, is the norm in India de-spite all the sound bites on “India Shining”, can corporations be oblivious to this stark and unpleas-ant fact. In the developed world, for most part, the system works with good governance andreasonable level of public participation. But, in India we are a long way from good governance. De-spite all the hype of vibrant democracy, it is only the tiny minority of the political class that takepart in solving the civic problems and that too for their own selfish ends. Under this widely differentscenario, why do companies with vast management resources and better knowledge of the systemdynamics simply ape the CSR paradigm of the developed countries?

Those companies, who want to contribute to India’s development through their investment inhighly controversial SEZs, are often perceived as ignoring the needs of the poor whose lands theyhave taken over. Does paying market rates to their lands absolve them of the responsibility? Whycan’t they carry them as shareholders so that they can also be partners like other investors (in factthey have risked their livelihood) and share their prosperity? A correct interpretation of CSR wouldhave helped these companies to adopt such a strategy to win over the poor.

When millions in India still remain functionally illiterate because of dysfunctional education system,can companies pat themselves by announcing that they have contributed to starting some schoolsor gave crores of rupees for scholarships or trained hundreds of teachers or donated thousands ofbooks? What we need is a revolutionary systemic change so that every child irrespective of accidentof birth has equal opportunity to have good schooling. An enlightened CSR should attempt to fol-low the principle of teaching how to fish rather than just giving out a fish to overcome the imme-diate hunger.

CSR should go beyond mere philanthropy especially in a country like India where people livingin below poverty level are more than 50%. It is not just spending some percentage of profits fora social cause. Just like an individual living in a society cannot be concerned only with his self–in-terest as described in Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, corporations cannot be indifferent to so-cietal problems as suggested by Milton Friedman.

Dr. Bhamy V. Shenoy

PREFACECATALYST FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

8


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CORPORATE Social Responsibility, or CSR, as it iscommonly referred to these days is rapidly becom-ing a jargon. The phrase is on the brink of losing

the sheen of its nobility. Increasingly the oft-used-and-abused phrase CSR is being commoditised, not just in itsmeaning but also in its concept.

What exactly is corporate social responsibility? Is it a pa-tronising way to salve a corporate guilt? Or is it a bejew-eled crown that corporate houses need to wear for vanity?Or is it truly a responsibility that is as indispensable for acorporate body as its responsibility to its shareholders?

A widely quoted definition by the World Business Councilfor Sustainable Development states that "Corporate socialresponsibility (CSR) is the continuing commitment by busi-ness to behave ethically and contribute to economic devel-opment while improving the quality of life of theworkforce and their families as well as of the local com-munity and society at large."

Community workIt is important to distinguish CSR from charitable dona-

tions, "good works" and philanthropy. Corporations haveoften, in the past, spent money on community projects,the endowment of scholarships, and the establishment offoundations. They have also often encouraged their em-ployees to volunteer to take part in community work andthereby create goodwill in the community, which will di-rectly enhance the reputation of the company andstrengthen its brand.

CSR goes beyond charity and requires that a responsiblecompany take into full account its impact on all stakehold-ers and on the environment when making decisions. Thisrequires the company to balance the needs of all stake-holders with its need to make a profit and reward share-holders adequately.

In today’s networked corporate arena, Corporate SocialResponsibility is not an option, it’s a compulsion. It is not

about meeting the target of installing 5 tube wells orcleaning the drains, it is about sustenance and growth. Itis as much about social responsibility as it is about makinga company more efficient. CSR is about improving the bot-tomline and maximizing returns to the stakeholders.

A well-planned CSR programme, even with a short-termimpact, can have direct co-relations with the following op-erational aspects of an organisation.

Human resourcesA CSR programme can be seen as an aid to recruitment

and retention, particularly within the competitive graduatestudent market. Potential recruits are increasingly likely toask about a firm's CSR policy during an interview and hav-ing a comprehensive policy can give an advantage. CSRcan also help to build a "feel good" atmosphere among ex-isting staff, particularly when they can become involved.

Brand differentiation: CSR can play a role in building cus-tomer loyalty based on distinctive ethical values. Severalmajor brands, such as The Co-operative Group and TheBody Shop are built on ethical values. Closer home, the en-tire Amul Story crafted by Dr. Kurien is a prime example ofcorporate social responsibility that evolved into a profitablebusiness venture.

A Better Understanding of Corporate Social Responsibility

RUBY THAPAR

Corporate Social Responsibility is not a subsidiary responsibility of a corporate body or an option. Indeed it is very much a complementary responsibility or rather a compulsion of

any corporate body that aims to add value to it’s operations.

Ruby Thapar earned her MastersDegree in Child/Human Developmentfrom the SNDT University, Mumbaiand subsequently PG Diploma inBusiness Management from XLRI,Jamshedpur. Ruby Thapar is now theGroup Head, CSR, at VedantaResources plc. Prior to joining

Vedanta Resources, Ruby worked in the arena of CSRin academic capacity as a lecturer, as an implementingpartner with an NGO and as strategic thinker withcorporations.

HYUNDAI Motors India last year gifted 100 carsto Chennai City Police. The company is nowdonating furniture to needy schools across Tamil

Nadu as part of its community development pro-gramme.

A study conducted recently by the Hyundai MotorsIndia Foundation has foundthat most schools in rural TamilNadu lacked good furniture. Insome schools, they found thatstudents sat on the floor forlack of furniture.

Hyundai Motors India pre-sented 350 desks and benchesin June, 2007 to the Panchayat

Elementary School and Government High School atIrungattukottai near Kanchipuram. To cover all schoolsin the state, the company plans to distribute 10,000furniture sets per year.

The Korean company, which has a manufacturing fa-cility in Irigattukottai for the past 10 years, has emerged

as the country's second largestcar manufacturer. To mark thesuccess, the company dedicatedRs 100 per car sold for socialwelfare programmes.

Hyundai is also undertakingrepair works of schools in a sixkilo meter radius of the Irigat-tukottai plant. �

Hyundai Motors India is Deeply Committed to Corporate Social Responsibility

License to operate: Corporations arekeen to avoid interference in their busi-ness through taxation or regulations. Bytaking substantive voluntary steps theycan persuade governments and thewider public that they are taking currentissues like health and safety, diversity orthe environment seriously and so avoidintervention.

Complimentary resposibilityThe definition of CSR used within an

organisation can vary from the strict "stakeholder impacts"to include charitable efforts and volunteering. CSR may bebased within the human resources, business developmentor PR departments of an organisation, or may be given aseparate unit reporting to the CEO or in some cases directlyto the board. Some companies may implement CSR-typevalues without a clearly defined team or programme.

Today’s heightened interest in the role of businesses insociety has been promoted by increased sensitivity to andawareness of environmental and ethical issues. In somecountries government regulation regarding environmentaland social issues has increased. Standards and laws are

often set at a supranational level like theKyoto Protocol. Some investors and in-vestment fund managers have begun totake account of a corporation’s CSR policyin making investment decisions (so-calledethical investing).

Having said this, it is not something thatcan be accomplished alone by any corpo-ration. The need of the hour is neutralplatforms of collaborations, interactionsand task-orientedness among NGOs, the

civil society, the government and the corporations to hastenthe pace of social development in line with the economicreforms.

What needs to be kept in mind about CSR is that it is nota subsidiary responsibility of a corporate body. Indeed it isvery much a complementary responsibility of any corporatebody that aims to add value to its operations. �

[email protected](The views expressed here are of the author

and do not represent the views of Vedanta Resources plc)


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AS the world moves towards globalization, companiesworldwide are under pressure to ensure that theirproducts and process have minimum negative impact

on environment and people. Responsibly managing the com-pany’s manufacturing process, the back–end, the supplychain, and the front–end, marketing, is becoming increasinglyimportant. Companies are not only putting such systems inplace but they are auditing and reporting such activities vol-untarily. Awareness is also on the rise within various stake-holder groups about a company’s products and how theyimpact the environment and societies.

Innovative contributionIn India this trend is quickly catching up as demonstrated by

many of the large companies beginning to include CorporateSocial Responsibility (CSR) in their business agenda. Industryassociations like CII and FICCI have also included CSR aspart of their agendas. There is increasing evidence to showthat companies that are high on such responsible behaviourare also high on the list of the most respected companies inIndia. CSR is understood differently by different companies inIndia. Some perceive it as periodic donations to charity, otherslook at it as a strategic long term support to issues. Whateverdefinitions companies may use, the important underlyingconcern is the need to contribute to the vast developmentchallenges that the country faces.

The nineties brought in the era of economic liberalization.Opening up the economy resulted in a number of opportu-nities, seen in the accelerated industrial and economic growthof the last decade. However, the focus on a market–driveneconomy has also contributed to the widening of the income,knowledge, and opportunity divides, pushing some sectionsof people deeper into the abyss of poverty. One of the mainreasons for this downward spiral is that the benefits of this ac-celerated pace of development can not be accessed by every-one equally.

In a vast country like India where large numbers still livebelow one dollar per day, this problem is compounded bythe inability of the government systems to ensure reach of itsdevelopment programmes to the most marginalized living inthe remote areas of the country. This increasing divide is notgood news for the corporate sector simply because the largerthe number of people that get left out of development thestronger the backward pull manifesting itself as shrinkingmarkets in future for the goods and services that the com-panies produce, community unrest and aggression, inabilityto get skilled labour etc.

Evolving a Corporate Social ResponsibilityModel - The Bilt Experience

YASHASHREE GURJAR

Ballarpur Industries Limited (Bilt) CSR programmes reach out to 150 remote villages and 50urban slums in Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Mahrashtra and Haryana states, impacting the lives

of 2,00,000 people. Bilt partners with 12 local NGOs as implementers of the projects. The programmes focus on the issue of livelihood creation with communities.

Yashashree Gurjar holds aMasters Degree in Sociology, a PostGraduate Diploma in Education,both from Pune University, and anExecutive MBA from the AsianInstitute of Management in Manila,Philippines.

She started her career in the social development field in1988 and worked ever since with the Government and anumber of NGOs mainly in the areas of education, childrights and advocacy. In 1993, she joined RelianceIndustries Limited and initiated the CSR activities there.Later on she joined Rio Tinto India Ltd, a Multi-Nationalmining company, and worked on rehabilitation and re-settlement issues on their projects in Maharashtra,Orissa and Rajasthan. She currently heads the CSRinitiatives of Bilt as the Chief General Manager.


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The CSR agenda as outlined by the developed North doesnot include these unique challenges. The global frameworkand standards of CSR will therefore need to be continuouslyfine–tuned by CSR practioners in India to make them morerelevant to the Indian context. The immense challenges thatthe country faces vis-à-vis development impacts the way CSRis perceived and implemented by companies in India. Issueslike poverty, inadequate livelihood options, lack of quality ed-ucation and illiteracy and the challenges arising from these is-sues are what most companies have to deal with as part oftheir daily operations.

Therefore, CSR in India cannot be limited to being viewedas a way of doing good business or managing businessprocesses well. It needs to go much be-yond business, to actively participate inhelping resolve some of the above men-tioned issues. Majority of the companiesthat include CSR in their agendas em-phasize addressing these issues throughtheir CSR programmes and practices.The Indian CSR model has evolved overthe last few decades to give rise to someinnovative ways to address develop-ment issues.

Partnership with NGOsBallarpur Industries Ltd (Bilt) is one of India’s leading paper

companies in India and the market leader in the manufactureof writing and printing paper. As a manufacturing companylocated in some of the most remote parts of the country Biltis faced with many of the previously mentioned challenges.The communities living around these locations are poor andmarginalized and have had limited access to opportunities fordevelopment. In most cases Bilt is one of the only, businessentities in the area.

In remote areas the avenues for income generation are lim-ited and the focus of people becomes industry related em-ployment. Expectations from people all around are generallyhigh; however since a company cannot fulfil all these expec-tations, even some of the positive social impacts of it being inthe area, like availability of jobs, get diluted due to the limitednumbers in which they are generated and the vast majority ofpeople desirous of accessing them. This results in dissatisfac-tion among people in the area and a worsening of the rela-tionship with communities.

Over the last few years Bilt realised that sporadic inputs inan area are not adequate to address the issues brought aboutby decades of it being left out of the mainstream develop-ment. Although we decided to address the issue in a system-atic way with a long term focus, we realised that we were not

the correct people to do so as we did not have the adequatecompetencies required to handle development. We developeda model that included partnering with local NGOs to imple-ment long term projects based on the identified needs of thecommunities in the area.

Farm-based activitiesSome of the programmes that we have taken up to make

these people economically productive are vocational and skilltraining, providing loans to youth to set up micro enterpriseslike carpentry units, motorcycle repairing units and units forproducts outsourced from the company. The projects also con-centrate on expanding the scope of traditional farm-based ac-tivities to those without education, to include commercial

vegetable farming, floriculture, provid-ing improved variety of seeds andtechnical know how. Loans are alsoprovided for off farm activities likepoultry, goat rearing, dairy and pisicul-ture etc. These programmes gave thecommunity a financial hold over theirlives. Health and education are also anextremely important component ofthe poverty alleviation programme inthe pursuit of livelihood. The outreachprogramme on health has reached

more than 50,000 people in this year alone. Availability ofhealth care at their doorstep lead to improved health status es-pecially among women and children. Trained health workersare now available in each village with basic medicine kits andsafe delivery kits available with them all the time.

Informal education and bridge courses are provided to chil-dren out of schools in the community. Bilt provides training toselected youth from a village to conduct these classes. Today,Bilt as part of CSR is empowering local communities so thatthey can play a constructive role in their own developmentthus decreasing their dependence on the company. It also en-courages employee prevention volunteerism. ThroughHIV/Aids prevention activities and other health interventionsit tries to create a healthy workplace. Internal monitoring andreporting mechanisms are in place and are an important partof this process. Bilt also developed a participatory monitoringsystem wherein the participating stakeholders are part of thereview systems.

These efforts lead to the development of a holistic CSRmodel that is based on a win-win partnership. It is working forBilt and is bringing returns in terms of better relations withcommunities, governments, NGO’s and civil societies besidesmeeting the needs of the stakeholders in a sustainable manner. �

[email protected]


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CSR and beyond…I remember meeting one of the senior members of Nike’s

philanthropy team last year who said to me – he neverwants to receive another funding proposal that arrives onhis desk with a cover page that reads: Just do it…..with….(a very worthy community based children’s projectno doubt)……I made a mental note to self: ‘change coverpage of pending Magic Bus proposal to Nike…..’

Admittedly, it is a little obvious…. “Think global, act local– the HSBC Magic Bus partnership”, “Where vision getsbuilt: the Lehman Brothers Magic Bus partnership”, butwhat it stands for is an aligning of vision. The intention toenter into a partnership with the business, where risk andbenefits are shared, rather than an old fashioneddonor/charity relationship. The gesture of reiterating acompanies’ strap line on the front of your proposal is per-haps a little obvious, but researching a potential partner andunderstanding how your project can benefit their businessobjectives is very important and makes for a far more suc-cessful project.

Resource requirementsSince its inception, mobilising local funding has been

Magic Bus’s objective and we have seen the engagementwith local businesses rather than trusts, as providing us withthe most sustainable solution to our resource requirements.

Admittedly, wesourced fund-ing overseas tomeet the initialdemand of oursetup costs,curriculum de-v e l o p m e n tphase and cap-ital investment.But from thebeginning weworked hard

to forge lasting partnerships where a company’s financialcommitment is matched by us with a commitment to delivera rewarding staff engagement programme and communica-tion strategy.

A typical Magic Bus partnership with a business involvesa commitment to sponsor a particular group of children,school or institution. Over the year, staff from that companywould join for sports days, events, learning and develop-ment camps at our centre and in staff-organised fundraisingdrives such as running in the Mumbai marathon. Managersand HR teams have reported to us that their staff have ben-efited from what they have learnt alongside our children interms of leadership, communication skills and general out-look on life. There is no doubt that a highly engaging com-munity project delivers a business benefit in terms of staffdevelopment, reward and retention.

Magic Bus has always seen its corporate donors aspartners, even if in the early days the feeling wasn’t

Magic School Bus: Forging Successful Partnerships

ALISON ADNITT

For Magic Bus, raising awareness in privileged communities of the potential of our children is extremely important for the social inclusion element of our work.

Corporate social responsibility is certainly not just about writing a cheque.

Alison Adnitt joined Magic Busfrom Christie’s Fine ArtAuctioneers, where she worked forsix years as a senior specialist inBritish and Anglo-Indian Art.She has an MA Joint Honours inHistory of Art and German fromEdinburgh University and Berlin

Freie Universität. Before moving to India, shevolunteered for Magic Bus as a fundraiser in the UKand has worked as Operations Director in Mumbaisince October 2002 before moving into hercurrent role looking at partnerships and strategicdevelopment. She has just completed a post-graduatediploma at Cambridge University in Cross-SectorPartnerships and has worked on a number of CSRrelationships with leading MNCs, such as LehmanBrothers, KPMG, GE and HSBC.


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mutual ! Our long standing partners, Indian AdvisoryPartners, GE, HSBC, JP Morgan, Lehman Brothers, andDeutsche Bank are, however, certainly of the opinion thatthey have benefited from the communication to thecommunity and their stakeholders of the partnership andmost importantly a vibrant staff engagement programmewith our children.

Community youthThis model will always remain important to us. How-

ever, in the future it will be community youth coming into renew the annual partnership rather than the fundrais-ing director, as Magic Bus turns over the responsibility ofits programme to the graduates from each community.Imagine when Pooja, a 21 year old rescued street girl,

and now a Magic Bus coach, comes in to ask for a grantof $6,000 to deliver her programme to over 300 children,I am convinced that community affairs managers will findit difficult to say no. Whereas saying no to one of a longline of fundraising directors like me, is much easier!

Magic Bus seeks social sustainability for its pro-grammes and hence the project has to become commu-nity-owned. A Magic Bus coach might decide to fundhis or her programme through an affordable joining feefrom the children or from conducting private coaching inthe evenings for a local corporate partners’ children.Whatever happens, it will be community-driven and lo-cally supported, and our partnerships with businesseswill remain crucial.

Corporate trainingBut this is not where it ends. Imagine if you could

know that your company is supporting a child develop-ment programme through the purchase of somethingyou already have in your annual HR budget? The MagicBus partnership with businesses is going one step furtherand our philanthropy partners will also become ourclients. In a social enterprise model, Magic Bus set up anorganisation-owned revenue project to offer corporatetraining to its partners. Over the last 4 years we raisedthe funds to buy over 20 acres of land in the hills outsideMumbai built a state–of–the–art outdoor learning anddevelopment centre complete with an international chal-lenge course, water sports facilities, football pitch, andobstacle course. The centre is packed with Magic Bus

children duringcertain seasons ofthe year. Buteven when thechildren arethere, the centreis so expansivethat we can offeran extremelyhigh quality ofcorporate teambuilding andleadership devel-opment pro-g r a m m e ssimultaneously.

