DIAL-CSR @10 ,GMRVLF@25 – A CSR Journey

It was the tranquility on their face that caught my attention.Beautifully wrapped books clutched closer to their hearts, they were exchanging notes in a soft murmur. I was a bit overwhelmed with all the stories of transformation and compassion witnessed at this grand pandal empty now. A hall filled with words of encouragement, awe, and respect till a few minutes back.

So, I decided to pause and speak to with these three young girls from Andhra Pradesh who were facilitated on the staged by dignitaries attending the function.

The date was 8^th September 2017 and the venue was grounds near Hanuman Temple, Delhi Aerocity, IGI Airport, Delhi. The occasion was celebrations of a decade long journey of DIAL CSR and the Silver Jubilee of GMR Varalakshmi Foundation.

Company Act 2013 made CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) a mandate for the corporates to set up a CSR board committee and ensure at least 2 percent of the average net profits of the company from three preceding financial years is spent on CSR. This meant close to Rs. 150 billion rupees were available to be spent annually on the altruistic purposes. How does one ascertain if the mandate has been followed with the intent it was established with? Here was an opportunity to explore.

An invite to blog on the celebrations of 25 years of Varalakshmi Foundation was a good opportunity to observe CSR work of a Corporate. A conscious one who working towards #CreatingTomorrowTogether much before Company Act 2013 and CSR were mandated.

The guests on the stage; Cabinet Ministers & Chief Guest – Head, RSS, leadership team from GMR ; all had arrived well ahead of time. The program began as per the schedule.

There were stories of grit, determination, inspiration, transformation, and change. The stories of compassion, care, and belonging. Inspirational life journeys. Of lives touched by GMR’s Varalakshmi Foundation and DIAL CSR.

The GMR Group led, Delhi International Airport (P) Ltd (DIAL) is a consortium comprising of GMR Group, Airports Authority of India and Fraport. The consortium has the mandate to finance, design, build, operate and maintain the Delhi Airport for 30 years with an option to extend it by another 30 years.

Driven by GMR Group’s vision to make a difference in the society, Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) has been working tirelessly with communities neighboring Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport. 20,000 lives uplifted by work of DIAL at 3 locations.

From what I could gather there. The key areas of focus for DIAL CSR are :

(a) Education

(b) Health, Hygiene & Sanitation

The thrust of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR ) of DIAL is :

Channelizing youth and women towards entrepreneurship
Livelihood development
A vocational “Centre for Empowerment and Livelihoods, Delhi” (CEL-D)
Market relevant employable skills to under-privileged dropout youth.
Skill training in 10 different trades in collaboration with industry partners.
Available training for candidates of the fifth pass to graduate level.
4000 youth trained and 3374 placed since the year 2009.
15% trainees working at IGI Airport through different vendors.
Industry partners engaged to complete hand holding to trainees.
Soft Skill training and English speaking to ensure employability

EDUCATION: Quality education is the most important prerequisite of development for DIAL CSR. Multiple need-specific initiatives, from Bala Badis to working with Government Schools. DIAL also motivates parents to facilitate re-joining dropouts. 3 Bala Badis and 1055 children have benefitted under this activity to date.

AFTER SCHOOL LEARNING CENTRE: Engaging students in productive activities and to create interest in studies. After school learning activities for school children. Holistic development of children, through co-curricular and extra-curricular activities, is encouraged.

1400 school children benefited from this activity.

SUPPORT TO GOVT. SCHOOLS: In collaboration with IBM, “Kid Smart Program” (Technology-enabled early learning program) launched in one MCD school and at a community.

1765 children benefitted from this program so far.

ADULT LITERACY PROGRAM : (Computer Based Functional Literacy): With an objective of empowering the illiterate people by the privilege of basic education, the CBFL program of TCS (Tata Consultancy Service) initiated in the year 2013.

64 women benefitted.

HEALTH, HYGIENE, AND SANITATION: DIAL-CSR initiated three programs under this thrust area viz.

Reproductive and Child Health

Ensure maternal and child health,
Education on Antenatal, Post Natal care
Safe child birth and family planning
Immunisation of 0-5-year-old

177 mothers and 420 children benefitted.

2. Life Skill Education for Adolescents

Trained 105 adolescents as Peer Educators
One Life Skill Center
Information, referral and counseling services to adolescents.

3. General Health Awareness

General health awareness
Health Camps

SAMARTH – EMPOWERING DIFFERENTLY ABLED: A community-based rehabilitation program for differently abled persons, 320 differently-abled people benefitted so far. Special education, basic physiotherapeutic care, counseling and facilitate access to the provisions of government schemes and policies entitled for PWDs made.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: Community Resource Center (CRC) at Savda Ghevra helps access Government schemes People can easily access various Social Security schemes.

EMPOWER : Skill training on handicraft product making to more than 15 under- privileged women to ensure their economic empowerment. The products are sold online too at (www.empowershop.org) .

SUPPORT : A commitment to Skill India. 4000 youth per year through skill training initiatives of GMR Varalakshmi Foundation. Swachh Bharat is another mission.

EMPLOYEE VOLUNTEERS: Social Responsibility is one of the seven core values of GMR Group and since the inception, the employees of the Group are encouraged to contribute personal time, attention and effort towards community development and social causes.

An inspirational journey to know of. Coming back to the three shy girls from Andhra Pradesh. One was Hinduja who did a diploma in Sustainability from Community College in San Hose and her friends Ram Laxmi, pursued tourism & hospitality & Sandhya, Agricultural practices at another esteemed US University. The books with beautiful covers in their hands were one of the coveted rewards for their persistence and perseverance to make life better.

Truly, it was an event to celebrate #CreatingTommorowTogether by GMR.

Coming back to the three shy girls from Andhra Pradesh. One was Hinduja who did a diploma in Sustainability from Community College in San Jose’ and her friends Ram Laxmi, pursued tourism & hospitality & Sandhya, Agricultural practices at a US University I couldn’t get the name clearly. The books with beautiful covers in their hands were one of the many rewards for their persistence and perseverance, with a to make life better, of self and others.

#CreatingTommorowTogether by GMR, DIAL , @Delhi_Airport.