Community Development Initiatives

Uploading SHG Bank Linkage Member Data Into Credit Bureaus

Project Period: 2014-2017
Project Location: Pan India
Estimated Impact: 54 million (mostly women)

Uploading SHG-Bank Linkage Data Into Credit Bureaus project aims at  bringing transparency and accountability to the SHG-Bank Linkage Program Member data which impacts  54 million (mostly women) transacting Rs.40000 crore per annum (figure for FY 2013-14).

The SHG-Bank Linkage program has a direct impact on 'Financial Inclusion' as credit and financial literacy and much needed financial transparency facilitates sustainable livelihoods. 

While the credit reporting infrastructure in India has been steadily improving with entry of multiple credit information companies (CIC), and with 28 million base of the pyramid borrowers already enrolled with CICs, the absence of the credit history of Self-Help Group (SHG) borrowers remains a key gap. Inclusion of this data has the potential to significantly increase the accuracy of credit reports on individual SHG borrowers and will allow lenders (including banks and MFIs) to make more informed credit decisions. This has consistently been the recommendations of the Rangarajan, Aditya Puri and Nachiket Mor Committees for past 7+ years to the Reserve Bank of India. 

The project has achieved its everest objective of achieving the buy-in of major stakeholders and had the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), NABARD, Indian Banks' Association (IBA), major banks like State Bank of India (SBI),  ICICI Bank, etc as participants for its Steering Committee Meeting in February 2015. 

Post that Positive Planet has had high level individual meetings with different departments of the RBI to seek their buy-in. 

The project has reached a stage where the RBI to consider passing a mandate for banks to share their SHG member basic data with the credit bureaus.

The next step of the project is to undertake a technology assessment of major banks and SHPIs to under their technology readiness to share the member data and rate the top 10 technologies in India used for SHGs.

Building A Water Positive Maharashtra

Project Period: 2015-2018
Project Location: Maharashtra
Estimated Impact: all farmers in Maharashtra

The vision is to make Maharashtra Water Positive through Public-Private-NGO-Farmer Community Partnerships thereby helping farmers in Maharashtra by supporting their livelihoods and protecting them from vagaries of mother nature namely drought and unseasonal rains. The project intends on building a state-wide public-private partnership to enable a more efficient utilisation of  the annual Maharashtra state budget of Rs.10000 crores allocated for support to farmers through various Government schemes announced in Maharashtra Budget in 2015. The project will dovetail each of these state subsidy schemes and follow them through to the last mile to ensure the highest returns on subsidies invested for farming commuities.

The project is structured in 2 parts:

• Part 1 of our project aims to in a focused way increase the leverage of the Rs. 10000 crores assigned for Maharashtra Farmers support and help channel the same towards grassroots CBOs working with farmers communities. The cost of helping build this bridge with state-wide schemes and departments is estimated at Rs. 40 Lakhs per annum.
• Part 2 of our project focuses on working at the grassroots with a NGO WOTR to support 4 villages in Jalna district for becoming water positive by building watershed structures such as 8 check dams;  recharging of 32  wells and installation of water saving devices such as drip/sprinkler (as per the field condition) irrigation kits.  Attached is presentation of the project that reflects the vision, the need and support needed for the project.  Budget for part 2 is Rs.65 lakhs. 

Fostering Fair Trade, Financial Inclusion & Wealth Creation For Spice Farmers

Project Period: 2010-2015
Project Location: Kerala
Direct Impact: 10,000+ family members of spice farmers

Large international buyers of spices have a significant demand for high-quality spices sourced in India. Many farmers’ organizations are willing to export their product acquiring fair trade and organic certifications that provide them with premiums. However, the farmers are widely dispersed and are not able to produce sufficient quantities required for the export market. Thus, there is a clear need for small scale farmers to improve their capacities according to international standards in order to access to international markets.

Understanding this need and wanting to address this gap this project which aims to facilitate fair trade and wealth creation for Indian spice farmers was developed in partnership with Pernod Ricard Italia and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, a German development agency. The project is co-funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) within its develoPPP.de program. PlaNet Finance was the non-profit that was selected for the implementation of the program.

Small scale farmers in the state of Kerala, India, meet international quality and fair trade requirements for spices by improving their production to meet fair trade requirements, having an improved financial literacy as well as access international markets for spices

The project is focused on: 

• Established Access to International Markets: Small spice farmers of Kerala have been provided with new international market opportunities with Pernod Ricard Italia, its affiliated companies & international buyers. 
• Strengthening Capacity of Farmers Through Crop Diversification: The farmers diversify their crops to get an additional income
• Financial Literacy Training:   The participating farming families are able to better manage and plan their finances.