With the cur-rent shiningeconomy in India,The 9% GDPgrowth last yearand the opening

up of international investment, companies’ greatestproblems lie in the recruitment and retention of staff. Asa result, the training market is thriving and is yet notvery sophisticated. Corporate Social Responsibility hasnever been so key, with companies required not to justcomply with environmental, human resource and com-munity development best practices but to exceed it inthe competition to offer the best to customers and at-tract the best staff.

For us the growing desire of the business communityto excel at corporate social responsibility is a major con-tributor to our sustainability and long may it last. �

[email protected]


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PARIVEDA Solutions in Dallas, Texas, USA is a firmthat takes corporate social responsibility seriously.One of my students and a current hire for the com-

pany, steven Huan, writes as follows:

"Pariveda is a three–year–old company that prides itselfon team work and helping one another out. In fact, thateven the lowest paid employees in the company are withinthe top 1% of wage-earners on the planet teaches us howimportant it is to share what we have with everyone else.Service to the community is not an option but rather a re-quirement of the company and there is a direct relationshipbetween salary (or more directly location on the organisa-tional ladder) and the amount of service hours required.Therefore, the senior partners have to do the most amountof service.

Corporate activism“I went to meet my company executives and new co-

workers as part of Habitat for Humanity build dayevent...I realised that I hadn't seen the president of thecompany since I got there. Eventually I found him, in therafters of the house, hammering away, drenched in sweat.This 50+year old person wasn't telling anybody what todo. He took the initiative and, without saying a word, hadpeople working with him because he was working harderthan anyone else around him. This was a man who peoplewanted to work with.”

Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit organisation of vol-unteers engaged in building affordable housing for theneedy. This e-mail articulates the need for corporate so-cial responsibility (CSR), even while the firm's main ob-jective is to increase shareholder value. The Parivedaexecutives are great role models for the new recruits. Thiscorporate activism is acceptable, sustainable, and valuableas a change agent, particularly in the context of India. So-cial reforms driven by the community will bring peopletogether, turn the attention of the masses to tasks thatbenefit society, and reinforce peace and harmony.

In recent times, a number of foundations set up byleading Indian firms, including Infosys, Wipro, Tatas, TVS,

and Dr. Reddy's Laboratory, have taken a keen interest incorporate activism to improve healthcare, education, andliving conditions, and reduce poverty. These foundationssupport numerous government primary schools and havedeveloped processes and methodologies for effectivechange. They support hundreds of non-governmental or-ganisations and have built orphanages, hospitals, andschools.

ChallengesHowever, the challenges in India are enormous. Social

responsibility should not be limited to large successful cor-porations; there should be greater participation from mostsmall, medium, and large businesses. The goodwill thatfirms can generate from acts of social responsibility may, infact, be worth far more to the businesses than the amountsthey give. Corporations collectively can make India a betterplace to live.

Corporate social responsibility is about tradition and cul-ture. Firms can institutionalise voluntarism among employ-ees through appropriate incentives and recognition.Internal performance evaluation of employees couldrecognise community work. Community work can be ofmany forms: teaching in government schools, supportingNGOs financially, empowering women, cleaning parks,planting trees, volunteering in orphanages, protecting theabused. Many corporations in America allow employees

Toward Corporate Social ResponsibilityPRABHUDEV KONANA

Prabhudev Konana is aDistinguished Teaching Professorat the University of Texas atAustin. He received his PhD inInformation Management from theUniversity of Arizona. He haspublished over 70 articles injournals, magazines, conferences

and newspapers. His articles on economic and socialissues have appeared in The Hindu. He has numerousteaching and research awards including the NSFCAREER Award. He is one of the co-founders of Pragathi,a non-profit organization to support elementaryeducation in India.

CSR has much broader implications for the nation as a whole. It reduces dependency onthe government for social change. Most governmental programmes quickly becomeembroiled in political, administrative, and communal wrangles. There is a need for

public-private partnership for the best use of the available resources.


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to write about their community service as part of their an-nual evaluation report. Even if companies do not rewardcommunity activities, at least, the idea that the companycares will have a positive impact.

Creating Demand Corporate social responsibility can be much more than

charity. An innovative way to contribute socially is forfirms to spend in towns and villages, and to buy productsfrom millions of artisans who are at the bottom of theeconomic pyramid. ‘Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyra-mid’ (Author: C. K. Prahalad) calls for corporations todesign products/services for the enormous population atthe bottom of the pyramid. The basic assumption is thatthis population segment has some disposable income andfirms can still make profits on large volume. Why notconsider creating wealth at the bottom of the pyramid,which can increase disposable in-come and buying power?

For example, firms can give arti-sans' products as corporate giftsor use them for interior decora-tion, which may have sociallymore redeemable value than cur-rent methods. If there are qualityissues, then corporations can usetheir resources to increase qualityawareness among artisans. Un-fortunately, the above roles to create demand and im-prove quality rest on the government and the resourcesspent for such activity hardly reach the intended benefi-ciaries.

Building facilitiesFurther, corporate spending outside large cities can

help spread wealth. Large corporations can exploit hun-dreds of historical places in rural towns and villages forcorporate training, conferences, and getaways. Ofcourse, innovative ways are needed to create decenthotels, restaurants, and basic amenities outside majorcities. The Indian Government has championed buildinghotels to promote tourism. However, the initiatives areriddled with inefficiencies, poor service, and wasted re-sources. Private entities with support from several cor-porations can collectively build facilities on atime-sharing basis that will help invigorate economicactivity. It is necessary to create jobs and economic ac-tivity in rural communities to uplift the masses. Unlesswealthy corporations and individuals spend on goodsand services that touch the masses (like artisans' prod-ucts), economic prosperity for most of the populationwill remain a dream.

Inculcating corporate social responsibility is also abouttraining young minds and helping future generations or-ganise themselves for greater good. Social responsibilityneeds to be deeply ingrained from childhood. In America,increasingly admission to elite private and public universitiesis not only based on academic grades, but also participationin community activities and leadership roles. Social respon-sibility is about leadership, respect for fellow human beings,and checks and balances. It is not uncommon to find highschool students volunteering in community work. Scholar-ships are awarded to those who show community leader-ship and academic performance.

Change neededUnfortunately, in India, admissions to even some of the

best institutions are purely based on performance in en-trance exams. Worse, entering the civil services is also

about securing high grades in ac-ademic subjects. Thus, parentsand young minds are focussed in-tently on examinations and exam-inations alone. Obviously, the nextgeneration is groomed likewise. Tobreak this cycle, there needs to bea radical change in the incentivestructure in the educational sys-tem, and admission and hiringprocess. Consideration must begiven not only to grades, but also

to leadership roles and societal impact; these may havegreater value to corporations and society.

Throughout my schooling not once did I engage in socialor charity activity. There were hardly any role models at thefaculty level or friends to look beyond classroom/books.My engineering institution in India never promoted societalresponsibilities. Contrast this with the UT-Austin, which ac-tively supports and nurtures over 900-plus student-led or-ganisations under the "Student Activities and LeadershipDevelopment" (SALD) programme. Likewise, high schoolsengage with a large number of student-led organisations.While not all these organisations are about social work,many explicitly create awareness of leadership qualities andsocial responsibility.

Every country should embrace the remarkable conceptof individuals and businesses forming a partnership to sup-port social causes. In the context of India, such a partner-ship has enormous potential for strengthening society. �

[email protected].

(The article was originally published in The Hindu)

THERE are two sides to the Corporate Social Responsi-bility (CSR) coin. Many corporate companies see CSRas an opportunity to boost the brand image of their

companies, The attitude is, let us partner with an NGO anduse the partnership to build the image of the company. Inthis endeavour, they spend more time on promotional activ-ities which are well publicised. The company’s commitmentstarts and ends at that.

There are cases where companies have promised comput-ers, the NGO discovered that they have been palmed offwith e-waste; a very smart move where the company is con-cerned as they build brand image while getting rid of theirwaste. The NGO is then stuck with the costs of trying tomake the computers work. There are many such stories andI feel if a study is done, a lot of dirt would be dug up andmany large companies will find holes in the citadels of theircharacter.

Adding valuesOn the other side, there are companies who have real com-

mitment and look beyond the CSR idea to add value to soci-ety. They support blood donation camps, eye testing camps,etc. However these are all limited to the extent of the budgetavailable to the CSR unit.

Technology For The People (TFTP) has experienced both

sides of the CSR coin and decided not to be a part of the CSRprojects at all. So how can NGOs work with the corporatesector?

TFTP looks at developing business partnerships with com-panies so that programs are more sustainable. This involvesstudying companies’ work flows and if the communities wework with can be trained to fit into those work spaces. Wejointly develop training programs so that the communitymeets industry standards and further partners with the com-pany to see if the work flows can be outsourced into the com-munity itself. In this process we have developed an “IndustryMapping Method” where we can now map the industry re-quirements and the skills available with the community.

The following is a case study of our intervention in the old cityof Hyderabad where such an exercise has been undertaken.

PartnershipsWe are now partnering with other companies who have seen

what can be done and are looking for a win-win situation.

This kind of partnerships between NGOs and companies, Ibelieve, is the way CSR should evolve, enabling ways whichcan help industry address problems of attrition and workflows will go a long way in making the community initiativesmore sustainable. Companies, in turn, will gain with moreloyal work forces and resource pools of persons from theNGOs.

Corporate Social Responsibility to Society’s Advantage or Corporates’?

Rajen Varada is the founding member of TechnologyFor The People (TFTP), an NGO based in south India,that works towards providing IT based livelihoodoptions for deprived and marginalized communities.Prior to dedicating himself fully to TFTP, he was an ICTconsultant to UNICEF, Hyderabad, India. He hasdesigned and managed the development of the ICTpackage for health called “Sisu Samrakshak”, whichwon the 2005 Manthan award and the World Summitaward in e-health. He has also designed modules onHIV/AIDS using ICT for Indian rural communities.

RAJEN VARADA

Seemingly good corporates have claimed that the work of an NGO has been because of their support.


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Collaboration with Industry: a Crucial LinkIn the animation industry, while the investment in

human resources is high, turnover of trained personnel isalso high, which affects business plans of the firms. Cre-ating skilled artists is advantages as they can serve as areserve pool of personnel with more stability in employ-ment.

TFTP partnered with Star Features Studio to developthe training methodology for conversion of the traditionalcraftspeople into animation artists. Star Features is an In-dian Firm involved in developing animation series in thearea of education. While this collaboration will addressthe issue of high turnover of artists, trained people fromthis initiative will be employed in the existing market bythe studio. Towards this, the studio is willing to outsourceits work to young trained people.

TFTP established resource centres in five locations inparts of the old city of Hyderabad to provide educationand livelihood alternatives for adolescent girls who arevulnerable to early marriages and other exploitative formsof labour. Students are prepared to appear for the X Stan-

dard exams along with livelihood training in animation.Students with different grades of skills are identified and

TFTP, in liaison with Star Features, conducts a trainingmodule on animation to suit their levels of learning. Thecourse starts with basic drawing skills and progresses toconverting the hand movement techniques from mehendito animation.

After completing the six months course, internships areorganised in Star Features as an extension of the regularclasses, so that a smooth transfer to the new employmentis facilitated. Inputs on personality development, commu-nication, and spoken English are also incorporated in thecurriculum so that the students are empowered for thistransition in their lives.

Adolescent girls, who dropped out of school and earn ameagre income by way of helping their mothers in hand-embroidery and mehendi-designing during wedding sea-sons, are now full time graphic and animation artists forStar Features, an animation studio in the city of Hyder-abad. �

[email protected]


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THE Bharti Foundation and its associates will soon open1,000 primary schools in villages across India with an in-vestment of Rs 200 crore. According to Rakesh Bharti

Mittal, vice-chairman and managing director of Bharti group,the aim is to help the needy children who drop out of schoolwithout completing their school education due to family cir-cumstances.

The group already opened 200 primary schools under thebanner of "Satya Bharti School" in different states in the coun-try.The target is to establish 1,000 schools in 5 years. TheBharti Foundation is running eight schools in Ludhiana district,in association with the Punjab School Education Board. Mittalsaid that Nehru Siddhant Kendra Trust, Ludhiana, will financethe entire schooling of 10 percent students at the Sat Paul Mit-tal School, so that meritorious students of low and mediumincome groups may get the opportunity to study in a goodpublic school. �

Bharti Group To open 1,000 Schools In 5 Yrs

Anumber of hospitals in India, starting with the ven-erable Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore,offer highly expensive services, like heart opera-

tions, free to poor patients. Inclusion of the poor, irrespec-tive of their origin, demonstrated by hospitals like CMC,Vellore, Narayana Hridayalaya in Bangalore and Kolkata, LV Prasad Eye Institute in Hyderabad (to name a few) pro-vides the basis for devising a generalised model of inclu-sive development.

This model should interest businesses for their schemesof corporate social responsibility. Instead of providingcharity, businesses could support no-loss, no-profit exer-cises of far larger magnitude, and enjoy greater goodwillthan smaller charities will. These schemes will also en-hance the economic status of the community, increasepurchasing power and indirectly enhance their main busi-ness.

In an interview, Dr. Devi Shetty of Narayana Hridayalayaemphasised the salient philosophy of his inclusive move-ment:

If I am given a choice I would like to treat only the poorpatients. But unfortunately the economic reality will notallow me to do that. So instead what we do is, offer 25%of the beds for the rich people and 75% we leave for thepoor. (In the new 5000-bed hospital he is constructing inKolkata, share of the poor is 50%.)

Intermediary jobIn this society there are a large number of people who

need help but do not know where help will be available.And there are a good number of people with money withthe intention to help but don't know who requires it. Wedo that intermediary job. We are the brokers between thosewho need and those who have. If we tell people that we aregoing to charge one-and-a half lakh rupees for an opera-tion, can you give us Rs 30,000? Does it make any sense?

That person is not going to give us the money. So we tellhim that we are going to operate on this child and offerour services free. Can you help us do it? This has worked.A lot of people have given money.

Dr Devi Shetty’s hospital, with 75, or even 50% treat-ment devoted to the poor, is an extreme case. The CMCboasts of three classes of services that may be roughly de-scribed as cost-plus, cost-equal and cost-minus categories.The cost-plus category offers luxurious non-medical facil-ities like special wards and cross subsidises poor patientswho get lower non-medical facilities (general wards) butsame medical treatment.

Different servicesWe may generalise the idea by postulating a hospital

that operates as a non-profit company and provides fourclasses of service:

(a) The poorest who get all treatment free(b) The less poor who pay only for medicines(c) The normal group who pay both for medicines

and labour costs(d) The rich who are charged interest and deprecia

tion costs also. In addition, they make a

Inclusive Development as Self-sustaining Business

Inclusive development model should interest businesses for their schemes of corporate social responsibility: Instead of providing charity, businesses could

support no-loss, no-profit exercises of far larger magnitude, and enjoy greater goodwill than through smaller charities.

P.V. INDIRESAN

Professor P.V. Indiresan hastaught in the IITs for forty years.He has been Director of IITMadras and was also the PastPresident of the Indian NationalAcademy of Engineering, and alsoof the Institution of Electronicsand TelecommunicationEngineers. He is one of the two-dozen Honorary Members of

the Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers,USA, among whom a dozen are Nobel Prize winners. Hehas been awarded the Padma Bhushan and his studentshave built a hostel in his name at IIT Delhi. He writes onalternate Mondays in the Hindu Businessline.


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contribution to a Charity Fund run by a separate trust.

The Charity Trust (which may receive contributions fromnon-patients too) meets the costs of treating the poor andsubsidises the treatment of the second category. Thosecontributions will enjoy tax benefits. To the extent thestate offers tax rebates, it shares the cost of treating thepoor in a private hospital.

As a non-profit company, the hospital may be allowed toissue bonds that get the same tax benefits as infrastructurebonds enjoy. Such tax rebates are better than either gov-

ernment subsidies or the government itself operating thefacilities: One, subsidies are subject to political whims ofthe moment; they are not always objective. Two, whenthe government itself runs the institutions, more oftenthan not, efficiency suffers. It also becomes difficult to at-tract charity.

Tax rebatesTax rebates avoid these problems. The sacrifice the gov-

ernment makes in tax collections will be a fraction of thecosts it would have incurred if it had provided the samesocial services, which, normally is its duty. In other words,these tax rebates formalise the financial shares of a Pub-lic-Private Partnership in a transparent, non-selective man-ner.

In general, the hospital can be run as a society, as a trust

or as a non-profit company. When run as a society, themanagement runs the risk of being captured by pressuregroups. Several societies, which started with noble inten-tions, are known to have been politicised. Operating as atrust, the institution faces less risk of take-over but cansuffer from inbreeding. Functioning as a non-profit com-pany has two advantages: One, power is distributed ac-cording to the financial contribution made. Two, itsaccounting standards will be high and transparent.

This process may be extended to education, publictransport and even dwellings. In the case of schools, we

can consider three classes:Full fees in regular hours;marginal fees in eveningclasses and free tuitionover weekends. Alter-nately, we can ask (or es-timate) at the time ofadmission what each stu-dent will be willing to pay.An admission test is thenheld on a need-blindbasis. The merit list andthe fees list can then becombined to meet the re-quired income to run theschool with a maximum ofmeritorious students.Harvard operates its ad-missions in this mannerand has been able tomaintain high standardsof admission for over acentury. The system also

attracts charitable endowments.

In the case of public transport, we can have, in everyvehicle, a section with standing passengers only wherefares are nominal or even free. Alternately, no fares maybe charged during off-peak hours and the number of serv-ices that can be operated during peak hours may be deter-mined by the number of services operated free duringoff-peak hours.

Supply in excessIn the case of dwellings, cost of land is the primary prob-

lem, not the cost of construction. Typically, the poor oc-cupy a third of the average space. The bottom 30 per centneeds only ten per cent of the total dwelling space, at the-most 15 per cent. Many town planners do make such aprovision and yet slums proliferate. It happens becausesupply is kept less than the demand.


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India will need another 200 million dwellings. In-stead of waiting for shortages to develop, and then,organising residential plots, suppose the supply is al-ways kept in excess of demand. Then, the poor willnot be short-changed so long as their due share of 10-15 per cent space is kept open for them.

Basically, all these systems operate with separatesupply-demand schedules for different categories ofcustomers. They operate with one schedule where fullcosts are charged, and a separate one at the lowermarginal cost. They are effective where economy ofscale applies but not after the Law of Diminishing Re-turns sets in.

It is not obvious, but vital, that institutions of thistype must offer world-class service: If they do not, the

rich will go elsewhere taking their surplus and theircharities with them. Politicians rarely appreciate theimportance of maintaining quality. When money isscarce, they should improve quality; they should startattracting more and more paying customers. Unfor-tunately, those who talk of inclusive development al-most never appreciate this counter-intuitive argument.Come budget crunch, they sacrifice quality, lose pay-ing customers and set off an unstoppable downwardspiral. It is no accident that all self-supporting institu-tions that help the poor, like the CMC, Narayana Hri-dayaylaya, or Harvard University, offer world classservice.

