|
By
Dr. Pragnya Ram
Group Executive President
Corporate Communications
The
Asian Institute of Management Centre (AIM)
for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
has conferred the much coveted and highly
prestigious Asian Corporate Social Responsibility
Award on Hindalco, for its Integrated Rural
Poverty Alleviation Programme. An honour
of the highest kind on this side of the
universe, the Asian CSR Award is Asia's
Premier Awards Programme on corporate social
responsibility.
For
all of us in the Group and more so for those
of us who are so involved in the Aditya
Birla Centre for Community Initiatives and
Rural Development, led by Mrs. Rajashree
Birla, this has been an overwhelmingly proud
moment. One was thrilled having penned this
project and having witnessed the transformation
it brought about in the villages. It is
a recognition par-excellence and rightly
so, Hindalco has worked wonders for the
community. Since
the last four decades, under Mr. A.K. Agarwala,
Hindalco's community projects set new benchmarks
and gradually evolved into 'benchmark' projects
for the whole of Asia, backed by the unstinted
support and commitment of Mrs. Rajashree
Birla. It was an honour to receive this
award along with Mr. Ahmer Sultan of Hindalco,
at the hands of His Excellency Mr. Thaksin
Shinawatra, the Prime Minister of Thailand,
at a glittering award ceremony in Thailand
held on 19 September, 2003. The
other distinguished members linked with
this award, who congratulated our team included
Mr. Ramon del Rosario Jr., Chairman of the
Board of Advisors, Mr. Ramon V. del Rosario,
Sr. AIM Centre for Corporate Responsibility,
Senator Mechai Viravaidya, Founder and Board
Chairman of Population and Community Development
Association and Mr. Roberto de Ocampo, President
of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM).
Our Thai contingent led by Mr. D. Mittal,
Mr. Srinivasan, Mr. N.K. Dalan, Mr. Prakash
Hardikar and Mr. Kaveeshwar came in full
force as our celebration team.
The
Asian CSR Awards Programme recognises and
honours Asian companies for outstanding, innovative
and world-class projects and programmes implemented
during the year 2002-2003. These projects
needed to demonstrate the company's leadership,
sincerity and ongoing commitment in incorporating
ethical values, compliance with legal requirements,
and respect for individuals, communities and
the environment into the way they run their
business.
The jury was led by the Asian Institute of
Management's Centre for Corporate Responsibility.
A distinguished panel chaired by Mr. Khunying
Jada Wattanasiritham of Asian Business Coalition
on AIDS, supported by Ms. Gina Velasco of
Synergos Institute, Mr. Prida Tiasuwan of
Social Venture Network Thailand and Mr. Alex
Carrasco of the United Nations Development
Programme endorsed our work as "path-breaking".
In the words of this distinguished panel —
"Yours is an outstanding achievement.
With 142 projects from 80 organisations in
11 countries competing for the CSR Awards,
selecting the winning entries was without
doubt a challenge for our judges." The
ury was touched by the transformation that
our teams have been able to bring about in
71 villages, in proximity to Renukoot, Renusagar,
Lohardaga, Samri and Silvassa. In their view
we have been able to alleviate a down-trodden
people's sub-human conditions of existence
and restore an element of dignity in their
lives, overcoming several impediments. That
as a result of our work the difference in
these villages was perceptible.
About
the award forum
The award is instituted by the Asian Institute
of Management under the aegis of the Ramon
Ve del Rosario, Sr AIM Centre for Corporate
Responsibility. The latter partners with
Population and Development Association and
the Ford Foundation.
The Ramon del Rosario, Sr. Centre for Corporate
Social Responsibility is a research and
programme centre within the Asian Institute
of Management (AIM). Cognizant of its mission
in developing professional, entrepreneurial,
and socially responsible leaders and managers,
the AIM-RVR Centre is committed to social
excellence. It is the centre's belief that
only when Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR) can be structured as a business model
and regarded as fundamental to strategy
and general management can CSR be sustainable.
They were impressed with the fact that our
social vision forms part of the business
vision.
Population and Community Development Association,
founded in 1974 is one of Thailand's most
well-established and diverse non-government
organisations.