Outreach (Number of Target Clients): 
2300+ Farmers and their families

Yoga By The Bay

Project Period: 2015
Project Location: Mumbai
Direct Impact: 6000+ citizens of Mumbai

Voteathon

Activated Voteathon (a voter registration drive cum competition amongst college in India before the historic 2014 National Election) in following colleges in Mumbai which eventually led to issue of 3000+ voter ID cards:

• Nair Dental College
• KEM Hospital
• Sion Hospital
• KPB Hinduja College of Commerce & Economics
• Government Law College
• Sydenham College of Commerce & Economics
• Sophia's College
• St. Xaviers
• HR College of Commerce & Economics
• KC College of Arts, Commerce & Science
• Grant Medical College

Blood Donation

Led blood donation drives all over Mumbai in 2013 where 1167 Mumbaikars participated and 811+ units of blood were collected

Dadar Station Clean-up

Whilst leading United Way had presented to Railway Authorities the entire Adopt A Tarin Station campaign in partnerships Personally led under the aegis of Volunteer For A Better India a Clean-up Drive at Dadar Station Sunday,17th Feb. 2013 and had discussions with Railway authorities for hiring more railway police force; installing more dustbins and the need for starting fining citizens who defecate and throw litter in public spaces.

The Railway Protection Force at Dadar (W) clarified that they have only 1 Policeman who works a 12 hours shift between 6 platforms ! It was therefore evident that there was an urgent need to address this significant gap of cleanliness at such important city hubs as Dadar Station. Even the shop owners on the railway station agreed that commuters should be fined for littering.

Rural Skilling Program

The problem of unemployment is serious in the interior part of Himachal. Majority of the citizens spend most of their time in activities yielding low productivity and income. Majority of the youth are unemployable due to lack of suitable training and experience. The objectives are to skill, train and employ youths for suitable professions and give them experience, so that when the project begins, they can come back to their local environment with gainful employment. In keeping with the above principle, a Skilling Rural India and Employability programme was launched in partner- ship with Dr. Reddy’s Foundation.

The programme included the following stepwise approach:

Step 1 - Candidate Scan: 250 youths from the local area were enlisted in the target group for the proposed Skill Development Programme.

Step 2 - Market Scan: 244 establishments were surveyed in five towns, namely Shimla, Baddi, Mandi-Sundernagar, Bilaspur, and Solan. The identified jobs were in sectors of automobile, hospitality, multi-skill technicians, nursing assistant, sales and marketing, factory and stores helper, machine operators, supervisors, security guards, accountants, construction, etc.

Step 3 - Counseling: Approximately 105 candidates were counseled to better understand issues related to family background, migration, inclination of candidate, willingness to relocate for training and jobs.

Step 4 - Training and Placement: The first batch of 54 identified youths were imparted 3 months trainings in customer sales, hospitality, multi-skill technician and bed side patient attendants. Of these, 49 youths have been placed with renowned business establishments in and around Shimla and Chandigarh.

Safal Krishak

Helped lead and seed a livelihood promotional program in Mejai, West Bengal in the name of Safal Krishak which was started in Nandanpur Village of Lotiyaboni panchayat in partnership with a local voluntary organization Shamayita Math that benefited a total of 660 citizens. This programme also helped in enhancing their earnings, which ultimately led to the improvement in their standard of living. The programme was started with the following objectives:

• To train farmers on scientific farming and creating a demonstration unit
• Replication of the model among other farmers
• To strengthen irrigation facility so that the farmers get life saving water for paddy and water for mustard and pulse
• To train women members on Kitchen Garden and Handicraft
• Providing forward linkages to ensure the sale of final product
• Undertaking seed multiplication programme

Various activities were carried out under Safal Krishak

• Irrigation facility (Deepening of 3 ponds)
• Training on scientific agriculture
• Paddy cultivation using SRI method
• Vegetable cultivation
• Mustard cultivation
• Pulses cultivation
• Paddy seed production
• Kitchen garden
• Embroidery and bag making
• Mushroom Cultivation

Sal Plate Enterprise

Sal is so important for the tribals that the tree is worshiped by them for its wonderful nature of providing multiple products for their livelihood. Dried sal leaves are used widely in temples and marriage ceremonies as plates for eating food. The tribals collect these sal leaves and siali leaves and stitch them into plates and cups.