In brief, inclusive development is not charity; it isself-sustaining business. �

[email protected]

The Indian media is surely one of the biggest and most comprehensive of any in the world. The print mediaalone consists of over 2,00,000 newspapers and magazines, published in a wide range of Indian languagesand in English. The rise of the regional media matches the economic growth of some of the key regions.

INEPNEXT, the only news agency focusing on EU-India relations, has chosen to work with a media companybased in Kolkata, home to some of the country’s oldest English and Indian language newspapers.

INEPNEXT is a joint venture between the India News in Europe Programme (INEP) and the Kolkata-based'Brand Next" media organisation. Its aim is to provide detailed information and analysis of EU-India relationson trade, the economy, science and technology, culture or politics. from Brussels, the home of key EUinstitutions and the world's largest news centre.

INEPNEXT aims, in short, to raise the profile of two of the world’s leading soft powers – India and the 27-nation European Union.

INEPNEXT prepares regular news reports, interviews and analyses for Indian news outlets; it will alsodisseminate news and information from India for news outlets in Europe.

INEPNEXT will also be looking at the EU's ties with India’s neighbours : Bangladesh, Pakistan , Nepal and Sri Lanka and regularly reporting on the activities of the Indian Diaspora in Europe.

For further information, and for a two-week free subscription, please contact:[email protected]

Brussels office: Kolkata office:IPC, Residence Palace, Block C, Room Nr. 02256 FD-121, Salt Lake CityRue de la Loi, 155

1040 Brussels, Belgium Kolkata-700091, West Bengal, India

Tel : 00322-235 22 13 Tel : 009133 - 64175987

www.inepnext. com


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2007 Corporate Social Responsibility: Interesting Revelations from a Survey

On CSR, an analytical study was made by ten professional survey groups of global fame in seven countries including India and China. A Pilot Study revealed variations in

the sizes of participation between countries, some following informal CSR policies, and others not having any policy at all.

ON Corporate Social Responsibility, an analyticalstudy was made by ten professional surveygroups on global fame in seven countries includ-

ing India and China. Called “A Pilot Study”, it broughtout some interesting revelations, such as vast variationsin the sizes of participation between countries, some fol-lowing informal CSR policies, and others not having anypolicy at all.

Although four out of five human resource (HR) profes-sionals across seven countries including India and China,reported that their organizations partici-pated in practices that could be consid-ered as corporate social responsibility,smaller proportions from each of thecountries reported that their organiza-tions had either formal or informal cor-porate social responsibility policies.

Most organizations without corporatesocial responsibility policies did not in-tend to create them. The exception,among other nations, was China’s planto create corporate social responsibilitypolicies.

ParticipationThe proportions of HR professionals

who reported that their organisations participated in se-lected corporate social responsibility practices and activ-ities varied greatly. Participation in select corporate socialresponsibility practices was found to vary within countriesaccording to organizational staff size, indicating thatavailability of resources may affect the types of corporatesocial responsibility practices in which organisations en-gage.

According to respondents in India, large organi-zations (96%) were more likely than small organ-

izations (69%) to participate in corporate socialresponsibility practices.

Organisations that participated in corporate social re-sponsibility demonstrated their commitment to suchpractices to their stakeholders. About two out of threeHR professionals across each of the surveyed countriesreported that their organisations documented corporatesocial responsibility efforts in their newsletters and/orother publications. Additionally, more than one-half ofHR professionals from each of the seven countries that

participated in the pilot study indicatedthat their organizations’ commitment tocorporate social responsibility was inte-grated with their organisational businessstrategy through inclusion in the organi-sations’ goals and/or mission.

Different practicesHR professionals employed by

medium organizations (94%) inChina were more l ikely than thoseemployed by small organizations(59%) to report that their organiza-tions participated in practices thatcould be considered as corporate so-cial responsibility.

There are a number of possible explanations for whyrates of participation in corporate social responsibilitypractices differ among countries, including availabilityof financial resources, issues of work/ life balance andcultural factors. However, despite the differences in re-ported participation percentages, it is worth notingthat the two most frequently reported corporate socialresponsibility practices—donating/collecting moneyfor local charities and donating/collecting money fornatural disasters—were the same for five out of sevencountries. �

(The ten survey groups which carried out the study were SHRM, AHRI, NHRDN,HRinIndia, HRA, CIIC, CCHRA, AMEDIRH, COMARI and ABRH)


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CORPORATE Social Responsibility (CSR) is the conceptthat points to organizations having an obligation toshareholders, customers, employees, communities,

and ecology in every aspect of the operation. It covers all as-pects of an organization’s operations and can be divided intodaily operations – diversity, community relations, litigation,moral righteousness, diversity, patriotism, environmental sus-tainability, and much more.

A few accreditation groups came together to form the In-ternational Social and Environmental Accreditation and La-beling (ISEAL), which sets voluntary international standardsand ensures that these social and environmental standardsare widely recognized.

ISEAL Members follow the ISEAL Code of Good Practicefor Setting Social and Environmental Standards. The groupsinclude the Social Accountability International (SAI), the For-est Stewardship Council, the International Federation of Or-ganic Agriculture, the Dutch Max Havelaar Foundation, andFairTrade. There has been an attempt by the United Nationsto make CSR a global phenomenon by launching The GlobalCompact in July 2000. The principles of the Global Compactaddress human rights, labor standards, environmental re-sponsibility and corruption include:

� Businesses should support and respect the protection ofinternationally proclaimed human rights

� They should make sure that they are not complicit inhuman rights abuses

� They should uphold the elimination of all forms of forcedand compulsory labor

� They should uphold the effective abolition of child labor� They should uphold the elimination of discrimination in

respect to employment and occupation� Businesses should support a precautionary approach to

environmental challenges� Businesses should work against all forms of corruption, in-

cluding extortion and bribery

CEMEX is one of the world’slargest cement companies.CEMEX decided to study the

do-it-yourself home building business that dominated Mex-ico. The company sent a team of managers to live in theneighborhoods where the build-it-yourself approach waspopular, in order to take a walk in the shoes of the potentialcustomers. This exchange resulted in Patrimonio Hoy, aCEMEX program that makes credit and materials available topoor, while also offering their expertise to optimize space,build safely, efficiently, and with little waste or harm done.The members of CEMEX took less than a third of the timethe average homebuilder in their area takes. The membersalso used materials more efficiently due to the advice they

received from the program.

A current and pressing environmentalissue is global warming. In 2005, Gen-eral Electric announced its greenhousegas and energy use goals in an agree-

ment with the U.S. Environmental Pro-tection Agency (EPA). The 2002 decision

to remove PCB (polychlorinated biphenyls)-containing sed-iments, a major contributor to toxic waste, from the UpperHudson River was the motivation for the deal. In this man-ner, General Electric (GE) achieved the best performance onair exceedances ever. (An air exceedance is overstepping thelimit on air pollutants emitted without a required permit.) In2004 and 2005, GE reduced more than 250,000 tons ofgreen house gas emissions, the equivalent of removingnearly 50,000 cars from the road, resulting in US $14 millionin annual energy cost savings. �

[email protected]

Corporate Social Responsibility: Two Exemplary Corporations

SANDHYA RAWAL

CEMEX and GE proved beyond doubt that it is possible to run profitable companies while beingaccountable to the community and environment.


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Sandhya Rawal is a risingsenior at the Bergen CountyAcademies in the GlobalLeadership Exchange, aprogram focusing on leadershipand biotechnology. Sandhyaplans to pursue these interestsin college. She enjoys writing,reading, bioresearch, volunteerwork, and dance.

AMUCH admired lady, who was raising funds forher NGO, once asked me what I did for a living. Itold her that I worked for a company. “Oh, but

what do you really do—I mean for society?” she said. Ibecame defensive and began to recount some of our phil-anthropic activities. ‘Is that all!’ thundered the eminencegrise. CSR has become a buzz word these days, and onenewspaper even has a CSR reporter. But why is it thatsomething so worthy and high-minded leaves me uneasy?I think it is because companies have no business engagingin philanthropy and businessmen don’t value more whatthey do.

“The social responsibility of business is to make a profit,”famously said Milton Friedman, a Nobel Prize winner. Heexplained that in making a profit a company creates thou-sands of jobs, both directly and indirectly through suppli-ers, distributors and retailers. It imparts valuable skills to itsemployees. It pays crores in taxes. It improves the lives ofmillions of satisfied customers with its products and serv-ices. This is an enormous service to society. If some share-holders get rich along the way, so what? Companiesshould focus single-mindedly on their competence, pro-viding goods and services better than their competitors,and not get distracted by extraneous activity. A company’ssocial responsibility is to make profits legally, not to harmnature, and uphold the highest standards of governance.

Promoting goodwillYet, I intensely admire individuals who engage

in philanthropy. I was deeply moved by WarrenBuffet’s selfless gesture when he gave away allhis wealth to the Bill Gates’ foundation. I agreewith Andrew Carnegie that to die rich is to diedisgraced. If it is immoral to spend the company’smoney, it is businessmen’s duty to spend their ownmoney on charity (from after-tax profits). It is a theftagainst Reliance’s shareholders if Reliance Indus-tries builds a hospital, but it is Mukesh Ambani’sduty to do so. Hence, Tatas do their charitywork through their trusts, from dividends re-

ceived from Tata companies. CSR should thus be relabelledISR, Individual Social Responsibility, and each of us oughtto feel the need to give back.

This is fine in theory, but the reality is that few Indiansfeel the philanthropic urge, which emerges it seems at alater stage of capitalism. In order that the few sources ofpresent funding don’t dry up, we cannot allow corporatefunding to cease. We can ensure its legitimacy if companiesfix rigorous criteria for giving. Corporate philanthropy mustenhance company profits, strengthening the brand or pro-moting goodwill in the community.

Glib talk about CSR reflects our prejudice against busi-ness. Adam Smith wrote in his Theory of Moral Senti-ments that he didn’t much care for those who spent theirlives chasing “baubles and trinkets”, but he was “im-

mensely grateful that such creatures abounded forthe whole of civilisation, and the welfare of all

societies depended on people’s desire andability to accumulate unneeded capital

and show off their wealth. Indeed, it…firstprompted men to cultivate the ground, to

build houses, to found cities and common-wealths and to invent all the sciences and arts

which ennoble and embellish human life.” I think busi-nessmen, in particular, need to understand this andnot get defensive about what they do. �

[email protected]

Corporate Social Responsibility:The Other Point of View

GURUCHARAN DAS

Gurcharan Das is an author andmanagement consultant. In 1995, after a 30-year career in 6 countries, he took an earlyretirement to become a full-timewriter. He writes a regular Sundaycolumn for the “Times of India” and“Dainik Bhaskar” and occasional

guest columns for the “Wall Street Journal,” “FinancialTimes” and “Time” magazine. He graduated with honorsfrom Harvard University in Philosophy and Politics.


24

Glib talk about CSR reflects our prejudice against business... A company’s social responsibility is to make profits legally...Companies should focus single-mindedly on their competence,

providing better goods and services than their competitors.


25

TATA is a window into therise of India. While thatrise is often traced to free-

market reforms that began inthe early '90s, Tata executivesemphasize that even now, thecompany grows despite obsta-cles thrown up by red tape andspecial interests. Unlike China'sboom, which was orchestratedby the state, India's is primarily the story of an enterpris-ing private sector.

In recent years, as Tata began listing some of its affil-iates on Wall Street, Americans often compared Tata tothe model-conglomerate they know best: General Elec-tric. But CEO Ratan Tata, 67, is no Jack Welch. "Certainlynot," he says. Tata executives, many armed with Western

M.B.A.s, have all read about Welch, and dismiss many ofhis American tactics-from mass layoffs to hostiletakeovers-as violations of the Tata way.

Ratan Tata says his company is not driven to grow"over everybody's dead bodies." Some 66 percent of theprofits of its investment arm, Tata Sons, go to charity,and executives make clear they have no intention of re-linquishing control to Wall Street. At Tata, "corporate so-cial responsibility," to use the Western buzzword, hasreal money behind it.

However far-flung Tata’s markets are, they are near inspirit to the social experiment of Jamshedpur, the steeltown with a population of 8,00,000 Tata carved fromthe jungle a century ago. It still pays full health and ed-ucation expenses for all employees, and runs the schoolsand a 1,000-bed hospital. �

But...Tata Lays The Path The Tata Group’s Jamshedpur social experiment is a laudable example of corporate social

responsibility . Tata Steel pays full health and education expenses for all employees and runs schools and a 1000-bed hospital in, and around the steel town.

� What Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives does your company undertake?

� Do you need any active help or input from NGOs or volunteers or experts to execute /improve / expand your CSR activities? If so, is there some format in which they cansend their information to you?

� Are there any documented learnings on CSR that you can share?

� Your inputs and contributions (send to [email protected]) would be valuable to us inproviding information on CSR initiatives and activities.

� CSR activities of many companies are listed in www.karmayog.org/funds.ht

Karmayog Wants to Know from Corporates:

www.karmayog.org provides a comprehensive online resource of services,

organisations, people, etc so as to help connect those who are providing services

and resources, etc., with those NGOs and concerned persons who need them.

“IF those who are better off do not act in a more sociallyresponsible manner, our growth process may be at risk,our polity may become anarchic and our society may getfurther divided...I invite corporate India to be a partner inmaking ours a more humane and just society”.

— Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh

On May 24 Prime MinisterManmohan Singh addressedthe inaugural session of theConfederation of Indian In-dustry’s Annual Summit 2007at New Delhi. Dr Singh strucka note of caution for the cap-tains of industry vis-a-vis their social responsi-bilities. The following are ex-cerpts from the PrimeMinister’s speech.

In a modern, democratic so-ciety, business must realise its

wider social responsibility. The time has come for the better-off sections of our society to understand the need to makeour growth process more inclusive-to eschew conspicuousconsumption, to save more and waste less, to care for thosewho are less privileged, to be role models of probity, moder-ation and charity. Indian industry must, therefore, rise to thechallenge of making our growth processes both efficient andinclusive.

We need a new Partnership for Inclusive Growth based onwhat I describe as a Ten-Point Social Charter.

One, have healthy respect for your workers and invest intheir welfare. Unless workers feel they are cared for at work,we can never evolve a national consensus in favour of much-needed more flexible labour laws aimed at ensuring that ourfirms remain globally competitive.

Two, corporate social responsibility must not be defined bytax planning strategies alone. Rather, it should be definedwithin the framework of a corporate philosophy which factorsthe needs of the community and the regions in which a cor-porate entity functions. This is part of our cultural heritage.Mahatma Gandhi called it trusteeship.

Three, industry must be proactive in offering employmentto the less privileged, at all levels of the job ladder. The rep-resentation companies give to SC/STs, OBCs, minorities andwomen in their workforce must increase. You must show sen-sitivity to those who are physically less-abled, in providing aworkplace conducive to their employment. You must employretired members of our gallant Armed Forces.

Four, resist excessive remuneration to promoters and seniorexecutives and discourage conspicuous consumption. In acountry with extreme poverty, industry needs to be moderatein its emolument levels. Rising income and wealth inequalitiescan lead to social unrest. The electronic media carries thelifestyles of the rich and famous into every village and everyslum. Ostentatious expenditure on weddings and other fam-ily events, for example, plants resentment in the minds of thehave-nots.

Five, invest in people and in their skills. Offer scholarshipsto promising young people. High rates of growth mean noth-ing for those who are unable to find employment. We mustinvest in skill-building and education to make our youth em-ployable. Here too, I appreciate the CII's initiative in upgradingITIs. This is a very good beginning, as I said, but there is moreto be done.

Six, desist from non-competitive behaviour. The operationof cartels by groups of companies to keep prices high mustend. Even profit maximisation should be within the boundsof decency and greed. The private sector should show someself-restraint in this regard.

Seven, invest in environment-friendly technologies. India'sgrowth must be enhanced and, yet, our ecology must besafeguarded for our future generations. Our track record inresource use is good, but must improve further. Conspicuousconsumption must be reduced not just because it is sociallyundesirable at our level of development, but also because itis environmentally unsustainable.

Eight, promote enterprise and innovation, within your firmsand outside. If our industry has to make the leap to the nextstage of development, it must be far more innovative and en-terprising. It must try to maintain its competitive edge by in-vesting in R&D and innovation and promotion of enterprise.

Nine, fight corruption at all levels. The cancer of corruptionis eating into the vitals of our body politic. Corruption neednot be the grease that oils the wheels of progress. There aremany successful companies today that have refused to yieldto this temptation. I commend them, and I urge others to fol-low.

Ten, promote socially responsible media and finance sociallyresponsible advertising. Through your advertisement budgetsand your investments in media, you can encourage sociallyresponsible media to grow and flourish. You can promote so-cially relevant messages and causes.

This is not an exhaustive list. You may wish to add to it, andadopt your own Social Charter for inclusive growth. We must end forever the debate whether our country's march of progress has benefited India and not Bharat. Indiais Bharat. �

PM’s Word of Advice to Corporates


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INDIAN companies pay a good amount of attention toCorporate Social Responsibility. They devote to suchbasic social issues as water, health care, education,

livelihood and so on with a sense of commitment. For in-stance, Satyam Computer Services Ltd. initiated twofoundations in different areas; Satyam Foundation fo-cuses on urban area while Byrraju Foundation works onrural area. Chinese companies look inward to improvelabor conditions, and employees’ welfare. The impetusto CSR development is also greatly different between thetwo countries. In China, government took over the rolewhile in India companies do it.

CSR in China developed in three stages. The multina-tional corporations (MNCs) initiated CSR campaigns inthe mid-1990s. Aligned with their central office, they ex-posed China to certain requirements in consumer and re-tail sectors. Most of Chinese companies received this ideapassively for business cooperation.

Chinese pay attentionIn the following years, international organisations and

non-governmental organizations worked to further de-velop and introduce CSR in China.World Wildlife Fund(WWF) in China, for example, organises corporate meet-ing annually, providing an opportunity for the companiesto gain exposure to the idea. These international organ-izations and multinational corporations, to some extent,might link trade opportunities with labour conditions.Consequently, the Chinese government and companiesbegan to pay attention to CSR. Groups such as the Min-istry of Labor, the Ministry of Commerce, and the Chi-nese Enterprise Confederation (CEC) all created CSRinvestigation committees.1

Local or state-owned companies just started to under-stand CSR in the last two or three years. Steadily, theyswitched their roles from passive reaction to active par-ticipation.

At this stage, multinational companies started payingcloser attention to China’s real problems. Take Nike China

as an example, their brand marketing department focusedon China’s most serious ongoing problem – rural migra-tion. They sponsored a school for children of these fami-lies, providing them with facilities and helping them learn.

However, when we talk about CSR, companies are notthe only stakeholders. The mass media, government, ac-ademic institutions, and even the public take responsibil-ity to supervise, motivate, and stimulate the companiesto discharge their responsibilities.

