Christel House India – Heaven on Earth, for the Under privileged

A campus off Hennur road little away from the busy Bangalore roads, as we enter a security identifies we have an appointment and lets us in. Can hear the laughter of kids playing in the park, unable to resist I peek. Could witness over 5 BMTC buses parked along with the yellow school buses (why are Govt buses lined up here?) finding an answer didn’t matter as I was rushing to meet the students. I was stopped and directed to the office, a well-dressed Gentleman greeted and gave a complete download of the school. I was awed by every detail he mentioned about the school.  As an Educational consultant in the CSR space, had few questions and couldn’t wait to go and check it, walked into the campus accompanied by a school staff.   

 Can this all even be true? Is it even possible on earth?

Campus was filled with trees, well-kept ground and building looked well maintained from outside. Entered class 1, Teacher gave a warm smile and explained that kids were doing their homework (Yes, the students finish homework before they leave school) even before I turned to have a conversation with the teacher, I heard a little girl saying “Good afternoon mam”, another kid asks “How are you mam” … a boy from the last row asks “Mam have you had lunch?” I was struggling to answer that quick, with a choked voice I respond, and they enthusiastically read a flash card with words and start making sentences and all hands went up when I asked a question, not a single kid was shy.  

 Now I believed every bit the Gentleman said about the school, I know I don’t have to see other classes as these kids in 1st are the ones who missed kindergarten due to Covid19 and in just 6 months into the school, they converse in English with a stranger with so much of confidence!!  

 Moved ahead knowing I had more surprises, to list a few  

  • Every kid who sees you inside the campus wished “Good afternoon mam” 
  • Every employee there carried a warm smile 
  • Corridors filled with interactive activities (notes on investor, entrepreneurship, D&I for class X kids was all over the notice board put up by the students
  • Walls filled with mural painting all done by the kids 
  • Staircase teaches you more than what’s in the books 
  • Small Groups here and there across the school doing remedial for kids in need  
  • Sports day practice was going on and I was lucky to watch it before their D Day… when I clapped and appreciated after their performance a little boy from class 5 says, “Mam please appreciate my teacher because she trained us” (no syllabus can teach gratitude)  
  • Their lunch area was spick and span though all 900 kids (KG to grade 12) had breakfast, lunch and evening snacks including staff (school management says if I can’t eat this food my kids can’t eat, so we all eat in school)  
  • The restrooms were just like another classroom (not exaggerating, no bad Odour or wet floors
  • Fully equipped Labs 
  • Career counselling centre supporting kids right from Class 5 till they buying a house after joining a job (alumni sitting to help their teachers as they are on semester holidays
  • Library the best I have seen in any school 
  • Art room with clay modelling and painting  
  • Music room with Indian and western musical instruments  

A flying visit across the school and rushed to get a glimpse of the kids leaving, they boarded the buses in orderly fashion, happily chatting and talking to teachers. Few boarded the school bus and rest the govt buses. Few waved bye to me and not knowing I’m going to follow them to their homes.  

Followed one of the buses it took me past the traffic into narrow roads and stopped on the side after few lefts and rights. On the left side parents were waiting to receive the kids. 

 When the coordinator introduced me, all of them stopped there on the road praising the school, I resonated the same. Took me to their homes, most of them were sweepers with BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike). My first question was “How do afford their fees?” a proud mom said “Mam we don’t pay a single penny!” .. While the conversation continued with parents, others got comfortable when they knew I speak Kannada. Another mom said “Mam the school takes care of our kids from the age of 5 , no fees no uniform cost and we don’t even pay the doctors when our kids fall I’ll or for their immunization”  – and now you know why i claim it as HEAVEN ON EARTH and it is – Christel House India

I walked into their tightly packed walkway there were more things kept out rather than inside the house. The house could only hold the family and not their belongings. All the kids in the school belonged to the notified slums. 

Spoke with them to know more about their women’s committee who have been given counselling on good parenting, schools functioning.  

As a pay back to the school, every parent volunteer for 5 days in a year for the school helping them with any work that they can, like doing the laundry of kids uniforms, cleaning the ground, etc.,.  