Under Lafarge India’s charity foundation’s program Unnati (Employability Programme) a Sal Plate Enterprise project was carried out in Amdanga and Haspahari villages of Lotiyaboni Panchayat, Mejia, West Bengal. The year long program was conducted in association with the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur which is the implementing authority of the project.

About 40 families from Amdanga and Haspahari villages benefited from this project. In these areas Sal leaves are collected from the nearby forests and hence, offers high value addition to the products not only in terms of Sal Plate quality but also the profitability.

IIT students train the village women in using bio mass operated machines which are used for moulding the sal plates. These machines are ecofriendly and yield better result. The need for plastic film for bonding two leaves is negated.

Trimming of leaves through smooth shearing action results in minimum fatigue and health injury. This Biomass fuelling Sal Leaf Plate Mould (SLPM) machine is an innovation patented by IIT Kharagpur.

Arasmeta Tailoring Centre

Project Period: 2010-2011
Project Location: Chattisgarh
Lives Touched: 48 Girls In 3 Vilages

Established a tailoring centre in Arasmeta & Amora where 48 girls have completed their tailoring training program. At the end of the course, the participants are well versed with making items such as bags, soft toys, cushion covers, pillow covers, suits, blouses etc. 48 girls engage in stitching clothes in their leisure time and earn Rs. 1000 a month.

Animal Treatment and Vaccination Camp

Based upon “Community Need Assessment (CNA) Study, and consequent need of Animal Treatment and Vaccination in Rajasthan, supervised for Lafarge India organizing a camp in Ramgarh village, Nimbahera tehsil on 26th March 2010 for treatment and vaccination of animals. The camp covered 3 operational villages namely Ramgarh, Sankhlon Ki Khera and Kanpura village. A total of 905 animals were covered during the programme which included:

340 : Treatment of de-worming cases
120 : Vaccinations
18 : Medical treatment
13 : Treatment of infertility - 13
413 : Spraying of vaccines to kill parasite (on external part of animal)

The program was appreciated by the local village sarpanch and other key persons.

Tribal School In Jamshedpur

Sunderhattu Bastee; where dawn begins with a search for two square meals. Locals with hardly any life sustaining amenities spend the day hunting for a meal. The outcome is yet another day with the same everlasting chase for making both ends meet. No drinkable water, no medicare, no education and no roads-this was the situation until Jojobera Cement Plant took the mission of addressing the problems facing the community. Children could be seen either picking up garbage or moving around in the streets during the day.

As a first intervention, the community constructed a school with Shram Daan with materials provided by Lafarge. Today, the school is fully aided by Lafarge India with educational kits, books, uniforms, furniture and maintenance of the campus.

The school started in the year 2001 with only 10 students in nursery. Today it has 106 students on its rolls from nursery to std. III.The 14 students who passed out from Class III in 2009 are now enrolled in other schools and are pursuing their education. The school focuses on learn with fun teaching methods and has a high student attendance of above 87%.

Aaganwadi Programme

Aaganwadis are the starting point in a child’s education and has a significant impact on the child’s future education. Therefore, it is recognized that the centers, which are currently in a very poor condition, both in terms of physical environment and quality of education need to be developed to such an extent that the same attracts and retains the children and inculcates the habit of schooling for both the parent and the child. Upgradation of these centers have started in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

Masonry Training Institute

When in Lafarge, NIDHEE Foundation partnered with IL&FS to conduct masonry training program in Jamshedpur. Mason Trainees were offered on the-job training and placement with a prominent Construction Agency in Jamshedpur.

Helped spearhead signing of an MOU with ILFS to jointly conduct a Mason Training Program in Jamshedpur targeting the training of 300 youth annually. 5 batches were successfully completed wherein 130 unemployed youth were trained. The entire batch of Mason Trainees were offered on the-job training and placement with a prominent Construction Agency in Jamshedpur Institution of Engineers (India).

Environment-Tree Plantation

Led a reforestation programme in Arasmeta, Chhattisgarh in 2010. In order to preserve the environment around its Sonadih and Arasmeta sites in a sustainable and responsible way, Lafarge in India took part in a governmental reforestation programme.