SurveyIn 2006, the first CSR survey was conducted by China

Central Television (CCTV), China Entrepreneur magazine,Global Entrepreneur magazine and Peking University. Thesurvey reached the following conclusions, which depictedthe general state of CSR in China.

Most MNCs factor CSR into their companies’ strate-gies, but the Chinese companies as such seldom do this.The manufacturing sector, which comparatively hasmore capital and assets, practices better CSR. On theother hand, the manufacturing sector utilizes more socialand natural resources, and therefore, has wide range ofstakeholders. This attracts more attention from civil so-ciety, which puts greater pressure on implementing CSR.Classified by ownership, state-owned enterprises paymore attention to CSR in various aspects, while MNCsfocus more on environmental impact which local pri-vate companies ignore. Meanwhile, the public under-standing of CSR was focused on environmentalprotection, employee’s interests, product quality, andafter-sale service. �

[email protected]

China Late in Joining World of Corporate Social Responsibility

SHA YU


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With regard to corporate social responsibility, India and China, the two largest developingcountries in the world, have different approaches and priorities. For China, CSR is a new

concept introduced just a decade ago and recognized in the last two or three years.

Sha Yu is an intern working with theByrraju Foundation to learn the bestpractices in water management, togo back to China and implementthem.

1 https://sriworld.com/socialfunds.com/htdocs/news/release.cgi?sfArticleId=6152


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SOCIAL responsibility, as has been widelystated, is not the exclusive domain of govern-ments and “passive philanthropy” alone can

no longer constitute CSR. Once this is accepted, adefinition should emerge and CSR agenda is possi-ble to be globally frozen.

But, as elsewhere in the world, the exercise of in-terpretation of what Corporate Social Responsibilityis, continues to be diverse and deliberated no end inIndia, notwithstanding the fact that CSR has cometo be talked about in the country since threedecades or more. “There are several definitions ofCSR, several perceptions and approaches (adoptedin the country),” says a United Nations Develop-ment Programme (UNDP) study. Though conductedin 2002, along with Price Water House and theBritish Council, the UNDP Survey report is still con-sidered the latest and the conclusions, by far, holdgood even today.

What is CSR for Indian Companies ?The UNDP Survey says: “Several models have beenadvanced that attempt to describe how companiesrelate to the society. What responsibilities compa-nies are willing to assume, and what are the societalexpectations from them? The principal underlyingtenets driving the debate are globally uniform butassume local flavour, based on local socio-economicand cultural context. In the contemporary era ofglobal integration, the local flavour in the debate isincreasingly subsumed by the global debate”.

The diversity in definition of CSR is amply re-flected in the responses received from companies ontheir perception of CSR. A striking feature of the re-sponses is that the respondents are in near unanim-ity that CSR is very much included in the domain ofcorporate action and that ‘passive philanthropy’ isno longer sufficient in the realm of CSR.

The Principal Objective of the UNDP Survey wasto ascertain the predominant perceptions on CSR in

India and the role that companies define for them-selves. Some 1000 companies were contacted forresponses and of them 102 responded.

Principal Barriers to CSRThe Survey identified some of the “principal barriersand threats” to adopting CSR and the most impor-tant of them was lack of an enabling environment(hindering the process). Absence of a clear linkagebetween CSR and financial success is another bar-rier. This is not to speak of the lack of mechanismsto measure, monitor, evaluate and report impact ofCSR initiatives.

Many companies see a great future for earningprofits through ethical conduct of business, compli-ance with regulatory requirements, with emphasison protection to environment, and employee healthand safety. A majority of the respondents claimedthat a desire to be a good corporate citizen and im-proved brand image drive CSR.

Unending Debate on Corporate Social Responsibility: A UNDP Report

Whatever the interpretations advanced are and the debate that goes on in India about corporatesocial responsibility, ultimately, as Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has rightly said at a

recent CII meeting, corporates should “share their benefits with the poor”.

Who determines the CSR Strategy?

94% of the respondents stated (in the Survey) thatmanagement determines the CSR strategy. Over80% of the respondents attribute the CSR strategyas being determined by the Board or employees.Local communities (67% of the respondents) andshareholders (61% of the respondents) are alsoconsidered to be important stakeholders for strat-egy determination. Which stakeholders have aninterest in the companies CSR performance ? It isindicated that nearly 75%, 66% and 59% of re-spondents believe that employees, customers andthe local community factor in a companies CSRperformance while making their assessment of thecompany. Accordingly, one clearly sees the imprintof these stakeholder interests in the determinationof a company’s CSR strategy.


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CSR in Corporate StrategyAlmost all companies include social respon-

sibility in corporate strategy. The four sec-tions that influence CSR strategy in acompany are, management Board and em-ployees, shareholders, and local communi-ties. A sizable number of companiesearmarked resources for CSR as priority.

More than 90% expect to be more trans-parent in reporting financial information,63% in non-financial information. They be-lieve managers of future may be impartedappropriate skills and sensitivities in main-streaming of CSR in business schools to helpevolve an agenda for CSR.

CSR Enhances Stakeholder ValueA significant proportion recognised CSR as

the means to enhance long term stakeholder

value. Corporate India within the context ofthe above perceptions has set for itself aminimalist agenda for CSR evidenced in theemphasis on ethical conduct of business,transparency in operations and compliancewith laws of the land.

The Survey says CSR is fully integratedwith business at ICICI. “As one of the largestfinancial institutions in India, ICICI’s overallmission has been to build the capacities ofcommercial entities and, thereby, enablethem to become agents of economic change.We believe that building the capacities of thepoorest of the poor to participate in theeconomy and society is a natural extensionof this role. With this in mind, ICICI has beencontributing to the social sector for nearly 30years, mainly by financing and advising or-ganisations working in the development sec-tor” says ICICI Bank.

Paradigm shiftTake the case of the Aditya Birla Group.

G.D. Birla, the group’s founder brought ‘suc-cour to the suffering’ through extensivecharitable work. The late Aditya Birla initi-ated a paradigm shift when he stated thatcharity alone cannot be a long term solution.Instead, he said, “We should help people ina way that they are able to stand on theirown feet and earn money continuously. Inthis way their livelihood is never at stake”.

His philosophy is best articulated in his fol-lowing statement “If you give a hungry manfish one day, he will eat it and the next dayhe will be starving again. Instead, if youteach him to fish, he will never go hungryduring his lifetime.” The group believed inthe trusteeship concept of management,which entails ploughing back part of itsprofit into community.

Kumaramangalam Birla, has enlarged thegroup’s CSR commitment by adopting a‘Triple Bottom Line’ approach to managementwhere “accountability lies at the heart of theconcept as it involves factoring holistically theinterests of all stakeholders – shareholders,customers, employees and the community atlarge”. �

Salient CSR initiatives taken by some companies

� Focus on employee welfare in 16 hours awayfrom work at Tata Steel & Orchid

� Focus on reduction of infact mortality rate,education, micro-finance and leveragingtechnology by ICICI Bank & Tata Steel

� Focus on employee and family health & welfareat BILT

� Conduct of Environmental Impact Assessmentand Public Consultation for its pipeline projectsin the planning phase demonstrates GSPLscommitment to integrate environment & safetyconcerns from the outset

� Supplementing government initiatives ineducation, rural infrastructure, health (mobilehealth clinic) and empowerment at Tata Steel& Orchid

� Adoption of villages to make them fully selfreliant and replication of such model villagesacross India –– Aditya Birla Group companies

CORPORATE Social Responsibility (CSR) was ini-tially conceived as a charity to care for the disad-vantaged social segments of the population.

Today, it is different and may be divided into 3 cate-gories, as follows.

1.Corporate sponsorship to meet social needs such asreligious places, hospitals or gardens, disaster relief,and uplift of weaker sections ;

2.Good business practices with futuristic markets inmind, such as fair trade-labeled products, and eco–friendly or green-labeled products; and

3.Merging business interests with societal needsthrough the public - private partnerships (PPP).

Grocery, clothes, medicines, vehicles, fuel, communi-cation gadgets etc. are increasingly bought by the ruralmasses but are produced and marketed in cities. Sellingconsumer goods to the villagers generates employmentfor the sales agents. However, consumer costs keep ris-

ing more than rural incomes, causing indebtedness thathaunts 55% of the rural families. Thus, more than 50%of the farmers abandon farming and flee to cities for

jobs. Such urban migration causes con-gestion, pollution, slums, crime and inse-curity in cities.

An alternative approach demonstratedhere is promoting community enterprisesfor value addition and marketing of farmproduce. Narrated here is the experienceof 3 Community Enterprises in food,health and energy sectors in Tamil Nadu,promoted by the NGO, Covenant Centrefor Development (CCD).

Community Enterprise ModelCCD uses community-based financial

institutions (CBFI) savings as workingcapital. CSR grants from such organisations

Corporate-backed Community Enterprises Flourish in Southern India

MUTHU VELAYUDHAM

Promotion of corporate-backed community enterprises for value addition and marketing of farmproduce is an alternative approach. Community enterprises in food, health and energy sectors in Tamil

Nadu, promoted by an NGO, are doing well. This model may be replicated gradually in other states.

Muthu VelayudhamA professionally trained socialworker, Muthu Velayudham is inthe field of social service for last19 years. He is the founderPresident of the Covenant Centrefor Development (CCD) and servedas the Executive Director /Secretary of the organisationsince 1989. Muthu Velayudham

has a Bachelors Degree in Rural Development Sciences– B.Sc., and a Masters Degree in Social Work and is anactive member of and contributor in many of the localand National NGO Networks and Companies. HisCovenant Centre for Development (CCD) is adecentralized organization, which revitalizes localeconomies to impact migration, livelihoods, povertyalleviation, primary healthcare, nutrition and ultimatelydevelopmental infrastructure.


31

as Tata and Ford Foundations are used for building andmachinery purchase. CCD project grants are used to-wards transport and marketing communication ex-penses, and for expert training fees. CCD also helpscompanies to register with community members as di-rectors and for the initial 2-3 years. CCD staff providesprofessional services on a fee basis. Thus external con-tribution is 4–fold: (a) technology, (b) institution, (c) fi-nance and (d) market.

Pro-sumer ModelGram Moolige (village herbs) Company Limited

(GMCL, www.villageherbs.com) was the first enterpriseCCD promoted in the year 2001, to sell rawdrugs collected by poor women fromfallow farms and wastelands in thelean, non-agricultural, dry season.Since 2003, GMCL also pro-duces and markets over–the–counter medicines, based onlocal traditional herbalremedies in the “Siddha”system. Today, GMCLturnover is Rs. 9 million,80% derived from sellingraw drugs after grading,cleaning, and packing. It sea-sonally employs 1,300 women togather raw drugs, as well as 100farmers. 30 women SHGs invested Rs.1.50 lakh in 2001, won a dividend of Rs. 3.5lakh and possessed a net share capital of Rs. 5 lakh.SHGs decide the company’s policies, prices and insur-ance etc.

Co-creation ModelGMCL’s success motivated British Petroleum (BP) to

partner with CCD and SHGs to tap rural energy mar-kets. Thus, CCD established Adharam, an energy com-pany, in 2005. Adharam (www.ccd.org.in/adharam)sold 3,000 smokeless stoves in drylands around Madu-rai in the second semester of 2007 and 4 times more inMarathwada drylands in Maharashtra state, whereSHGs linked to a partner NGO, SSP, (www.sspindia.org)provided the marketing channel. BP and CCD termedthis business as “co-creation” model. The communitywas involved at each development stage viz. concep-tualization, product design and testing, sales planningand pricing. This gave community the ownership, andmarketing vigor. BP offered to sell LPG kits which thecommunity disapproved, and promote smokeless stovesales. BP bought its patented technology from the In-dian Institute of Science (IISc) and 15,000 (fifteen thou-

sand) stoves were sold in the 2nd half of 2006 with Rs.8 million turnover, including fuel pellets from agri-waste, enriching the farmers. Thus, communities andcorporates “co-created” a business model to tap the“fortune at the bottom of the pyramid”. The Next Prac-tices (TNP) company that mooted this notion guided BP& CCD.

Aharam companyCCD is also promoting the SHG network to procure

and market good quality food products at low prices,since 2004, under the banner of Aharam, meaningfood. It sells Rs. 500/- worth grocery (pulses, oil, spices,

Fast moving consumer goods) each to 1,000families with 2 months credit and 90%

recovery by the 3rd month. Itsturnover is Rs. 3 million a year.

Procurement from farmers andprocessing and sales by SHGsemploy about 100 commu-nity members.

CCD will replicate thismodel in 6 other states dur-

ing 2008-2010, with CSRgrants. CCD registered

Aharam as a “traditional cropproducers company” in Decem-

ber 2005 under the Companies Act(2001 amendment) with VAT and export

code. Farmers’ SHG federations own shares andmore federations or SHGs can obtain membership. Itsroutine business is managed by professional staff.

For profitability, Aharam sold 25 tons of mango at Rs.1 million in 2006 and has orders for Rs. 4 million fromMumbai and Cochin buyers. It also started exports with“organic” labeled cotton and “fair trade” labeledmango, with 30-50% premium over the normal marketprice. It will soon export “blue labeled” smoked tunafish from Lakshadweep islands to SriLanka. The Birla re-tail chain being set up in metros may procure fromAharam spices, fruits and vegetables.

Aharam markets dryland, small farmer products suchas maize, mango, tamarind, pulses, honey, forest pro-duce including herbal products, and fishery products,including shell crafts of the Tsunami victims. NationalRural Employment Guarantee (NREG) schemes for em-ployment in backward rural areas should invest in thesemodels. �

[email protected]


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Corporate Social Responsibility: Contact Database Grows Further

CSR Directory now presents more than 2,000organisations worldwide. The directory, titled"Resources for Promoting Global Business

Principles and Best Practices," is a resourceguide to organisations working on allaspects of Corporate Social Responsibilityin more than 95 countries. The directory islocated at www.csrwire.com/directoryand is managed and edited pro bono byMichael Kane. CSRwire provides free publicaccess to this important resource as part of itswork to assist global CSR initiatives.

The CSR Directory is an interactive, web-based toolthat includes contact information for the senior leadersand websites for each organisation. Searchable byorganisation and key contact, the directory providescross-referenced entries in 35 categories and a listing ofall organisations by country. Since the online launch ofthe directory in September of 2003, over 1,300

organisations have been added while the existingcontacts and listings were being continually updated.

CSR wire is a leading source of Corporate SocialResponsibility and sustainability, press releases,reports and news. CSRwire members arecompanies, NGOs, agencies and organisationsinterested in communicating their corporatecitizenship, sustainability, and socially responsible

initiatives to a global audience through CSRwire'ssyndication network and weekly News Alerts.

CSRwire and the SRI World Group technical team havedeveloped this searchable, online version of the CSR Directoryas a free service to the CSR community. �

For more information, contact CSRwire at [email protected], Greg Schneider, Director,

CSRwire, 802.251.0110x1108 www.CSRwire.com, and Michael Kane,

Managing Editor, CSR Directory www.csrwire.com

Ms Jayashree, wife of M.N. Vijaya Kumar, an IASofficer of principal secretary cadre inKarnataka state, writes:

My husband is fighting corruption in theadministrative system of the state. As heis facing harassment for exposing the cor-rupt practices of the senior officers, andas the harassment is being silentlywatched (or possibly supported) by thehead of the bureaucracy, I decided totake up his causes and extensively usedRTI Act to expose dereliction of duty on thepart of the topmost bureaucrat in handling cor-ruption cases.

From September 2006 to February 2007 my husbandhas been transferred six times in six months for the standhe has taken. Without caring for the harassment, he in-formed the Chief Secretary that he would approach theCAT and other authorities to ensure requirement of ab-

solute integrity in civil services and protection to the whis-tle-blowers. Recently after taking charge as Regional Com-missioner, Bangalore he introduced a system under theRight to Information Act to enable public see files, without

making any application, on second and fourth Tues-day of every month and planned web viewing ofthe files. Public may visit the related<http://bngregcommr.freespaces.com/> and<http://nomyslamps.wikidot.com/> formore information.

The objectives of the website include pro-viding a platform for public to fight corrup-

tion, create awareness to initiate amovement for corruption–free ad-ministration, and share the experi-

ences of using the Right To Information Act in fightingcorrupt practices. �

J. N. Jayashree KumarE-mail: [email protected]://fightcorruption.wikidot.com

Fighting Corruption in Karnataka: a New Style


33


34

Anand Corporate Services LimitedAnand has a longstanding commitment to addressing

the needs of the society, in view of its belief that for anyeconomic development to be meaningful, the benefitsfrom the business must trickle down to the society atlarge.

Anand is of the firm view that the corporate goals mustbe aligned with the larger societal goals. 25 years ago, theSNS Foundation, an expression of Anand’s corporate so-cial responsibility, was born. The objective of SNS founda-tion was comprehensive community development. TheFoundation has created programs in the fields of health,education, natural resource management and life skillstraining, only to make sure that fellow humans couldbreathe easy.

The long term goal of Anand CSR is to implement con-cepts like ‘Zero Tolerance Zone for Child Labour’, ‘ZeroWaste Zone’ using strategies like Reduce, Recycle andReuse not only at Anand/SNSF locations but extend toAnand residential areas.

Aptech Limited Aptech Limited, a leading education player with a global

presence, has played an extensive and sustained role inencouraging and fostering education throughout thecountry since inception.

As a global player with complete solutions-providing ca-pability, Aptech has a long history of participating in com-munity activities. It has, in association with leading NGOs,provided computers at schools, education to the under-privileged and conducted training and awareness-camps.Aptech students donated part of the proceeds from thesale of their art work to NGOs. To propagate educationamong all sections of the society throughout the country,especially the underprivileged, Aptech fosters tie-ups withleading NGOs throughout the country, including the Bar-rackpur-based NGO, Udayan, a residential school for chil-dren of leprosy patients in Barrackpur, established in 1970.

The company strongly believes that education is an in-tegral part of the country’s social fabric and works towardssupporting basic education and basic computer literacyamongst the underprivileged children in India.

Avon Cycle LimitedThe poor and ignorant of India’s rural population turn

to nearest towns and cities for healthcare. They face in-difference and exploitation. Hope gives way to despair.This gave inspiration to AVON for locating MATAKAUSHALYA DEVI, PAHWA CHARITABLE HOSPITAL.

Mr. Sohan Lal Pahwa, AVON's Chairman and PrincipalTrustee of the hospital, spent a good part of his workinglife devoted to philanthropy. The hospital, in its 5th yearof inception, has risen to serve a model healthcare facilityboasting of some bold experiments in its very early yearsof existence. It’s support since inception has been of theorder of Rs. 3 crore to date and it continues uninter-rupted.

Reaching out to the needy farther afield, the hospitalholds regular camps in surrounding villages to propagatescientific approach to healthcare. Recently the hospitaltook the social responsibility concept a step further andformulated a scheme titled 'Celebrated Female Child' toenable and inspire positive and enduring environment forsociety's all–consuming passion for 'sons only' to end.