The Ford Foundation provides grants and
loans to projects that strengthen democratic
values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote
international cooperation, and advance human
achievement. Up until now the Ford Foundation
has provided grants and loans in excess
of US$ 10 billion.
The way we steer our projects —
taking cognizance of the larger picture
Even as we in India have made a mark on
the globe as a reservoir of intellectual
capital, as a nation we are grappling with
'quality of life' challenges. More so, in
the hinterland, where poverty is a ground
reality. Where the sound of silence, muted
expressions and places which reflect squalid
conditions, of hunger, of disease, and of
impoverishment can wrench your gut.
Today, nearly 26 crores of people live below
the poverty line — in some 6,40,000
villages across India. Ten years ago, the
numbers were even more shocking. Seized
of this issue in several villages, some
state governments have gone out on a limb
to change the scenario. Some have done well
while many are still dragging their feet.
On an encouraging note, the Human Development
Report (2001) has remarked that India is
on track to meet the Millennium Development
Goal of halving the income poverty by 2015.
Simply put, this implies that 13 crore people
will subsist on less than a dollar a day.
Under
the stewardship of Mrs. Rajashree Birla,
and guidance from Mr. A.K. Agarwala, our
150 strong team across 36 units, slogs with
missionary zeal to raise a large populace
from below the poverty line to decent subsistence
levels.
We work in 3,700 villages, in close collaboration
with the district authorities and government
bodies, apart from other like-minded bodies
and NGOs. Over a year ago, we decided that
developing model villages in a phased manner
should underpin our strategy. So each of
our major companies was advised to work
towards the total transformation of a select
number of villages, which are close to our
plants.
Making of a model village entails ensuring
self-reliance in all aspects — education,
health care, family welfare, infrastructure,
agriculture and watershed development and
working towards sustainable livelihood patterns.
This is
an attempt fundamentally to ensure that
village development reaches a stage wherein
communities take over the complete responsibility
and we can withdraw from these villages
and replicate the project in other villages.
Consequently, as a Group we have zeroed
in on 200 villages across the country through
37 of our plants, from the stable of Hindalco,
Grasim, Indian Rayon, Indo Gulf, Tanfac,
Essel Mining and Bihar Caustic and Chemicals,
among others.
Zooming
in on Hindalco
Hindalco has zeroed in on 71 villages where
our Integrated Rural Poverty Alleviation
Programme will run for four years.
Establishing
a baseline
To get a fix on the state of the rural people
before we stepped in was critical for
impact measurement at regular intervals.
A baseline study between January to March
2002 revealed that, families existed on
a US$ 222 income per annum,
self employment was practically non-existent.
Inadequate nutrition, no productive work,
lack of control over fertility, lack of
access to basic amenities such as water,
sanitation and health care, were death drivers.
Literacy levels were at its lowest. Over
a three month period, we worked to garner
the support of the villagers, and get them
to own the project recoursing to the participatory
rural appraisal process. A simple tool,
it is all-inclusive. To do so we squat with
the villagers, influentials, the panchayatis
and their ilk and get them to prioritise
their needs, mapping the areas of work,
the time-lines and their role in taking
it forward. Subsequently, with their involvement
we came up with an integrated approach.
It encompassed sustainable livelihood programmes,
training in skill sets, watershed management,
best agricultural practices, women empowerment
processes, setting up of 20 primary education
and 44 non-formal education centres. We
impacted these 71 villages in every which
way. Imagine we could help them:
- bring
23,148 acres of land under irrigation,
benefiting 9,875 families.
- raise
land productivity by 20 per cent.
- up
the literacy rate by 26 per cent.
- lower
the maternal and child mortality rate
by 3 per cent and 6 per cent respectively.
- enhance
the income of 4,558 families to US$ 556
from US$ 222. In effect, exterminating
their below the poverty line (BPL) status.
Integrated
rural poverty alleviation programme —
its geographic reach
The Integrated Rural Poverty Alleviation
Programme has been based on a tripartite
partnership between Hindalco, the Gram Panchayat
(village elders) and the community. A Three-Year
Rolling Plan extending to 2002-2005 has
been prepared consensually for the 71 villages.
In
the first year of our project, our goal
was to reach out to 3,108 families, out
of a total of 12,437 families in the villages
short-listed for the first phase in the
first year of our project.
next
page >>
|