Summary

The State of Chhattisgarh has 40% of its area covered in forests. The local authorities have made a commitment to preserve this unique natural heritage through a large-scale tree-planting programme: the "Green Chhattisgarh" project. Lafarge India’s 2 cement plants in the State supported the project by buying saplings, supervising the planting and maintaining the plots of land.

Lafarge took advice from the Institute of Forest Management (an agency of the Ministry of Environment and Forests) for the choice of species and from several specialized NGOs for the cultivation of the saplings. The species chosen are robust with a long expected life span (e.g. teak and tamarind), along with fruit trees (e.g. mango and jackfruit).

Results:

• Over 25,000 plants have already been put in the ground thanks to the Indian cement plants and 45,000 will soon be planted:
• 20,000 plants in the area surrounding the Sonadih plant on each side of the road leading to the plant,
• 25,000 plants in the villages neighboring the Arasmeta plant. The survival rate of the saplings is estimated at 85%.

Surakshit Bharat: A Safe India

Surakshit Bharat: A Safe India Surakshit Bharat programme : Building a Safer India. An unique initiative on promoting road safety in rural areas was launched by Lafarge India during the safety month in June 2010. Spearheaded this campaign across 3 States of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal impacting 14 villages and 22008 citizens. Designed to build up a safety culture among school children and the village youth and adults to increase awareness, inculcate attitude and stimulate positive behavioral change of rural population towards discipline of safety in all spheres of life at home, workplace and whilst traveling.

Wall paintings were done, each carrying a specific message on safety. The safety issues identified were:

• Not walking in the middle of the road
• No speed driving and over-riding
• Use of helmet while driving 2 wheelers
• Don’t play in the middle of the road
• Don’t drink alcohol and drive

The objective was to increase awareness and stimulate behavioural change of rural population towards road safety. Activities included:

• Presentations and films on safety shown in schools
• Wall paintings with safety messages in villages and schools
• Creation of Grameen (Village) Safety Ambassadors
• Door-to-door campaign on safety issues
• Village safety audits and assist Lafarge in building a village safety perspective and plan

Sakshar Bharat: A Literate India

Led setting up 15 Computer Learning Centers with a well-designed course module which covers Computer Fundamentals, Paint, MS-Office and Internet. After successful completion of the course, each student will be given a certificate of "Microsoft Unlimited Potential Programme". The programme witnessed a high level of participation of community members and youths.

These 15 Computer Training Centers continue to provide computer education to 4,241 children and youth across 56 villages in 5 states of Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, West Bengal.

About Sakshar Bharat:
A high proportion of rural students don’t have any opportunity to acquire computer skills, which is important for educational process and to achieve positive career outcomes. Lafarge India through it’s foundation NIDHEE assessed the situation of computer literacy in it’s operational area and found that such training facilities were inaccessible due to distance or the exorbitant charges of professional training centers. The management committee of a Government high school also appraised the team about the low educational status and requested Lafarge India to set up a Computer Training Centre within the school premises.

Swasth Bharat: A Healthy India

Swasth Bharat is one of the key pillars of Lafarge's corporate social responsibility programme which directly impacts 44,699 citizens and indirectly impacts 1,68,495 citizens in 32 villages across 4 states through its community health centers, mobile dispensaries and health camps.

Under Swasth Bharat, i supervised a health initiative across 4 states which impacted 44,699 citizens and indirectly impacts 1,68,495 citizens through its community health centers, mobile dispensaries and health camps.

In June 2009,supervised a partnership with HP Voluntary Health Association (state chapter of VHAI) launched a Health Center in village Thalli, Himachal Pradesh. The medical center provides basic and primary healthcare facilities to the residents of the surrounding 8 panchayats i.e. Thalli, Shakra, Tattapani, Bindla, Balinidi, Bagshad Sawindhar and Sunni. The center has a full time doctor, laboratory technician and para medic staff. On request from adjoining pan- chayats two more extension units of the existing health center were opened in Talehan and Mahautta villages in 2010. Till date all three community health centres have provided free medical treatment facilities to 15,128 patients approximately and 4,934 lab tests have been undertaken.

Mobile Dispensaries and Health Checkup Camps

Helped run mobile vans which were well equipped with medicines and other medical aids to facilitate proper medical check ups and diagnosis of the diseases visit peripheral villages of Jojobera in Jharkhand, Sonadih-Chattissgarh, Mejia-West Bengal Cement Plants as well as villages around Chittorgarh, Rajasthan.This helped in treating ailments, promoting childcare and health care of the villagers.