Corporate Social Responsibility: Initiatives and Examples

CISCO System Inc.Philanthropy at Cisco is about building strong and

productive global communities - communities in whichevery individual has the means to live, the opportunityto learn, and the chance to give back. The company pur-sues a strong “triple bottom line” which is described asprofits, people and presence. The company promotes aculture of charitable giving and connects employees tononprofit organizations serving the communities wherethey live. Cisco invests its best-in-class networkingequipment to those nonprofit organizations that bestput it to work for their communities, eventuating in pos-itive global impact. It takes its responsibility seriously asa global citizen. Education is a top corporate priority forCisco, as it is the key to prosperity and opportunity.

ICICI Bank LtdThe Social Initiatives Group (SIG) of ICICI Bank Ltd

works with a mission to build the capacities of the poor-est of the poor to participate in the larger economy.

The group identifies and supports initiatives designedto break the intergenerational cycle of poor health andnutrition, ensure essential early childhood education andschooling as well as access to basic financial services.Thus, by promoting early child health, catalyzing uni-versal elementary education and maximizing access tomicro financial services, ICICI Bank believes that it canbuild the capacities of India’s poor to participate inlarger socio-economic processes and thereby spur theoverall development of the country.

The SIG works by understanding the status of existingsystems of service delivery and identifying critical knowl-edge and practice gaps in their functioning. It locatescost effective and scalable initiatives and approachesthat have the potential to address these gaps and sup-ports research to understand their impact. This is under-taken in collaboration with research agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), companies, gov-ernment departments, local stakeholders and interna-tional organisations.

Infosys Technologies Limited Infosys is actively involved in various community de-

velopment programs.

Infosys promoted, in 1996, the Infosys Foundation asa not-for-profit trust to which it contributes up to 1%PAT every year. Additionally, the Education and ResearchDepartment (E&R) at Infosys also works with employee

volunteers on community development projects.

Infosys leadership has set examples in the area of cor-porate citizenship and has involved itself actively in keynational bodies. They have taken initiatives to work inthe areas of Research and Education, Community Serv-ice, Rural Reach Programme, Employment, Welfare ac-tivities undertaken by the Infosys Foundation,Healthcare for the poor, Education and Arts & Culture.

ITC Limited ITC partnered the Indian farmer for close to a century.

ITC is now engaged in elevating this partnership to anew paradigm by leveraging information technologythrough its trailblazing 'e-Choupal' initiative.

ITC is significantly widening its farmer partnerships toembrace a host of value-adding activities: creating liveli-hoods by helping poor tribals make their wastelandsproductive; investing in rainwater harvesting to bringmuch-needed irrigation to parched drylands; empow-ering rural women by helping them evolve into entre-preneurs; and providing infrastructural support to makeschools exciting for village children.

Through these rural partnerships, ITC touches the livesof nearly 3 million villagers across India.

Mahindra & MahindraThe K. C. Mahindra Education Trust was established in

1953 by late Mr. K. C. Mahindra with an objective topromote education. Its vision is to transform the lives ofpeople in India through education, financial assistanceand recognition to them, across age groups and acrossincome strata. The K. C. Mahindra Education Trust un-dertakes a number of education initiatives, which makea difference to the lives of deserving students.

The Trust has provided more than Rs. 7.5 Crore in theform of grants, scholarships and loans. It promotes


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education mainly by the way of scholarships. The NanhiKali project has over 3,300 children under it. We aim toincrease the number of Nanhi Kalis (children) to 10,000in the next 2 years, by reaching out to the underprivi-leged children especially in rural areas.

Satyam Computer Services Limited Alambana (support) is the corporate social responsi-

bility arm of Satyam Computer Services Limited, formedto support and strengthen the vulnerable and under-privileged sections in urban India.

Registered as Satyam Alambana Trust in 2000, Alam-bana aims at transforming the quality of life amongurban population. Alambana's services are directed pri-marily at the disadvantaged sections in all the cities thatSatyam has offices in. Volunteers from among Satyamassociates and their family members lead the servicesand perform the required tasks.

Tata Consultancy Services The Adult Literacy Program (ALP) was conceived and

set up by Dr. F C Kohli along with Prof. P N Murthy andProf. Kesav Nori of Tata Consultancy Services in May2000 to address the problem of illiteracy.

ALP believes illiteracy is a major social concern affect-ing a third of the Indian population comprising old andyoung adults. To accelerate the rate of learning, it usesa TCS-designed Computer–Based Functional LiteracyMethod (CBFL), an innovative teaching strategy thatuses multimedia software to teach adults to read withinabout 40 learning hours.

Dalmia Cement (Bharat) LimitedThe water source for the villages in and around the

Dalmia Cement factory is dependent on rains. Duringsummer months, the villagers, particularly women folk,travel long distances to fetch water for drinking andother purposes. Considering the difficulties and hard-ship faced by the people, the company, after discussingwith the village elders and concerned Government au-thorities, took the initiative of making water availableby:

� Providing deep bore wells. So far, 45 bore wells havebeen provided in various villages, namely Kallakudi,Palanganathan, Malvoi, Elakkurichi, Muthuvathur,Pullabmadi, Edayathankudi etc. Approximately, 300to 400 people get adequate drinking water from each

bore well. � Water tanks to store the water. � Rain and seepage water is harvested in the quarries

of the company is pumped into a tank and suppliedto inhabitants.

44,000 trees were planted and nurtured over a periodof eight years. The presence of large trees and vastgreenery has considerably improved the ecology in thearea.

DCM Shriram Consolidated LimitedShriram Fertilisers and Chemicals, is a unit of DSCL,

located at Kota, 475 kms. Over the last 3 decades, var-ious initiatives have been undertaken by the unit, in theHadoti region (Kota, Bundi, Jhalawar districts) in ICU,ambulances, family planning, medical assistance;schools, scholarships, emphasis on girl child education;water to people and infrastructure.

Goodearth Education Foundation (GEF)Work of GEF was initiated in 1996 with a project in

the Rai Bareilly district in Uttar Pradesh. The four-yearproject covered 63 government schools and benefited15,000 children. GEF is currently implementing projectsin Thane district, Maharashtra (in 56 schools & bal-wadis), Alwar District, Rajasthan (this Project is beingimplemented in partnership with the NGO Bodh Shik-sha Samiti, covering 71 schools & balwadis) and Solandistrict, Himachal Pradesh (10 Balwadis).

GEF Objectives include providing equal opportunitiesin pre-primary& primary education to all children, andquality of education by ensuring that it is relevant, ef-fective and activity based.

Hindustan Construction Company (HCC)HCC plays an active role in CSR initiatives in the fields

of Health, Education, Disaster Management, and Envi-ronment.

Disaster Resource Network DRN is a worldwide initia-tive, promoted by the World Economic Forum (WEF).Trained volunteers and equipment resources from Engi-neering Construction & Logistics companies will com-plement the existing efforts of Government, NGO's andInternational Organizations in disaster management.

It was during the WEF annual meet that the massiveearthquake struck Gujarat in January 2001. The need

for a trained and effective participation from industrywas first felt there. The members of Engineering and Lo-gistics segment of WEF came together to establish thisnetwork. The idea was further strengthened during the9/11 incident where again the industry participated inthe relief operations. DRN Worldwide was formallylaunched in New York in January 2002. And shortlythereafter, DRN - India Initiative was launched.

India Aluminium Company Limited The Women's Empowerment project was initiated by

Indal-Muri in Jharkhand where the Company operatesan alumina refining plant. It was implemented in collab-oration with an NGO, CARE-Jharkhand. The centralproblem this project has attempted to address is the verylow socio-economic condition of the rural and tribalpopulation of Silli block caused by low agricultural pro-ductivity, lack of or low cash income, unresponsivehealth/ Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS)schemes.

The Project has helped set up around 100 Self HelpGroups so far, which are running successfully with mem-bers trained in various vocational income–generatingskills, agricultural methods for better yields and healthcare initiatives. About 2000 women have been broughtinto the fold of this activity helping to improve not justtheir own lives but the quality of life of their children andfamilies as well.

The Indal Women's Empowerment & Child Care proj-ect employed integrated package of strategies and in-terventions, such as: � Establishment and Strengthening of Self Help

Groups (SHG) in 30 strategically selected villages; � Promotion of Nutrition Gardens and improved land /

agricultural and natural resource management prac-tices; and

� Creation of demand for improved ICDS/ healthservices through Self Help Groups and strengtheningICDS/ Health Department's service delivery

JCB India Ltd.JCB India adopted a Government school, in the vicinity

of the company premises as its social responsibility. Theystrongly believe that children are the foundation of ournation and they could be helped, we could build a bettercommunity and society tomorrow. The reason for adopt-ing this particular school was the poor management ofthe school in terms of infrastructure, resources and qual-ity of education. The company’s commitment to the

school goes much beyond just providing monetary sup-port towards infrastructure and maintenance of schoolbuilding.

Larsen & Toubro (L & T) LimitedConsidering that construction industry is the second

largest employer in India after agriculture, employingabout 32 million-strong workforce, L&T set out to reg-ulate and promote Construction Vocational Training(CVT) in India by establishing a Construction Skills Train-ing Institute (CSTI) on a 5.5 acre land, close to its Con-struction Division Headquarters at Manapakkam,Chennai. CSTI imparts, totally free of cost, basic trainingin formwork, carpentry, masonry, bar-bending, plumbingand sanitary, scaffolder and electrical wireman trades toa wide spectrum of the rural poor.

As a result of the good response it received in Chen-nai, CSTI set up a branch at Panvel, Mumbai, initially of-fering training in formwork, carpentry and masonrytrades. The Manapakkam and Panvel facilities togetherprovide training to about 300 candidates annually whoare inducted after a process of selection, the minimumqualification being tenth standard. Since inception, thesetwo units have produced about 2,000 skilled workmenin various trades, with about sixty percent of them beingdeployed to L&T’s jobsites spread across the country.

The success of this training-initiative demonstratesthat adoption of systematic training techniques arebound to yield efficient and skilled personnel in theshortest possible time, and in the power to convert thepotential of the Rural Youth in Construction and upgrad-ing Rura Economy in a small way. �


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Imet Zulieben for the first time in 1999 in her hut out-side the city of Bhuj in Kutch. It was a simple dwellingmade of thatched walls, cow dung-coated mud floor

and a roof made out of palm leaves. This space includedthe family sitting area and kitchen as well as the bedroom.

Zulieben and her husband Kaasambhai have two chil-dren:10-year-old son, Anvar, and 8-year-old daughter,Nabila. Both children go to a nearby municipal school inthe village. They are first generation learners. Kaasambhaiworked in an iron reclamation foundry while Zuliebenmanaged the household, working odd domestic jobs whenavailable. Neither Kaasanbhai nor Zulieben can read orwrite.

No livelihoodKaasambhai was a good father but had a habit of drink-

ing. When drunk, he got into arguments with Zuliebenand abused her. The children were not happy with the sit-uation but were helpless. Zulieben has no alternative butto tolerate Kaasambhai’s unacceptable behavior as shecould not leave him because she doesn’t have enoughmeans to support her children.

Because of the way in which Kaasambhai treatedZulieben, she was not respected in her family and society.Besides, Kassambhai wasted a lot of his earnings in drink-ing and smoking leaving very few funds for sustaining anormal family life and providing proper nutrition and ed-ucation for the children. Zulieben was illiterate but cameacross as street smart with a lot of wisdom, ambition andinitiative given proper encouragement. Given a loan,Zulieben would like to start a business of making bricks.“If I can earn some money, I will first take care of thesechildren and then work towards normalizing our lives sothat we will not have to worry everyday about our nextmeal,” she said.

Zulieben is not alone in her pitiable life saga. She repre-sents an estimated 200 million village women in rural Indiawhose talents are untapped. Share and Care Foundationfirmly believes that this talent not only needs our supportbut it requires our focused attention to eliminate the gendergap, utilize the talents, provide self-respect and improve

the future of millions of children like Anvar and Nabila.

Share and Care Women’s Empowerment program isspecifically designed to encourage the millions ofZuliebens to either start their own small business or to ac-quire some skills to become economically independentand stand their own ground. Our Women’s Empower-ment programs are implemented in partnership with sev-eral local NGOs.

Self helpZulieben is a member of one such self-help group,

AMBA. She got her first loan of Rs. 5000/- from AMBAin 1999 to start her business of making the bricks andselling them locally. When I re-visited Zulieben in 2001, Igot a hearty welcome from her and Kaasambhai. Duringmy first visit, I did not meet Kaasambhai, but I could seethat his behavior was completely changed from what Ihad heard two years earlier. He now allowed Zulieben tolead our conversation, supporting her occasionally.

Their dwelling had improved and I was told that bothAnvar and Nabila were doing well in school and had beenreading books. They even joined extra classes to learnEnglish for computer education. In addition, they bothaspired to pursue college education.

The climax of this visit was when Zulieben talked about

Zulieben’s Success Story

Jayant Shroff is a successful,retired telecommunicationexecutive with 35 years ofrewarding career. He worked insuch important fields as Researchand Development, ProductManagement, Marketing, Sales,Manufacturing, Quality,Performance Improvement andProcess Management.He has more than 25 years ofexperience of managing a New

Jersey-based charity with a mission to educate needyyouth and empower unskilled women in rural India. A recipient of several patents, he has publishedtechnical papers and has considerable corporatemanagement experience.

JAYANT SHROFF

Given proper support and encouragement, there are millions of women who can stand on their feet. Share and Care Foundation’s women’s empowerment programme is

designed specifically for such a purpose. Zulieben is a shining example.

WOMEN EMPOWERMENTCATALYST FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

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her successes and future challenges. Even though she washugely successful in her business, she was not satisfied withthis level of achievement. She talked about her plans to ex-pand the business in the next two years, explaining that dueto the construction boom in the area, she could not keep upwith the demand under her current manufacturing capacity.

Success storyI was amazed at Zulieben’s understanding of maximizing

utilization of the fixed assets in order to improve the margin.She was talking about improving the inventory turns withthe same level of fixed assets. Her personal story of successreinforced Share and Care’s resolve to encourage as manyZuliebens as we can until we collectively reach the esti-mated 200 million women whose lives can be enrichedthrough self-empowerment.

During the past 24 years of its operations, Share and Carehas realized this opportunity in contributing to India’s realdevelopment. Women are learning computer skills, tailor-ing, embroidery work, stitching, masala-making and manymore skills to either acquire employable skills, start their

own small business or form co-operatives and self-helpgroups for their own development and their rights. Shareand Care has already witnessed a phenomenal positivechange in the lives of these women and their families. Basedon this experience and others like it, Share and Care has de-cided to sharpen its focus on this program.

Some 3,800 women of AMBA have gotten an initial loanof Rs. 5000/- to Rs 10,000/- to start their own business.These loans are given without any collateral and they carryan interest rate that they could not get from the regularbank. The loans are recovered in monthly installments withfull recovery within 3 to 5 years. AMBA is now fully man-aged by its members like Zulieben who also qualify newloan seekers.

Won’t you join us in this most cost effective program bypledging your support for 100, 50 or even 10 Zuliebens?. �

For more information about Share and Care Foundation and its program, please visit:

www.shareandcare.org

AT a conference in Washington DC on May 23,the MM project 'Rural Micro-Enterprise inOrissa' was approved by the World Bank Devel-

opment Marketplace. It was one of twenty-two win-ners announced out of more than 2,800 originalsubmissions in the competition. MM Director, HartJansson, the primary developer of the proposal, repre-sented it at the conference.

The project calls for 20 VitaGoat systems, as well astwo field-trial fruit and vegetable dryers, to be de-ployed in rural villages, run by women's self-helpgroups (SHGs). 75% of the capital cost of the equip-ment is to be financed with 'mini-credit' from the micro-finance arm of BISWA, the local partner NGO in theproposal.

Soymilk produced with the VitaGoats, fortified by ad-

ditional micro-nutrients, will provide daily nutrition sup-plementation to about 16,000 poor children in ruraland village schools. The project will be developed overa two-year period. With some already-approved, butvery modest government subsidy for the soymilk deliv-ered (by bicycle) to the schools, the projects will be runby women's self help groups (SHG's) in micro-enter-prises that will also provide employment and income tothe workers.

The project is a major extension of the current pilotprogram in Orissa, India, supported by Child Haven In-ternational with funding by Donner Canadian Founda-tion. Ongoing corporate sponsorship of MalnutritionMatters is provided by Alpro N.V. of Belgium, and ad-ditional support is from WISHH (World Initiative for Soyin Human Health). �

Hart Jansson, [email protected]

Malnutrition Matters Project

Winner of the World Bank DM Competition

WOMEN EMPOWERMENTCATALYST FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

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THIS voluntary project involves an actual cleanup ef-fort, on a demonstration scale in Phase I, to remedythe massive pollution created by the overland flow

of sewer system effluent from the greater Delhi and Agraarea in to the Yamuna River in Northern India. A mapshowing Cities and Towns in the Yamuna River watershedis shown on Figure 1.

Why CleanupYamuna River?

A 48-kilome-ter stretch of theYamuna River,which flowsthrough NewDelhi, contains7,500 coliformbacteria per 100cc of water be-fore entering thecapital. The Ya-muna receivesan estimated225 million gal-lons of untreatedsewage every

day from the greater Delhi area and leaves New Delhi car-rying an inconceivable 24 million coliform organisms per100 cc or 240,000 coliform bacteria per cc. That samestretch of Yamuna River picks up 5 million gallons of in-dustrial effluents, including about 1,25,000 gallons of DDTwastes every day.

Objective: Many of the expensive treatment plants built to treat

the sewage in Delhi are not removing the pollution loadreaching the Yamuna. Hence, our objective is to begin ademonstration of various cost-effective, decentralizedtreatment systems in the greater Yamuna river watershed,for treatment and removal of biochemical oxygen demand(BOD) and coliform bacteria. The proposed systems are

expected to bring the BOD to a level of about 5-10% ofthe current levels.

Chronology of Cleanup Effort:Since 1992, the Yamuna Foundation has been attempt-

ing to demonstrate various low–cost decentralized treat-ment systems which utilize natural systems to clean up thedrains that bring polluted water into the Yamuna River. In2004, an opportunity to demonstrate such a low–cost sys-tem was made available in Hyderabad by the JawaharlalNehru Technological University on their campus.

Deep Pond Treatment The project consists of an anaerobic, deep pond, which

uses a digestion chamber for degrading various types ofsewage sludge and the solids from the influent wastewaterstream. This system has the potential to generate and cap-ture methane gas for various beneficial uses if the influentsolids volumes are high.

At present the volume of solids flowing into the systemis quite low and an insignificant amount of methane gas isgenerated at the facility. The anaerobic digestion of thesolids is expected to keep the solids level at or below 3 feetfrom the bottom of the pond and is not expected to in-crease beyond the bottom 4 feet of the pond.