Left the place not being able to digest all I saw in one afternoon …  A school admits kids at the age of 5 takes care of every need (yes, EVERY NEED) funds their higher education, hand holds them until they get to work and ensures they move out of poverty. The kid who was once an overhead to the government starts paying back the government in the form of Income tax. I couldn’t capture every detail of what was explained to me, I still can’t believe the CEO of Christel House School spent time explaining about the school to me with absolutely no expectations.  

 Watch this one single video to know what transformation means!  

Picture credits: Christel House India – https://in.christelhouse.org/

 Vidhya Bhojan

Founder – Right Dots – CSR Consulting agency – https://rightdots.org/

Employee Volunteering & Great Attrition

Great resignation impact being felt in India as attrition rate remains elevated at 20% in 2022 – Business insider 

India has been giving double-digit salary hikes since the pandemic, as demand for skilled workers increased. Despite the hikes, the attrition rate still stands at 20.3%. In its latest Salary Increase Survey in India, data across 1,300 companies from more than 40 industries in the country was analyzed. The attrition rate in India is steadily rising, going up more than 7% within the last two years. The attrition rate is expected to remain in double-digits in 2023 as well.  

To retain talent, experts suggest organizations hire for skills, allow flexible working and gig jobs and focus on revamping employee value proposition (EVP). And the larger workforce in this era is Generation Z. Generation Z is a designation for those born between 1996 and somewhere around 2012. This generation has been exposed to many issues at an early age, including terrorism, school violence and global conflict. From my perspective, all of this has taught them to be able to adapt more easily to situations, be more resilient and have more of an interest in social change. 

According to research released by the British Heart Foundation, Gen Z is more likely to have volunteered than any other age group. Although members of Generation Z are careful with money, they are enthusiastic givers who are involved in social causes.  

During the pandemic, 66% of Gen Z donated money to charity, family, or friends, far outpacing donations made by both Gen X and Boomers. – Galaxydigital.com 

With this generation being highly social conscious, engaging them in social impact project through volunteering makes a huge impact. An article from Harward Business review that touched on the benefits of employee volunteering says, 

“The benefits of well-designed corporate volunteer programs have been clearly established: They boost productivity, increase employee engagement, and improve hiring and retention, to name just a few. But too often, firms’ programs fall short.” 

With Dec 5th being observed as International Volunteer Day, an international observance mandated by the UN General Assembly in 1985, how have you been invested in Employee volunteering and reaped its benefits to the organization? Here is our IMPACT Framework that helps to establish and implement a successful employee volunteering program for your organization.  

IMPCAT Framework for Employee volunteering

  • Identify the interests of the employees / needs of the community 
  • Map the volunteers against the identified needs     
  • Pivot the actions around the needs and interests and spread out 
  • Action on the ground  
  • Communicate the impact internally and externally 
  • Thank volunteers and partners on a regular frequency 

The IMPACT Framework is a tested model that has been proving success for years now. The CSR leads/ Policy makers in the eco system should start looking at integrating employee volunteering into core CSR rather than an adhoc activity. Employee volunteering establishes a great bond between the employee and organization leading to stickiness to the organization. This invariably adds to the business benefit of the organization.  

With great attrition being live and anticipated to be increasing in the upcoming year, leverage employee volunteering as a program to make the social impact leading to business impact.  

As a closing note, employee volunteering is not only for corporates who meet CSR criteria, its for everyone to do and the benefits are deep, irrespective of your organizations size and scale.  We have an Employee Volunteering score card designed to know your employee volunteering maturity of the organization, drop a note to contactus@rightdots.org ,We will be happy to work with you to enable and successfully integrate employee volunteering for your organization.  

#CSRConsulting #sustainability #employeevolunteering #impact #rightdots

Vidhya Bhojan 

CSR Consultant 

Inclusion is not a charitable act; it is a Social Responsibility

While the world is gearing up for observance of International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) on Dec 3. Each one of us should realize that Disability inclusion is not a charitable act, rather it is a responsibility of each one of us. Here is my view on how various stakeholders can act responsibly in tandem with the Rights for Persons With Disabilities Act (RPWD)

”ensure that the persons with disabilities enjoy the right to equality, life with dignity and respect for his or her integrity equally with others.”  – RPWD act

Corporates  

RPWD act has provisions to provide incentives to employer in private sector to ensure that at least 5 % of their work force is composed of persons with benchmark disability. Here is a quick EQUAL framework for you start your journey towards Inclusion 

  • Enlist different job roles in your organization 
  • Qualify your organizations adherence to inclusive environment (infrastructure readiness and employee sensitization) 
  • Understand the skillset and align job descriptions 
  • Adapt a merit-based hiring and performance improvement model 
  • Limitless growth associated with continual learning  

I have designed a quick and easy way to measure you Inclusion index for you to realize where you stand today. Reach me at contactus@rightdots.org for a free template.  