Saksham Bharat: A Capable India

Saksham Bharat is an initiative under Lafarge Foundation, NIDHEE which focused on making people Saksham i.e. Capable.

Unemployment is a serious problem in the interior parts of Lafarge India's project and plant areas. Majority of the citizens are engaged in activities yielding low productivity and income. People rely on their small land holdings to support their families. Families need to be provided with an alternate source of livelihood to reduce dependence on subsistence agriculture. In alignment with the above principle, Lafarge India through it’s foundation NIDHEE, i lead several employability initiatives across across 5 states impacting 935 youth.

Ek Mouka

Helped conceptualize, lead and execute for Lafarge India a program on employability training called "Ek Mouka" in partnership with Hyderabad’s CAP Foundation. The program focuses on developing skills of rural unemployed and underprivileged youths, and linking them to employment opportunities in nearby areas. 400+ unemployed youths were covered under the program. A detailed market survey and community profiling was done to identify the needs, aspirations, educational levels, and skill levels as well as to identify the existing employment opportunities in various sectors in and around Arasmeta & Sonadih in Chhattisgarh, Jamshedpur-Jharkhand; and Gulbarga-Karnataka.

At the end of the 3 month program, over 400 youths were offered placements and nearly 70% took up jobs in various local businesses in the local areas.

Reactivated Lafarge Foundation, NIDHEE

I had the honour and responsibility of reactivating Lafarge Foundation, NIDHEE which means Creation of Community Wealth, a national initiative for dwellings, health and safety, education and employability. Developed vision, mission and approach of NIDHEE.

Vision
Supporting the development of sustainable communities by facilitating community development programmes to address key community needs in partnership with the government, NGOs, local community institutions and local citizens.

Mission
To generate a systematic and sustainable improvement in the communities surrounding our plant and project sites on the key pillars of Dwellings and Community Assets, Health and Safety, Education and Employability with a focus on safety being our value.

Bihar Flood Relief Program Supporting Punarwaas NGO

Punarwaas is a NGO that was set up by noted filmmaker Mr. Prakash Jha to provide relief to the 2008 flood victims in Bihar and to help them relocate and rehabilitate.

I personally helped to raise 2 Crore for Bihar flood relief which were used to reconstruct the lives of 5,000 flood affected people n Kataiya in Basantpur Panchayat in Supaul district.

It involved providing kitchens, balwadi, vocational training and health facilities and also involved providing toilets to maintain levels of hygiene

Won The Charity Partnership Of Mumbai Marathon For United Way

Won for United Way Mumbai, India and Aisa’s largest charity raising platform by winning the charity partnership for the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon. Set up the entire financial foundation and matrix for the online accounting and providing tax exemption receipts to donors, for all the funds raised as also structured, diligent systems for distribution of the fund-raised to all participating 290+ NGOs.

The accounting system set-up till date manages donations from 30,000+ donors and disbursements across nearly 290+ organisations.

In its past 6 years association as the charity partners to the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon, United Way disburses an annual charity figures from Rs 7.75 Crores in 2009 to Rs 24 Crores in 2015 involving 150+ corporates; 684 fund-raisers and thousands of individual donors.

Corporate Ward Adoption Program

The Corporate Ward Adoption Program was created as an answer and a response to the 26th July 2005 monsoon crisis which brought Mumbai city to a standstill where 5000+ people lost their lives, large numbers of people were stranded on roads, several lost their homes and many walked long distances back home from work that evening. The city civic machinery and the citizens were clearly not prepared for a natural disaster of this magnitude.

The Corporate Ward Adoption Program (CWAP) envisioned creation of a corporate ward office that would work in unison and support the work of the Bombay Municipal Corporation Ward office. CWAP aimed at bringing together corporates, NGOs, citizens who wished to volunteer; the railways; traffic; schools and all such stakeholders together to partner and work together to help create a disaster response plan.

The value proposition of Corporate Ward Adoption Program is to present a live and working on-ground full-time network and secretariat at the ward level which works with multiple stakeholders in creating a disaster readiness plan as well as at a non-disaster time addressing other local civic issues which will have an impact on the overall well- being of the city and its citizens.

The Multi Stakeholder Partnerships through CWAP will provide the much needed platform and create the glue for bringing together community stakeholders to communicate with each other and mobilize collective action at a ward level to attain the shared vision of making Mumbai a safer and better place to live.