Yamuna River Cleanup Effort by YamunaFoundation for Blue Water

SUBIJOY DUTTA, P. E.

The growth in India’s population, followed by massive development in practically all major cities and towns, calls for a stable water supply and sanitation system to avoid

major health problems and related outbreaks.

Subijoy Dutta is an environmentalengineer working on solid wasteand water issues in India and theUS since the 1980s. He started theYamuna Foundation for Blue Waterin 2000 in Maryland to achieve thegoal of a Clean Yamuna. He is veryactive in Crofton, Maryland, andSilchar, India. He has helped in the

growth of the Ramakrishna Dispensary that is servingthe poor in Silchar, Assam. He was awarded aCongressional Medal of Honor by the US Congress forhis voluntary efforts to clean up the Yamuna River.

POLLUTIONCATALYST FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

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POLLUTIONCATALYST FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

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In similar systems in the U.S. no solids/sludge removalwas necessary for over twenty years of operation. The ef-fluent is planned to be used for irrigation of orchards nearthe treatment facility.

Figure 2 shows the picture of Pond

The effluent wastewater from the student dormitories,cafeteria, and the administrative buildings enter the Bi-ological Treatment System pond by gravity flow. Thewastewater from the residential area to the south of thefacility is pumped up from the south side of the Pond theby a grinder pump.

BenefitsThe project met the objective of demonstrating a low-

cost treatment alternative to wastewater by completingthe system construction, adjustments, and monitoringwithin $82,800. The cost included some additional itemssuch as fencing and high-end polishing for removal ofpathogens for agricultural reuse.

For a similar performance and capacity of 10,000 gal-lons/day in Andhra Pradesh, India, a standard waste-water treatment system would cost a minimum of about$450,000. Thus the proposed project has successfullydemonstrated a cost saving of more than 80% over con-ventional system by use of the innovative system.

This project has demonstrated the use of effluent fromthe polishing pond for irrigating the orchard next to thetreatment system. Because of the very low volume ofsolids at the intake, there is very little sludge digested atthe bottom of the pond. The modified design involvedrecirculation of aerated water from the aeration pondwhich provides a high oxygen level in the top part of thefirst pond.

The system demonstrated reduction of greenhouse gas(methane) emissions which would have otherwise beenemitted from a conventional treatment plant (due to thesludge disposal from such plants). The installation of thistreatment system has resulted in the reduction of at least1128 ft or 8,437 gallons of methane gas, which would

have otherwise been emitted from thissite per day.

Application Deep Pond SystemThe system is relatively simple to in-

stall and operate. It has only three mov-ing parts which makes it a very lowmaintenance system. Based upon theavailable information from the CentralPollution Control Board (CPCB 2000),the estimated wastewater discharge tothe Yamuna River from the greaterDelhi area through the major drains is2,723 Million liters/day (MLD) or 720Million gallons per day (MGD).

There are about 17 drainage canalswhich carry enormous volume of wastewater includingraw sewage to the Yamuna River as she flows Southfrom the Wazirabad Barrage to the Oklah Dam.While considering potential treatment alternatives totreat these wastewater discharges from these drainagecanals, the Deep Pond treatment system (and other bi-ological systems to supplement the Deep Pond) seemsto have great potential to remove the pollutants with-out incurring huge costs.

A proposal involving design, installation, and initialoperation and maintenance of a Wastewater Reclama-tion System (WRS) at the Kotlah Drain site on the eastcentral side of New Delhi has been submitted to theDelhi Jal Board (DJB) by the Yamuna Foundation andothers. The cost of the proposed project is estimatedto be 10% of the installation cost of a conventionalwastewater reclamation system for a similar flow vol-ume (based on DJB costs for existing treatmentplants).

Apart from a stable water supply and sanitation sys-tem, effective application of the low-cost biologicaltreatment system installed in Hyderabad on a demon-stration basis also be considered for many other met-ropolitan cities and suburbs in India to meet theirwastewater treatment and reuse needs. These stepscan help ward off many health problems. �

[email protected]

DE V E LO P M E N Tagencies in Indiahave not ade-

quately leveraged thepower of engaging withthe legislature or the judi-ciary, except in rare in-stances. A classic exampleof work on the legislativeside is the passage of theRight To Information (RTI) Act. Without active and system-atic work on the legislative side, this landmark Act would nothave seen the light of day. Now, who can argue that theRTI Act is not about development?

Similarly, the Parliament recently passed the Food Safetyand Standards Act. While it seeks to protect the interest ofthe consumer, it also has important implications for food pro-ducers - and this includes the organised food sector, restau-rants, and street vendors of food. Of these, the Act has thelargest impact on the livelihoods of street food vendors. Anumber of organisations in urban India are already workingwith street food vendors on improving the opportunities forthe vendors. However, many of these groups did not evenknow that Parliament was enacting a piece of legislation thatwould have a significant impact on their lives.

MPs functionsThere is a Seeds Bill that is pending in Parliament. A num-

ber of farmer groups have organised themselves and havestarted articulating their views on some clauses in the Bill.This has led the government totake their views seriously beforebringing the Bill for considera-tion and passing in Parliament.Members of Parliament havefour broad functions: legisla-tion, oversight, representation,and approving budgets. MPsare expected to represent theconcerns of their voters in Par-liament.

Where the government is notimplementing programmes in a

proper manner, the MPcan exert pressure on thegovernment to do better.If citizen groups can keepthe MP constantly up-dated on how governmentschemes are being imple-mented in the con-stituency, the MP may beeven better equipped to

take up matters on behalf of his voters.

The Internet provides a useful tool to monitor the perform-ance of your MP in Parliament. What issues has the MPraised as Questions? Has the MP participated in importantdebates? What stand is the MP taking on certain Bills?

For example, more than half of all MPs in Lok Sabha havenever uttered a single word in Parliament other than raisingQuestions or adding their name to some debates. Parlia-ment spends less than a third of its time on legislation - in thislimited time, did the MPs give adequate time to discussingimportant Bills?

Tracking ParliamentDo these matters have an impact on development? It is

necessary for all citizens concerned with development to beconcerned about Parliament. It is not enough to be scepticalabout our MPs, as is fashionable to do, especially among theeducated class of the country. There are a number of MPswho are keen on development issues, and ultimately, it is

also left to the ingenuity of cit-izens to creatively use all theresources at their disposal - in-cluding the MPs. In the nextissue, I will explain how a Billbecomes an Act in India, andhow citizen groups can maketheir voices heard at eachstage. Until then, agree thattracking Parliament is onemore valuable channel totrack development. �

[email protected]

PARLIAMENTCATALYST FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

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C. V Madhukar is the Director ofPRS Legislative Research, whichis currently being incubated bythe Centre for Policy Research.His expertise lies inParliamentary Affairs,Governance, Constitutional Law,Political Management. He workedat the World Bank in Washington

DC with a group focused on parliamentary capacitiesin various countries. Madhukar was an Edward S.Mason Fellow at Harvard University, where he earneda Master in Public Administration degree from theJohn F. Kennedy School of Government.

Non-functioning MPs, Indifferent Citizens

While the MPs have a job of "watching" the government, there is also a need for citizens towatch how their MPs represent them in Parliament.

C.V. MADHUKAR

THE Indian Government usually cannot and does not acton its own to change policies and procedures that havebeen set down but which may be incorrect, inappro-

priate, unfair, obsolete and may not even be existing in thefirst place, unless there is some external impetus such as aCourt directive or a calamity / disaster situation that requirecompliance and immediate action. Many of us cannot under-stand why this happens, though we know that Governmentofficials at sufficiently high levels are aware of and extremelycapable of addressing the problem.

The reason for this is that the primary mandate to the Gov-ernment officials is to implement what is already at hand anddeal with the many pressures and messes that occur alongthe way and they are not to really think of policy changesthat need to be made.

The mandate for making policy then falls on anothergroup of persons whose inputs are used by Governmentwhen policies are framed or changed, and this group includesacademicians, scholars and experts who are co-opted in com-mittees that are set up for this purpose. Most of these inputsand the members of such committees, even while represent-ing the people, turn out to be having views that are often farremoved from reality, or that are sometimes 2-3 years behindreality, or are with some vested interests, and most often donot present a complete picture or a true sense of the issuesat hand, and thus the policies framed reflect this in their lop-sided approaches and outcomes.

Fundamental differenceEven in the implementation of existing policies, some of

which are extremely good, the results are poor, despite thebest intentions of the Government officials at the top, be-cause the people through whom the plans and policies areimplemented are indifferent, lethargic, corrupt, and mostoften, completely incompetent, with no fear of loss of theirjob due to non-performance. This is the fundamental differ-ence between a Government and a Corporate entity, ironi-cally, while delivering the same services and working at

comparable levels of complexity.

A corporate entity would have systems and procedures inplace; would make its employees accountable, by makingthem perform, or leave their jobs; would have fixed roles andresponsibilities for all its employees; would have Manage-ment Information Systems in place for tracking operations,and would be continually open to feedback and responsefrom its customers and service base.

Story of KarmayogA website was set up in June 2004 (in the name of Kar-

mayog) to support NGOs and connect them to those whowant to help or support their initiatives.

Karmayog offers Resource Sections on over 100 issues andcauses; provides space for Focus Groups, for issue-specificgroups to take up an issue in detail, and seek to find solutionsand improve the situatioan; offers “Locality Sites” to enableyou to mobilise and stay connected with others in your localarea or community, and address its specific concerns; and en-ables you to contact and connect with those who can offeryou a solution, or to whom you can offer your help, and thewebsite is for free.

The idea behind Karmayog launch is not just to get to-gether to have a common opinion and voice, but rather tocreate a space and provide a platform for different voices to

Karmayog Plays a Crucial Role in Resolving People’s Problems

VINAY SOMANI

Vinay Somani is a B.Tech. fromIIT, Bombay, and an MBA fromHarvard. He runs a portal forBuilding Stone industry,www.FindStone.com. Vinay R. Somani is the trustee ofwww.karmayog.org, a websiteconnecting citizens, civil societyorganisations, media, corporates,

and government officials and organisations by onlineand offline methods. It acts as a platform and a bridgeto all those Indians who wish to do their bit to improvetheir locality, city and country.

Many people today feel that once they write or send an e-mail to officials in Government about problems they face, that is enough to get them addressed.

The reality is, however, far from this. Only external pressure, such as a Court directive or a calamity-like situation can ensure compliance or immediate action.

SOCIAL SERVICECATALYST FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

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be expressed and for different people to connect with andcontact each other.

Karmayog’s aim is also to connect those people in Govern-ment, who are in a position and interested to improve things

but who are isolated from ordinary people and who makecontributions of value in the process of policy making, layingdown of procedures and awareness creation for issues thataffect them. �

[email protected]


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KARMAYOG

Example: Prime Minister's Rozgar Yojana (PMRY)

The PMRY is aimed at providing self-employment to educated unemployed youth of

economically weaker sections and has been in operation since October 2, 1993. The

scheme assists eligible youth in setting up self-employment ventures in industry, service &

business sectors. The scheme covers urban and rural areas.

Details about other schemes and grants can be seen at the Karmayog site at http://www.karmayog.org/govtschemes/

http://www.karmayog.org/redirect/strred.asp?docId=5920

The Government of India

provides various schemes andgrants for NGOs and NPOs

InfraSys invests in small enterprises in rural India. It brings together necessary infrastructures – physical, know-howand financial – without which such enterprises neither succeed nor be sustainable.

It seeks collaboration in creating livelihoods and infrastructure in rural areas.For information visit http://www.infrasys.biz and write to the author at [email protected]

Thanks to the social responsibility undertaken by the Bangalore-based InfraSys, Kottapalayam is today a brightly lit village where women can confidently

walk back home even late night.


45

KOTTAPALAYAM is a neat and tidy village of 50 houseslaid out in a grid of unpaved roads. They are modest,functional homes with simple architecture red tiled

roofs and brilliant white walls. It is one of the 10 hamlets ofVavipalayam panchayat and is reachable in an hour and halfby bus from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu’s second largest city.

When, I first visited Kottapalayam in 2004, sunbathed dur-ing the day, it was dark at night. Most villages in Tamil Naduare “electrified”, but being connected to the power grid andgetting predictable power supply are two different things.Today, 10 photovoltaic (solar) powered street lights serve thevillage. They are owned by the Vavipalayam panchayat,which pays no electric bill for these- with a projected savingof Rs 300,000/- over the next 20 years.

The process of how this came about is unique and interesting. The initiative for this project came from Sindhanai Sir-pigal, a local NGO (www.sslindia.org). They introduced infraSys, the Bangalore based company which invests in ruralIndia, to Jeyabalakrishnan, an enthusiastic Project Officer of Coimbatore District Rural Development Agency (DRDA).

UnderstandingAn understanding was reached and as per that,the Government of Tamil Nadu would

provide a grant for Rs100,000/- and InfraSys would invest an equal amount and re-cover its investment with nominal returns in three years. Democratic process and trans-parency required that this arrangement be approved by villagers and the panchayat.

On January 28th, 2004 the citizens of Vavipalayam in the Gram Sabha (Village as-sembly) passed a resolution to enter into a contract with infraSys for the solar streetlights. This was finalized at the DRDA office in February and the financing was in place.Under the DRDA’s guidance the lights were installed in May 2004.

I returned to Kottapalayam in February of 2005, to find the residents very proud oftheir street lights. The women now feel confident of walking home from the bus stopeven late at night. What is all the more interesting is, these lights do not suffer frompower cuts.�

Thanks to Infrasys,Kottapalayam is Out of the Dark

MURTHY SUDHAKAR

Murthy Sudhakar’s exposure tovillages began at a young age,when he accompanied his fatheron many of his geological fieldtrips. Later, E.F. Schumacher’s“Small is Beautiful”, introducedhim to J.C. Kumarappa andtogether the two sparked hisinterest in economics,

development, technology and rural India, in particular.After years of reading (and listening to) statistics andtheories, he has turned his frustrations into action andfounded infraSys, as a commercial enterprise, to workon infrastructure development and income generationin rural India.

CAN you imagine a roundtable discussion with thesecond largest bank in India and leading social entre-preneurs intensely engaged in how to address chal-

lenges facing poor communities in rural India? What wasonce a rare scenario is now becoming a promising reality.In a new strategic collaboration, ICICI Bank via its invest-ments in the IFMR Trust and Ashoka will together pave theway for the creation of a network of innovative, large scalefor-profit and non-profit enterprises dedicated to creatingmarket linkages and improving the quality of life for low-income people. The partnership will also open new oppor-tunities for ICICI Bank’s development banking initiatives.

Exciting new ways In recent years, the concept of social entrepreneurship

has inspired a flurry of creative dialogue around how thebusiness and citizens sectors can do work together that ismutually beneficial. This one-year pilot collaborationthrough Ashoka’s Full Economic Citizenship (FEC) initiativeis a tangible example of the exciting new ways in whichAshoka (www.ashoka.org) is working with businesses.

With over 1,800 leading social entrepreneurs working inmore than 60 countries, Ashoka is a global organizationdedicated to the vision of a world where everyone is achangemaker, where each individual has the freedom, con-fidence and support to address any social problem anddrive change. Over the past 26 years, Ashoka invested inleading social entrepreneurs who create significant socialimpacts around the world. But Ashoka has come to realizethat investing in these Fellows and their innovative ideasfor social change is not enough. Social entrepreneurs musthave supportive networks and structures in society to helptheir ideas spread and grow. Ashoka is expanding its pro-gramming on the group and sector level to help make thathappen. Critical to these interventions are new and hybridmethods to bring together the powerful tools and resourcesof both the business and social sectors to address socialchallenges.

Full Economic Citizenship for allThe Full Economic Citizenship (FEC) program was launched byAshoka to find new solutions that would enable the two-thirdsof the world living in poverty to have the choice to participatein local and global economies and be full economic citizens.

To address the lack of access to financial services that 2 billioncitizens in the world face, the FEC initiative has already begundeveloping innovative business/social partnerships that are en-abling “win–win” situations in parts of Mexico. Two pilot proj-ects in the fields of small-scale irrigation and low income housinghave been launched in Mexico involving communities, leadingsocial entrepreneurs, and prominent companies in those fields,and working together to provide products and services to low-income families. Through this model, companies gain entry intonew markets, communities now have access to lower cost

VENKATESH RAGHAVENDRA & MALINI SEKHAR

FEC Initiative Building Business-Social Partnerships

Venkatesh Raghavendra is theManaging Director of Ashoka’sGlobal Diaspora Initiative, leadingAshoka’s efforts to engageDiaspora communities in themission of Ashoka, with the goalof offering innovative socialentrepreneurial investment andengagement opportunities. Hehas also worked extensively withAshoka’s Asia program since

2000. Prior to this, he was Ashoka Representative forSouth India. He is the co-founder of The Adventurers,an outdoor and environmental organization working inthe rainforests of South Western India.

Malini Sekhar is currently onassignment with Ashoka’s GlobalOffice working on the GlobalDiaspora Initiative and GlobalFellowship efforts. She justcompleted her Master of Arts inSustainable InternationalDevelopment at the Heller Schoolfor Social Policy andManagement with BrandeisUniversity.

There is an increasing trend toward businesses and citizen sector organizations finding ways to work together. Ashoka has been at the forefront of this creative exploration.

Ashoka is working to create a more enabling environment for the two sectors to come together and effectively address social challenges.

SOCIAL PARTNERSHIPCATALYST FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

46

products and necessary complementary services, and socialentrepreneurs are able to further their social impact andare provided new sources of funding for their social mis-sions.

New Financial Instruments for the Citizens SectorThe creation of the Eye Fund I with the goal of reducing

blindness around the world is another way in whichAshoka is seeking new financial instruments for the citizenssector. Ashoka has partnered with Deutsche Bank, the In-ternational Association for the Prevention of Blindness, andnonprofit eye care intermediaries, to develop a unique in-vestment opportunity to finance, the expansion of eyecare services in the developing world with near market re-turns. Social Financial Services (SFS), an Ashoka initiative,seeks creative and strategic ways to improve access to fi-nancing and sustaining capital in the citizens sector. Cur-rently, there are limited financial supports available forcitizen sector organizations to succeed and remain sustain-able. This new program has been working with leading fi-nancial intermediaries to educate them about the immensevalue inherent in the social sector and assists them to de-velop new products and services that will enable them toinvest strategically in the sector.

An Open Source Platform for Social SolutionsRather than simply “surf” the web, individuals and

groups can now exchange and develop exciting newstrategies to provide affordable housing and end corrup-tion around the world. The emergence of the onlinemedium as a tool for communication, learning and ex-change, has given life to new ways to affect social changeand build business-social bridges. Changemakers(www.changemakers.net), an Ashoka initiative, uses the

open sourcing model used by the software community todevelop new software solutions, to open source social so-lutions ™. Through Changemakers Collaborative Compe-titions online, innovative social change strategies areimproved, awarded and given global exposure. Competi-tion themes included addressing issues such as: health careand disaster response. For example, a grassroots entry willattract the attention of a major industrial corporation or anew donor; two other participants will form a partnership;another innovation will find volunteer support; and yet an-other will draw thousands of semiliterate farmers to votein the competition, using a computer for the first time intheir lives.