In an attempt to address both the issues of disaster preparedness and state of cleanliness of Mumbai; United Way Mumbai Helpline's- Corporate Ward Adoption Program has been expanded to include the Clean-Up Mumbai campaign of Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM).

Vision

-Corporate Ward Adoption Program (CWAP) is the first attempt of developing a systematic professional approach at creating a dynamic platform to bring together various stakeholders in each ward.

-CWAP will provide that essential glue to hold together various disparate efforts with regard to civic issues redressal being carried out in the ward

-To create an active and effective network on the ground that will act as a key tool in disaster preparedness

-Inviting leading corporates based in Mumbai to adopt ONE MUNICIPAL WARD each

Salient features of CWAP
-Sustainable
-Scalable
-Works very closely with community
-Result oriented and professional
-Not dependent on voluntary efforts alone

Introduced Payroll Giving In India

Introduced payroll giving in India with 45 corporate partners with more than 4,000 individuals enrolled in payroll giving program in 2007 and generated revenue of Rs. 1 crore through payroll program for United Way. Partnered with Kelloggs, Colgate Palmolive, JWT, Bates, Kodak, e-Serve, Monsanto, Citigroup and many more set the ball rolling for payroll giving in India.

In the year 2004, corporate India was just about beginning to think philanthropy. Payroll Giving was a premium, popular and rapidly growing global platform for supporting charities by corporates. In the US, employee participation in payroll giving is nearly 35%. United Way Mumbai launched payroll giving to 55 leading corporates in the year 2005 of which 30+ corporates signed up for United Way Mumbai's payroll giving program including Accenture, Citi Bank, E-Serve, Tata AIG, Colgate, Kelloggs and many more.

United Way Mumbai spearheaded the pioneering of launch of payroll giving in India helped step up the level of professionalism, transparency and focus for charity support of each family

Fishing Boats & Fishnets To 236 Fishermen Post Tsunami

Replaced 72 boats, nets, motors across 4 communities impacting 235+ families, 1308 people.

Led the post tsunami disaster relief of revitalization of fisherman’s livelihoods in 7 villages of Tamil Nadu (Poompuhar; Chinnagudi, Keelamoovarkarai, Oyyalikuupam, Pudupattinam, Thirumullaivasal & Thoduvai) by providing them 72 fishing boats, motors and nets.

Beneficiary Boats Families Impacted
Poombuhar 30 Boats 90 Families
Chinnagudi 10 Boats 30 Families
Keelamoovarkarai 12 Boats 36 Families
Thirumullaivasal 10 Boats 30 Families
Thoduvai 10 Boats 30 Families
Oyyalikuupam
& Pudupattinam 29 Families
Total: 72 Boats 236 Families

Re-Building of Poombuhar Village, Tamil Nadu by Reconstructing 300+ Homes

The Tsunami occurred on 26th December, 2004. The undersea megathrust earthquake triggered a series of devastating tsunamis along the coasts of most landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean, killing 230,000 people in 14 countries including over 13000++ lives in India and injurng another 5000+ Indian citizens and leaving over 100000 people homeless and inundating coastal communities with waves up to 30 metres (100 ft) high. It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history. Indonesia was the hardest-hit country, followed by Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand.

At United Way Mumbai we always looked to see how to seek the most sustainable outcomes for our charity investements. Based on our requests generous donations poured in from all parts of the world including The United States of America National Football League, United Way International’s Southeast Asia Tsunami Fund Indian and multinational corporates in India such as AIG. After much thought and a review of over a 100 possible partners, United Way Mumbai finalized on the project in partnership with local NGO Sevai to rebuild 300 homes in Poompuhar, a village 300 kms south of Chennai in Nagapattinam district. Poompuhar a major port city is said to have played a significant role in the maritime history of India. This city was swallowed by a 400 feet tidal wave some 2000 years ago. Now an extension of this city still exists in the form a sleepy fishing village, that once again lost several of its fishing community homes which were on the coastline during the 2004 Tsunami.

This project entailed accurate earthquake resistant construction of homes being undertaken with the best of international construction experts, negotiating with the local material suppliers as the cost of cement and iron started exponentially rising once mass construction began. There were endless negotiations with the changing village panchayats on who should get which homes and who should not, several meetings on kind of toilets per home as the concern was how often would litch pit toilets be cleaned, construction and placement of sewage treatment plants, working with the local public works department for building of roads, pathways lighting and ultimatelly cajoling and motivating each of the residents to plant trees and bring the surrounding back to the once upon a time verdant surroundings that it was.