Strategic Global PartnershipsAshoka’s strategic global partners in the private sector

have also enabled a dynamic exchange of talent and re-sources between the private and citizens sectors. Thesepartnerships have provided Ashoka Fellows and Ashokaaccess to first class management, marketing, and legal re-sources. McKinsey & Company, the world’s leading man-agement consulting firm, engages Ashoka Fellows all overthe world in activities such as: strengthening institutionalcapacity and strategic business planning. Hill and Knowl-ton, a distinguished global public relations firm, providespro bono marketing and communication services toAshoka and Ashoka Fellows. Another strategic partner forAshoka is the International Senior Lawyer’s Project (ISLP)which matches senior lawyers with social entrepreneurs inneed of pro bono legal assistance to scale their work. Inturn, Ashoka shares its vast network and knowledge basewith these businesses and their staff which enabled expan-sion and transformative experiences.

In his Nobel Peace Prize lecture,Ashoka Global Academy member,Mohammed Yunus said, “Bydefining ‘entrepreneur’ in abroader way we can change thecharacter of capitalism radically,and solve many of the unresolvedsocial and economic problemswithin the scope of the free mar-ket.” There is a growing conver-gence between the citizen andbusiness sectors that offers op-portunities and resources to drivesocial change. Ashoka will con-tinue to be an enabling force andstrive to find new ways of bridg-ing the two sectors. �

[email protected]

SOCIAL PARTNERSHIPCATALYST FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

47

NGOsCATALYST FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

48

THE Resource Alliance aims to be at the forefront of thedevelopment of resource mobilisation and fundraisingcapacity throughout the world by:

� Developing a worldwide network for sharing and devel-oping skills, knowledge and experience ;

� Building fundraising capacity by providing, and increasingaccess to training, education, advice and other learningopportunities ; and

� Advocating for an enabling environment to encouragethe growth of philanthropy and other forms of supportto enable voluntary organisations to achieve their aims.

Resource Alliance believes thatstrengthening civil society requiresthat voluntary organisations de-velop support by actively engagingwith, and being publicly account-able to their communities. Effectivecommunications and mobilisationof support from a diverse range ofsources are vital links in thisprocess.

To equip NGOs around the worldwith the skills, knowledge and re-sources to mobilise local support,the organisation provides a varietyof services and activities.

International eventsResource Alliance runs two main international events: The

International Fundraising Congress is Resource Alliance’sflagship event and began in 1981, growing year on year toa conference of up to 900 attendees from over 50 countriesworldwide. The event is held every year near Amsterdam inThe Netherlands. The International Workshop for ResourceMobilisation is an annual global forum, the second largestevent organised by Resource Alliance in partnership with alocal organisation. These Workshops are particularly de-signed for senior managers and directors of NGOs, interna-tional NGOs and governmental agencies and civil societyorganisations based in the developing economies.

In addition to the two main international events, the Re-source Alliance also runs Regional Workshops together withpartner organisations in Africa, Asia, Central & Eastern Europeand Latin America. These Regional Workshops offer a broadinsight into many aspects of fundraising and local resourcemobilisation on a more local level, and also provide a uniqueopportunity for fundraisers from the region to meet and learnfrom each other.In response to a shortage of quality and sus-tained fundraising training in the developing world, ResourceAlliance in 2005 launched a number of foundation courses infundraising for non-profits around the world.

Resource Alliance currently has two types of courses onoffer: a 1-year part-time, post-grad-uate course for those already workingin the non-profit sector, taughtthrough a combination of face-to-facelearning and home-study, andalso an advanced intensive courseaimed at those with non-profit sectorexperience, which is taught throughclass-room work, presentations, groupwork and case studies over 20 days.

In 2004, Resource Alliance launchedthe Asia Pacific NGO Awards in part-nership with Citigroup Asia Pacific, theonly regional competition of its kind to

celebrate and reward the best NGOs/non-profit organisa-tions. Following the success of the initial programme, theAwards were run for a second year in 2005.

In May 2006, Resource Alliance set up another Awardprogramme in India, supported by the Nand & Jeet KhemkaFoundation, which culminated in the announcement of theAward winners in New Delhi in March 2007.

In 2006, Resource Alliance launched a unique consultancyservice for non-profit organisations seeking to build theirlong term financial sustainability, with a primary focus on or-ganisations working in the developing world. �

For more information about these activities, please visit website: www.resource-alliance.org

Resource Alliance Helping NGOs in Developing Countries

Resource Alliance is a UK registered charity whose mission is to build the fundraising capabilitiesof the non-profit sector worldwide, in order to mobilise support for the sector’s

causes and achieve greater financial sustainability.

THERE is not a single e-mail user who has not re-ceived offers of millions of dollars from totalstrangers in Nigeria. At the same time it is difficult

to find any one who has fallen to such outright scams.It was a shocking and equally sad news when NGOslearnt that one of the tall leaders in India’s consumerprotection movement had fallen prey to such a fraud.That leader is Manubhai Shah, founder and ManagingTrustee of Consumer Education and Research Center(CERC). Often Manubhai was compared to Ralph Naderof the US who stood against the mighty General Motors.

Manubhai, who used to go often to Nigeria whenhe worked for Arvaind Mills, got an offer from someone from Nigeria that he is eligible to claim a prop-erty left behind by one Justine Collins. However, toprocess the claim it is necessary to invest about$1,00,000. It was to pay that amount, Manubhai hadtaken Rs. 32 lakh from CERC in early part of 2006.But trustees did not know about this until three NRIwhistleblowers from the US, who were donors toCERC and also well wishers of Manubhai informedthem. It must have been a difficult decision for thoseNRIs.

FraudThe three NRI well wishers are Sanat Parikh from

Houston, Texas who had helped Manubhai to start asister organization in the US to raise funds for CERCand to promote INSIGHT magazine and the othertwo are Vipin Pujara from Florida and Shrikumar Pod-dar from Michigan. When Manubhai contacted themrequesting for funds to be wired to Nigerians, theylearnt about the fraud to their utter shock. Sometrustees received an alert from these NRIs and, as aresult, the board promptly took the difficult and, un-pleasant task of removing Manubhai who hadbrought each and every one of them as Trustees.

Later it was found out that it was two employees(one of them was a trustee) who had signed the two

cheques one written in April, 2006 for Rs. 10 lakhand the other for Rs. 22 lakh in June. It is claimedby some that Manubhai wanted to contribute thefunds he secured from Nigerian property to CERC.Still it is difficult for many to believe in that expla-nation for Manubhai to have taken money fromCERC without getting a formal approval from theboard. However, now Manubhai had returned allthe funds with interest and CERC has not lost anymoney as a result.

Wakeup callThis unfortunate incident involving the fall of a

titan of consumer NGO has many lessons. Today inIndia there are many successful NGOs similar toCERC rendering yeoman service to India’s develop-ment. Like CERC they are managed by the foundersunder the supervision of a board often consisting ofmembers recruited by founders. How often will theyquestion and analyze dispassionately the strategyproposed by the founder in deference to his greatcontribution? Even more importantly, what kind ofsystem or structure these NGOs have for them toeven monitor the key decisions taken by thefounders?

Unfortunate Fall of an NGO Titan:Lessons to learn

DR. BHAMY V. SHENOY

It may be necessary for the founder managing trustee of an NGO to step down after ten orfifteen years. There should also be a regular rotation of at least one-third of the trustees,

which will give continuity as well as bring in a new perspective.

Dr. Bhamy V. Shenoy, an IITMadras graduate with a Ph.D inbusiness administration fromUniversity of Houston, worked forConoco in all phases ofInternational Petroleum Industryfor 21 years, from 1966 to 1987.He took early retirement in 1987to return to India to get involved

in India's development. He has been participating invarious NGO activities involving consumer protection,education and environment. He contested electiontwice as an independent. From 1997 till 2003, he wasinvolved in energy sector reform in former SovietUnion countries. He is currently an honorary advisor tothe national oil company in Georgia.

NGO NORMSCATALYST FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

49

“If they (companies) believe they are in business to serve people, to help solve problems,to use and employ the ingenuity of their workers, to improve the lives of people around

them by learning from the nature that gives us life, we have a chance.”— Paul Hawken

For example, the board of CERC, which has a large num-ber of eminent members, did not have the slightest clue tillit was brought to their attention by NRI donors thatManubhai was indulging in Nigerian fraud and had usedTrust funds for such an activity. From April till Novemberof 2006, there was at least one meeting of the trustees. Ifthey did not learn from that meeting that CERC has paida huge amount of Rs.32 lakh from Trust accounts toManubhai’s personal accounts, it clearly shows that therewere no proper checks and balances in place. This alsoraises a question on the responsibility of other trustees re-garding implementing the appropriate monitoring systemand also their accountability. Can trustees absolve of them-selves by complaining that they were misled or not fully in-formed by the managing trustee? Isn’t that what otherstakeholders like the government and donors expect fromeminent board members?

MandatoryNGOs should make it mandatory for the signing of the

cheques by at least two trustees when it exceeds a certainlimit. At every trustee meeting there should be a reportplaced on the latest financial status. The trustees shouldensure that an independent auditor is really independentand perhaps may even consider changing the auditorevery three years in case of large NGOs. There should beopen communication between the trustees and employ-ees so that employees can bring unusual or questionableactivities to their attention.

It is more than six months since Manubhai has beenremoved from his post at CERC, but there is very littlemention about it either on the web site of CERC or in thebimonthly Journal INSIGHT produced by CERC. This israther surprising. An NGO which expects governmentbodies to be transparent and accountable, should havegiven all the information it has on this unfortunate inci-dent and also on corrective steps taken to restore credi-bility and confidence.

Both Vipin Pujara and Sanat Parikh have attempted tofind out the changes that have been brought about inthe CERC bye laws or the structure to prevent this kindof situation in the future. They are still waiting to hear.Most NGOs may not be fortunate in having such dedi-cated and concerned donors who take time and interest

to force better governance. When an NGO has a lessdemocratic structure of a trust where few like-mindedtrustees are in charge, there is a need to have a special setup to hold them accountable. At least in the case of aregistered society with a large membership, any memberhas the right to question the management. The structureof a trust does not allow such a flexibility.

UnfortunateIt is even more unfortunate that media, which looks

for this kind of sensational news, has done very little tobring out all the facts. There have been some reports in-forming the public about the bare details and that too inonly some regions of India. CERC was known not just inGujarat, but all over India serving on various advisoryboards of the government of India. No Indian (major)magazine has published an investigative article, whichcould have helped other NGOs in similar circumstancesto wake up. What has happened at CERC should be awakeup call.

Manubhai, who started CERC in 1978 and put in 28years of work, is above 77 years, and did not show interestto groom any one to take over the reins after him despitethe frequent requests made. In this case also the wholeboard failed CERC not by forcing this issue on ManubhaiShah. By the standards we have for our political leaderswho never retire and also never groom any other except-ing their own kith and kin, this may sound normal.

It may be necessary for a founder managing trustee tostep down after an initial period of ten to fifteen years.There should also be regular rotation of at least one-thirdof trustees which will give continuity as well as bring newperspective. Every successful NGO, which is not a one-man operation, should have regular change in the topmanagement with clearly defined succession plans. This isnot at all easy, but it is something NGOs should attempt.Rotary and Lions have succeeded in implementing thisvery efficiently. In the end every NGO should be trans-parent and accountable to the rest of the society. �

[email protected]

The author wants to thank Sanat Parikh, VipinPujara and Shrikumar Poddar for their valuable

suggestions while writing this article.

NGO NORMSCATALYST FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

50

INDIA is the world’s largest producer of milk, with 70 mil-lion dairy farmers producing nearly 85 million tonnes ofmilk each year. Many are typically landless. For such fam-

ilies, a couple of milch animals are the biggest asset. At thesame time, this group also has dairy farmers who have land,like A K Palanivel.

Palanivel's residence in Athanur village in Tamil Nadu’s Na-makkal district offers a beautiful view of the verdant hills thatsurround it. At first sight, it seems quite refreshing and idyllic.Probe and you will discover that livelihoods in Athanur havenot remained as pretty as their natural settings.

Focus on dairyingPalanivel has 10 acres of good land. But

over time, the decline in the availability ofwater has changed the cultivation pattern.Five years ago, the declining water tableforced Palanivel to switch to poultry. He setup a farm with 10,000 birds. In 3 years, thewater situation further forced him to give uppoultry farming too. Then, Palanivelswitched his focus to dairying. Starting with3 animals, Palanivel and his wife Amuthafound it worthwhile to increase the numberto 10.

However, even as they were doing this,Amutha Palanivel started facing the down-side of dairying. Milking is quite a tedious and time-consumingtask. It takes 15 minutes of labour to milk a local breed.Amutha started experiencing health problems. When shemilked the cows, she experienced headaches and pain. Theycould not look at a conventional power-driven milker becausethe cost was far too high and was justified only when one had20 to 25 cows or more. The situation became so grave thatthe couple started to look seriously at the option of selling offthe cows. But, dairying had become their bread and butter.The couple had 2 sons to educate.

In the middle of this difficult situation, Palanivel chancedupon the JS Milker. In 2003, he visited Agri Intex organized byCODISSIA in Coimbatore. There, he saw a machine that wasalmost too good to be true. At a price of Rs. 7500/-, the JSMilker seemed to be just what Palanivel was in dire need of

immediately, he paid the advance amount of Rs. 500/- andbooked a machine.

In a week's time, the company's representatives landed attheir doorstep with a JS Milker. The team provided the coupletraining on how to use it. Initially, the couple was happy withthe Milker. It had relieved them of the tediousness in milking.Easy to use, the Milker had given them new hope. They evenrecommended it to many others. Nearly 20 JS Milkers wereacquired by others.

With time, they got used to the Milker, though they noticedaspects that were less satisfying andeven frustrating. The Milker had a cen-tral valve to be released after securingall the nipples on the udders. Thisturned out to be a new problem. Evenas one was put in position and the oth-ers were being fixed, one of themwould come loose and then they wouldhave to start it all over again. They re-ferred this to the company and theproblem was rectified. Yet, while theMilker was a good-looking machine,the couple gave priority to sturdiness.They felt the parts should not be sofragile that you have to replace themoften.

Big leapAll the same, after getting accustomed to the Milker,

Palanivel made a big leap. He modified it making it powerdriven (with a 0.5 HP motor) ! Thus, there was no need forpumping the lever by hand and building up the required pres-sure ! Consequently, a good quality can, nipples and the elec-tric assembly cost just Rs. 10,000/-.

And, the benefits remained. The Milker continued to beeasy to use. Nearly two-thirds of their time is saved. The milkis hygienic. And, they get a better price for their produce. Yes,Palanivel records happily that, ever since they started usingthe Milker, they have been getting 10-15 paise more per litreof milk from the milk society. 40 litres of milk a day makes it4 rupees of additional income every day. Isn’t that more thanwelcome ? �

Rural Innovations: A Shining exampleJS Milker is an example of how mechanisation can change lives for the better.

It removed the tedium of manual milking as well as fetched Palanivel family more income while helping maintain the quality of milk.

INNOVATIONSCATALYST FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

51

CRY America hosted its first benefit dinner ‘Pledge2007’ under its new name CRY- Child Rights andYou America Inc. in New York on May 2nd, 2007.

Fareed Zakaria, Editor, Newsweek International was thekeynote speaker, and the co-chairs for the evening wereMeera Gandhi, Goodwill Ambassador for CISRI at theUnited Nations and Vikram Gandhi, Head of Global Bank-ing at Credit Suisse. The main sponsor for the dinner wasCredit Suisse.

Success celebrationsThe gala was attended by 200 people from the tri-state

area, Indians as well as Americans who came together tocelebrate the successes that CRY America, its partnerNGOs at grassroots level and volunteers across India andthe US have had in impacting the lives of thousands ofchildren thus far, and to make future achievements a real-ity. An estimated $80,000 was raised at the dinner, re-sources that will be directed towards funding severalinitiatives that ensure irreversible change in the lives ofchildren. Ingrid Srinath, CEO of CRY, a leading child rightsadvocate in India, through her presentation on the statusof children in India, explained the reason for CRY Amer-ica’s name change, from Relief to Rights.

According to her, millions of children across India areexcluded from the rights most American children can take

for granted – education, healthcare, protection from ex-ploitation and abuse. “Unless we address the rootcauses of this situation – endemic poverty, gender bias,class and caste divides and misgovernance – we willonly be scratching the surface of the problem,” shepointed out.

In his keynote address, Dr. Fareed Zakaria said thatChange in India could only come by getting the civic so-ciety involved and pressing the government and ampli-fying the voices like that of CRY.

Shefali Sunderlal, President, CRY America, said thatevents, such as Pledge 2006 offered to all the platformon which “we can amplify our voice and support to thecause of child rights.”

CRY - Child Rights and You America Inc. is a501c3 non-profit organization founded in 2002 thatworks to restore the basic rights of survival, protection,development and participation to underprivileged chil-dren, especially in India. Believing that ‘each one of uscan make a difference’ it works towards creating amovement that irrevocably changes children’s lives. �

For information contact: CRY America, Kreeanne Rabadi, [email protected]

PLEDGE 2007- AN EVENING FOR CHILD RIGHTSCRY America’s first charity gala under its new name CRY - Child Rights And You America Inc.

CRY America’s Executive

Committee members, who

attended the event, are:

(from left to right)

Vikram Gandhi, Head of

Global Banking at Credit

Suisse and co-chair for the

event, Meera Gandhi,

Co-chair for the event,

Nandan Maluste,

Treasurer, CRY, Mumbai,

Fareed Zakaria,

Editor of Newsweek

International and keynote

speaker at the event,

Ingrid Srinath, CEO of CRY

and Trustee of CRY America,

and Shefali Sunderlal,

President of CRY America

FUNDRAISINGCATALYST FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

52

� The images may show information and communicationtechnologies helping ordinary people

� The images may reflect people making a product, sellingwares, working in a field, constructing a building or in-frastructure, or acquiring knowledge

� The images could be abstract ones representing hope,future, or capacity building

� The photographs may also include images of original art-work from a developing country. Do not include photo-graphs of groups of people posing

� Each online entry must include a description ex-

plaining how that image is representative of devel-opment. Images will be judged on technical excel-lence, composition, overall impact, and artisticmerit. Each entrant may enter upto three photo-graphs. Acceptable photo formats are TIFF, JPEG,GIF or BMP. Photo size must be no larger than 3 mb

� The deadline to submit your photographs is Sep-tember 21, 2007. The top 10 photographs will beposted on the Development Gateway FoundationWebsite from October 1-8

Development Gateway Foundation Photo ContestDeveopment Gateway Foundation is launching a photo contest

open to all of at least 18 years of age. We are looking for compelling photographs of

socio-economic development in developing countries

Winner gets a prize of $ 500 which will be announced on October 9

All visitors to the site will be eligible to vote

Read complete information and enter Photo Contest at:http://www.dgfoundation.org/news-events/photo-contest.html

E-mail for the Photo Contest questions or inquiries is [email protected]

Following types of photographs will be accepted:

CONTESTCATALYST FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

53


ACCOUNTS

REVENUE AND EXPENSES FOR 2006

EXPENDITURE

(In Dollars)

Editorial: 3,477

Printing: 8,467

Postage: 4,685

Marketing 1,957

Office (US): 3,753

Travel: 632

Other Expenses: 1,903

Total Expenditure: 24,874

REVENUE

Donations:US Members: 8,726Indian Members: 1,000

Advertisements: 234

Total Revenue: 9,960

(In Dollars)

Deficit: 14,914

AZIM Hashim Premji is the Chairman and CEO ofone of the largest software companies in India,Wipro Technologies, head quartered at Banga-

lore. Worth $17.1 billion and rated as the richest Indianfrom 1999 to 2005, and one of the50 richest people in the world from2001 to 2003 by Forbes, Premji wasrated in 2004 as one among the 100most influential people in the worldby the Time magazine. He was bornon 24 July 1945.

At the age of 21, because of his fa-ther’s sudden demise, Premji had todiscontinue studies at Stanford Uni-versity in order to take over the fam-ily business. However, he managed toacquire his Bachelor’s Degree in Elec-trical Engineering through correspon-dence course from StanfordUniversity, USA.

Premji started off in Wipro with a simple vision: tobuild an organization on a foundation of values. Al-though the company initially dealt in hydrogenatedcooking fats and consumer products, Premji transformedit into a multinational computer software company.Under his chairmanship, the company’s annual revenuesgrew up to 2.5 billion USD by 2007. Thus it became theworld's largest independent Research and DevelopmentService Provider and the largest Business Process Out-sourcing company inIndia.

Premji firmly believesthat ordinary people arecapable of extraordinarythings. His fanatical beliefin delivering value to thecustomer through Innova-tion and Leading-EdgeQuality processes has ledto the emergence of a sys-tem termed as the “WiproWay”.

The belief in Innovation was translated into institution-alizing Innovation at Wipro, and complement the sparkof creativity with methodical, deliberate and sustainableprocesses to drive and facilitate Innovation. Wipro was

the first Indian Company to embraceSix Sigma, the first Software ServicesCompany in the world. Wipro is alsothe pioneer in applying Leanmethodologies to Software develop-ment and maintenance with morethan 300 lean projects.

In the year 2001, the Azim PremjiFoundation was set up with financialresources contributed by Premji him-self. It is a not-for-profit organizationwith a vision of significantly con-tributing to quality primary educationfor every child, in order to build a just,equitable and humane society. It aimsat making a tangible impact on iden-

tified social issues by working in active partnership withthe Government and other related sections of the soci-ety. This Foundation is dedicated towards Universaliza-tion of Elementary Education in India as Premji stronglybelieves that education is the vital element in the devel-opment and progress of our nation. The Foundation’sfocus is on improving the quality of general educationin rural schools and developing world class human re-sources in the field of education. The current programsof the Azim Premji Foundation engage 3.2 million chil-

dren in more than 17,000schools across India. In Oc-tober 2006, the EconomicTimes recognized him as theCorporate Citizen of theyear.

Premji is a member of thePrime Minister's AdvisoryCommittee for InformationTechnology in India. In2005, he was awarded thePadma Bhushan. �

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Sathiraju Sankara Narayanawas born in 1936 at Narsapur, inAndhra Pradesh, India, completedhis Masters Degree in Economicsfrom Loyola College, Chennai andjoined the services of All IndiaRadio in 1963. After working invarious capacities for 32 years, he

retired in 1995 as Station Director, Chennai.Sankara Narayana hails from a family of artists. Hisfather was a very creative person and his elderbrother, Bapu is one of the most eminent artists ofIndia and a well known Film Director. SankaraNarayana currently lives in Chennai, pursuing hispassion for drawing portraits.

Premji a Crusader for Humane Society

[email protected]

DIASPORA Indians —On the PhilanthropyFast-Track traces the ef-

forts of a fraction of the IndianDiaspora in the Far East, MiddleEast, United Kingdom andUnited States to “reconnect”with their home country and beparticipants in the social devel-opment agenda. While thefocus of the book is on philan-

thropic contributions of the Diaspora, it would be im-possible to do so without tracing the history of themovement of the Indian Diaspora.

Unlike many other Diaspora communities, Indianswere never forced to leave, but rather were driven byambition and went abroad in search of opportunities:economic or academic. The story of the Indian Dias-pora is therefore one of grit and merit. It is the storyof a people of immense courage, determination andsuccess.

Fascinating people who have constructed “imagi-nary homelands”, and yet for whom the heartstringsof “Mother India” pull rather forcefully. From the taxidrivers at Heathrow and JFK, to the Maharajahs ofUK and the cyber lords of the Silicon Valley, the Indiancommitment to the homeland stands out. The repa-triation of resources ¾ human and capital ¾ and thephilanthropic connection is thus seen across conti-nents, classes and categories of people.

The book has attempted to profile Non-Resident In-dians (NRIs) and People of Indian Origin (PIOs) inthese four regions in terms of geography, size and ori-gins, defining and mapping giving patterns of the Di-aspora; it also profiles institutions and groups acrossthe world that are promoting organised Diaspora , aswell as case studies of leaders among philanthropistswho are visionaries.

Diaspora Indians — On the Philanthropy Fast-Track also attempts to look at “issues” related to giv-ing back as highlighted by the Diaspora and offersideas and solutions to promote opportunities to in-crease the participations of Indians everywhere in thedevelopment of the country.Diaspora studies are rare¾ few and far between ¾ and this book hopes to fillthe knowledge gap about Indians that reside acrossthe globe and their philanthropic contributions.

Gururaj Deshpande, in a thought-provoking Fore-word powerfully articulates the Diaspora mindset onphilanthropy. �

CRY is recognised inter-nationally for innova-tive fund-raising –

seventy percent of its moneycomes from some hundredthousand donors, each ofwhom contributes modestamounts of money andsometimes labour and mate-rial. A recent innovation isthe book “A Poem forCRY”, published by Penguin India and currentlyfor sale only in the Indian Subcontinent and Sin-gapore. Royalties from sales go to CRY-ChildRights & You.

In 2003, Avanti Maluste and Sudeep Doshi,privileged kids then at leading high schools inMumbai and London, had been volunteers withCRY projects over a number of years. To supportCRY's fund-raising and awareness building, theywrote to hundreds of well known Indians (inter-preting the term broadly) around the world ask-ing each to say which was his or her favouritepoem and why. One hundred and six respondedranging from President Abdul Kalam and Profes-sor Amartya Sen to Sonia Gandhi and (then PrimeMinister) Atal Behari Vajpayee, AmitabhBachchan, H.H. the Dalai Lama, Sachin Tendulkar,Nadir Godrej, Nandan Nilekani and Zubin Mehta.Why? One clue lies in the concentration of re-spondents in Mumbai and Delhi: Avanti,Sudeep,their relatives and friends obviously badgered po-tential contributors over the months and years.But also, surely, the mission of CRY resonatedwith the contributors. Opportunity for all ourchildren is one goal all Indians shoot for.

Amartya Sen writes in his thoughtful foreword,“This is a wonderful collection of poems. Thepoems are of interest not only for the merits ofthe poems themselves, but also for telling ussome thing about the commitments and prioritiesof the selectors. We live not only by our own-thoughts but also by the ideas and phrases thatresonate and move us”. So get this book. If youenjoy poetry, the anthology represents almostevery genre of poem; if you enjoy Indian celebri-ties, here is a unique window into their minds. Ifneither, get “A Poem for CRY” to support childrights and human development.. �

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AWARDSCATALYST FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

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THE Skoll Foundation announced 2007 SkollFoundation Awards for Social Entrepreneurshipfor 10 Innovative Social Entrepreneurs. The

recipients, who will each receive three- year grantsof $ 10,15,000, are organizations that address socialissues in need of urgent attention.

This year’s Skoll entrepreneurs include a former French businessman who is buildingnetworks to prevent abuse of street children, twolongtime environmentalists whose “EcologicalFootprint”enables businesses and governments to

measure their role in depleting the world’s ecological asests, a community activist who helpsvillages in India run sustainable sanitation and clean water facilities, a former accountant whois helping replenishthe world’scollapsing fish stockswith an internationalseafood eco-labeling andcertificationprogram.

2007 Skoll Awards For Social Entrepreneurship

Since its creation in 1987, theEscuela Nueva Foundation hasstrengthened and promoted theEscuela Nueva (New School)model in Colombia and abroad,demonstrating that with theright educational approach, anychild can achieve high academic

standards and permanently escape poverty. The EscuelaNueva model now reaches more than 5 million childrenin 14 Latin American countries, Uganda and the Philip-pines and the World Bank has recognized Escuela Nuevaas one of the most innovative educational programs inthe developing world.Social Entrepreneur: Vicky ColbertHeadquarters: Bogota, ColombiaGrant Objective: To support the Escuela Nueva Foun-dation’s Smart Scaling Campaign to reach an addi-tional 1.5 million children by 2010 through currentprogram expansion in Latin America and Uganda andby launching new programs in India, Peru, Costa Ricaand Bolivia.

Free The Children – Free The Childrenrecognizes the potential of young peo-ple to create positive social change. Itworks with schools throughout NorthAmerica to educate and empoweryouths to act locally and globally asagents of change for their peersaround the world. More than 500,000students have joined the organization’s Youth in Actiongroups in 1,000 schools across the U.S. and Canada. Theyhave shipped $11 million in essential medical supplies andhave provided health care projects benefiting more than505,000 people. Social Entrepreneurs: Craig and Marc KielburgerHeadquarters: TorontoGrant Objective: To expand in the U.S. and establish

800 new Youth in Action groups that raise an addi-tional $1.5 million each year.

Since 1994, Friends-Internationalhas been running projects world-wide for and with street children,attempting to reintegrate these chil-dren into society and providing pos-

itive alternatives to those who unwittingly or out ofeconomic necessity enable this phenomenon, such astaxis, Internet cafes, restaurants, hotels and tourists. Eachyear 85,000 children benefit from programs operated byFriends-International and partner organizations in Cam-bodia, Laos, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, Honduras,France, Switzerland, the United States and Germany. Social Entrepreneur: Sebastien MarotHeadquarters: Phnom Penh, CambodiaGrant Objective: To build a financially sustainableglobal network of partners capable of helping500,000 street children each year.

To combat humanity’sconsumption of ecolog-ical resources beyondsustainable limits,Global Footprint Net-work developed the Ecological Footprint, a science-based tool that graphically shows the depletion ofecological assets and helps businesses and governmentstrack impacts and make ecologically sound decisions. TheEcological Footprint is used by Wales, Switzerland andJapan, and by hundreds of other cities, counties, busi-nesses, intergovernmental bodies and educational insti-tutions.Social Entrepreneurs: Mathis Wackernagel and Susan BurnsHeadquarters: Oakland, CaliforniaGrant Objective: To add 15 national and/or interna-tional government agencies using the EcologicalFootprint to the partner network by 2010.

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Gram Vikas (Village Develop-ment) has developed a holisticapproach to rural developmentin India that involves entire com-

munities, with water and sanitation as the starting point.Founder Joe Madiath believes every home must have run-ning water and sanitation before villagers will collectivelyseek a better quality of life through education, job trainingand healthy practices. The program has been imple-mented in 289 villages, reaching 22,347 households andhas successfully proven that the rural poor can and willpay for better sanitation and water facilities.Social Entrepreneur: Joe MadiathHeadquarters: Orissa, Ganjam, IndiaGrant Objective: To bring water and sanitation to100,000 families by 2010.

Kashf is a microfinance institution that of-fers women below the poverty line in Pak-istan a way out through access to financialservices. Kashf began with 15 clients in 1996and now assists 150,000 clients, with a re-covery rate of 99 percent. It delivers collat-eral-free microloans, savings and lifeinsurance products through branches that become sus-tainable within 10 months. Thirty-five percent of its clientsmove out of poverty within three years.Social Entrepreneur: Roshaneh ZafarHeadquarters: Lahore, PakistanGrant Objective: To expand operations to 600,000clients by 2010 in Pakistan’s Punjab and Sindhprovinces.

Through a nationally recog-nized model for arts education,vocational training and com-

munity development, Manchester Bidwell Corporation(MBC) has brought higher graduation and college enroll-ment rates and has reduced unemployment for thousandsof young people each year in impoverished urban environ-ments across the U.S. Since 1984, MBC and its subsidiarieshave operated art and recording studios, computer class-rooms and industrial kitchens, among other facilities,demonstrating that an inspiring space and state-of-the-art equipment lead to more motivated and engaged stu-dents.Social Entrepreneur: William StricklandHeadquarters: Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaGrant Objective: Support replication programs in sixcities that will serve 1,800 additional youths by 2009.

Marine Stewardship Council - Tocombat declining levels of wild fishstock, Marine Stewardship Council(MSC) offers the world’s only interna-tional seafood eco-labeling and certi-fication program, which uses market forces to supportsustainable fisheries and encourage eco-friendly products.Today 500 MSC-labeled products from 22 certified fish-

eries are sold in 26 countries. Major companies such asWhole Foods in the U.S. and Marks and Spencer andSainsbury in the U.K. have stocked MSC seafood, and in2006 Wal-Mart announced that it would begin to sourceall its fish from MSC-certified suppliers.Social Entrepreneur: Rupert HowesHeadquarters: LondonGrant Objective: To increase market penetration in Eu-rope, strengthen its U.S. presence, expand into theAsia/Pacific arena and certify at least eight more fish-eries by 2010.

Engaging workers in a solu-tions-driven, participatorymodel, Verité partners withhundreds of multinationalbrands, sector leaders, fac-

tories, nongovernmental organizations, institutional in-vestors and governments to improve social andenvironmental performance of global supply chains. Veritécurrently operates in more than 60 countries in electronics,apparel, footwear, food and beverage, and agriculture in-dustries, among others, with a growing network of staffand partners. By bringing practical auditing, training, ca-pability building and research solutions to stakeholders ofthe global workplace, Verité improves the lives of globalfactory workers, who often suffer from unhealthy, ex-ploitive working conditions and typically have no leverageto effect change. The organization has improved workingconditions directly and indirectly for millions of workersaround the world, delivered training to thousands of fac-tories, and improved policy and addressed labor issuesproviding protections for millions of workers. Social Entrepreneur: Dan ViedermanHeadquarters: Amherst, MassachusettsGrant Objective: To strengthen partnerships in dozensof countries and train 1,500 practitioners to replicateits model by 2010, with the potential to reach hun-dreds of thousands more workers worldwide.

To create a positivefuture for low-in-come young people

who left high school without a diploma, YouthBuild re-en-rolls them in an alternative YouthBuild school where theycomplete high school and build affordable homes for theirneighbors, while transforming their own lives and becom-ing responsible citizens and good parents with well-payingjobs. Each year, YouthBuild programs engage 8,000youths in local programs supported by the national Youth-Build USA organization in 42 states and produce afford-able housing for 1,000 low-income or homeless families. Social Entrepreneur: Dorothy StonemanHeadquarters: Somerville, MassachusettsGrant Objective: To build a critical mass of role modelsand have 500 YouthBuild students communicate theirexperience to audiences of millions, expand the pro-gram and fund a re-entry program for adjudicatedyouths in three states.

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“It is now well recognized that poverty and biodiversity are intimately linked”

— KEMAL DERVIS,Administrator, UNDP

BIODIVERSITY is defined as “the variability amongliving organisms from all sources, including terres-trial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the

ecological complexes of which they are a part; this includesdiversity within species, between species and of ecosys-tems”. India occupies 2.2% of the land, 16% of the pop-ulation and approximately 8% of the biodiversity in theworld. India is one of the 12 megadiversity countries in the world.Of the approximately 80,000 ed-ible plants that have been used atone time in human history, onlyabout 150 have been cultivatedon a large scale. Today, a mere 10to 20 species provide 80%–90%of the food requirements in theworld. This trend puts much pres-sure on the existence of the re-maining species. Presently, at least1,000 species are depleted everyyear around the world1.

Poor people living in areas withlow agricultural productivity, de-pend heavily and directly on theforests to support their liveli-hoods. Diversity confers re-silience. A broad genetic baseallows crops and livestock toadapt to changing conditions. Thisis vital for the poor who cannot af-ford to rely on chemical fertilizers or pesticides which pro-tect monocultures from disease, pests and soil problems.Poverty and human activity threaten biodiversity and cre-ates biodiversity hotspots - regions that have been signif-icantly impacted (negatively) and altered by humanactivities. The Western Ghats and North East India are rec-ognized as two of the twenty-five biodiversity hotspots inthe world. The destruction of biodiversity signifies the de-struction of people’s livelihoods, health and survival inthese areas.

The Equator Prize recognizes outstanding local efforts in

the area of Environment and Sustainable Development byUnited Nations Development Program (UNDP). The ap-proaches taken by these five local communities to createlivelihoods from the biodiversity in their surrounding envi-ronments are evidence of the sustainable routes. They sug-gest several opportunities that are available in developingcommunities.

* In Madagascar, the Village of Andavadoaka demon-strates how communities can organize to manage a valu-able resource, in this case the octopus fishery, so that itcan provide benefits in the long-run.

* In Bangladesh, Shidulai Swarni-var Sangstha uses riverboat-basededucational resource centersthroughout its Ganges river deltato deliver information on sustain-able agricultural practices andmarket prices.* In Guatemala, the women of Al-imentos Nutri-Naturales have re-instated the Maya nut as a staplesource of nutrition, thereby con-serving the Maya Nut forests inthe buffer zone to the Maya Bios-phere Reserve.* In Kenya, Shompole CommunityTrust conserves the inimitablevastness and beauty of the grass-lands and savannahs to fuel a ro-bust profit driven ecotourismventure benefiting the Maasaipeople.* In Ecuador, in the GalapagosUNESCO World Heritage Site,the women of Isabela Island’s

“Blue Fish” Association are marketing a local delicacy, tunasmoked with guava wood, as a way of promoting alterna-tive use of marine resources and controlling the invasiveplant species.

Corporations can make use of all the tax incentives tosupport local communities to create livelihoods from thebiodiversity in their surrounding environments. They canhelp the projects become successful business while pro-viding livelihoods to locals and preserving biodiversity. �

[email protected]

Biodiversity For Development

Illustration by Mark Denil, Director, Conservation

Mapping/Chief Cartographer, Conservation International, USA

[email protected]

11995 Global Biodiversity Assessment, United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP).

DR. SRINIVASA RAO

june 2007 catalyst magazine

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