In 2005 Poombuhar I knew was merely row of tinsheds. In 2013 I had the good fortune of re-visiting my Poombuhar and it had transformed into a community that reflected peace, cleanliness virtually a verdant green haven.

As a sailor, I bow down in gratitude to having had this opportunity to serve the once upon time great, majestic port of Poombuhar the capital city of the famous Chola kings. A city which was rich in maritime trade and the kingdom had trade with Romans and Greeks. This ancient port is recognized in the travelogues of Greek Geographer Ptolemy, Pliny and in Buddha's Jataka Tales and many historical pali literature, temple inscriptions, tamil epics Cilapadikaram are replete with mention of this once upon atime great city and port of Poombuhar.

Building State Of The Art English Medium School In 2 Villages in TamilNadu, India

Two English Medium Schools Started in :2006

Lives Touched : 700 Direct; 3500 Indirect;

Villages Touched : 20

On 26th December 2004, fate as usual as it had done for past 5 to 6 years found me on a bus heading for our annual family holiday to the border of Maharshtra & Karnataka. Suddenly the phone rang and it was a leading multinational corporate asking if United Way was doing anything for the Tsunami. I thought to myself what is a Tsunami ?...being on the bus we were all completely unware that tragedy of immense scale had struck so many parts of the world. My phone kept ringing for the next few days and what ensued was a working Christmas and New Year to see how we could support the Tsunami relief activities that needed to be started immediately.

Rather than immediate relief which was not United Way’s competency I thought it was best to stop and think and see how we can sustainably impact the communities. The next 2 years were spent meticulously working towards building a sustainable response to investing the donation sums raised by a caring public in response to the catastrophic Tsunami.

5 community development projects were developed. 2 of the 5 projects were building 2 English medium school in the heartlands of Tamil Nadu and glimpses of these 2 amazing projects are shared here.

In January 2005, United Way Mumbai reached out to various corporates to seek support for the Tsunami rehabilitation activities. Approximately, 137,000 Samsung employees contributed $2 million to the United Way South Asia Tsunami Response Fund. The grant was designated on the request of the employees to construct and rebuild schools. I spent months working with an amazing volunteer from the US Jeff Schanze, our assistant ED at United Way Deepa Chaudhary and our NGO partner Hope Foundation who led the project in terms of identifying the appropriate land, meeting with local panchayats to identify the appropriate village and panchayat whom we found appropriate to partner with and architects for the school.

Finally the land purchase was finalized and we inaugurated the foundation in 2005.

The Chinnangudi (Small Huts) is located on the Bay of Bengal coastline, in the Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu, India. The school, is about a kilometre away from the sea and serves children from families that rely on fishing and agriculture for a living. The government recognized, English medium school is strongly supported by the community and serves 10 hamlets in and around the village. The 2.5-acre Samsung School of Hope today reaches out to over 400+ children from nursery to 10th standard. The school will increase the intake of children every year and also gradually add classes to soon provide higher secondary education to children.

The school has been built according to the specifications of the Tamil Nadu Educational Board and includes large classrooms, a computer lab, a library, two large dining halls, wide corridors and ample play areas. Children at the school will also be served a lunch everyday.

This school built deep inside the heart of Tamil Nadu is a living testament of the fact that great synergies between the implementing partner and donors can create wonderful results. The school building itself has been built keeping in consideration all that a school requires with all modern facilities. The local villagers as well as the district administration have only dreamt of the existence of such a school. But now they are overjoyed that the village has been blessed with one.

Amidst tranquil surroundings, the school stands as a hope for the villagers. For the prime benefactors, the children, the school is a ticket to a better life. The school is just a few minutes walking distance from their village. Previously, they use to wile away their time in the village, but now they eagerly walk to the school daily to be taught. Smartly dressed in uniforms their parents are proud of each one of them. Every day, the children are also provided wholesome mid-day meals cooked in the school’s state of the art kitchen.

The 246 students (Lower kindergarten to 4th standard) enjoy a 1:27 teacher to student ratio. At a recent meeting of correspondents and principals the Chief Education Officer of the district commended the school management for providing the town with high quality infrastucture. This has been made possible by the coming together of the community, the Panchayat, Samsung, United Way and HOPE foundation.