NGO 

RPWD act has provisions for Free education for children with benchmark disabilities, Reservation in higher educational institutions, 4% allocation in Government establishments, Enable accessibility, promote sports, awareness campaigns and many more. How far your work has made an impact ?  

Follow the 5 W and 1 H framework to measure the impact.  

  • What: What is the project you are implementing through your NGO? What is the type of disability you are focusing? What is the provision of RPWD act your NGO is trying to address? 
  • Who: Who is your target beneficiary? (Examples: Schools, Higher Education, Adults) 
  • Where: Where is the project taking place and why was this location chosen? 
  • When: Do you have a start date and end date for the project? 
  • How: How is the fund managed? How are resources managed? How is the impact metrics defined and measured? 
  • Why: Why has the project been started? What are the reasons? What is the goal? 

Reach me at contactus@rightdots.org incase if you need guidance in assessing your NGO performance using 5W, 1H model and beyond.  

Individuals 

Almost everyone is likely to experience some form of disability – temporary or permanent – at some point in life.  Behave responsibly in all forms of actions. How far are you demonstrating inclusion in your daily life? 

  • Do you know basics of sign language to address/ greet a person with hearing impaired? 
  • Do you know basics of Braille / Tactile to train / skill a person with visual impairment? 
  • Do you use basic accessibility features like including sub titles in your Microsoft presentations? 
  • In the birthday parties/ marriage events / – how many of us have included a ramp to the stage for Wheelchair users ? 

“If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime”

In conclusion, It is not an observance or awareness or embracing for one day in a year, it is a journey of transforming lives and their livelihood. If you are already in the journey, revalidate your objectives and impact that you are creating.

Post Script: 

International Day of Persons with Disabilities (December 3) is an international observance promoted by the United Nations since 1992. It has been observed with varying degrees of success around the planet. The observance of the Day aims to promote an understanding of disability issues and mobilize support for the dignity, rights and well-being of persons with disabilities. It also seeks to increase awareness of gains to be derived from the integration of persons with disabilities in every aspect of politicalsocial, economic and cultural life. 

 Theme for IDPD 2022 “Transformative solutions for inclusive development: the role of innovation in fuelling an accessible and equitable world”

References: Wikipedia, RPWD Act of India 

#RPWDAct #IDPD2022 #IDPD #Worlddisabilityday #inclusion #diversity #disability #socialresponsibility

Baseline Assessment – The key first step in CSR Consulting

Inclusion

In my current role as a Program Manager (CSR Consulting) in a Whole School Transformation Program for Resident Awareness Association of Coimbatore (RAAC), a renowned NGO in the Coimbatore, my first step was to conduct a stakeholder analysis and define the below list of pillars for transformation.

  1. Students
  2. Teachers & School Leadership
  3. Community
  4. Infrastructure

If you don’t spend time to know where you stand, your next step is going to be a gamble

There are many instances in the past where we were made to go back to the drawing board to replan or re-strategize. With experience I have learnt that it makes sense to spend time sharpening the axe than cutting, applying this idea on any improvement project for sure gives you great insights and opens varied opportunities that needs to be tackled first.

I did invest a lot of time carefully designing the baseline assessment template that captures every minuscule details of the four major dimensions that were in-scope for the school’s transformation. Collecting data was easier when all aspects have been defined in the template and all it took for the coordinator was to capture the number / availability against every line item.

Information is just bits of data, Knowledge is putting them together, Wisdom is transcending them.

Drawing inferences was little delicate, until I started comparing it with some wonderful information that is available on Government websites and research reports. To give you a better understanding, one of the four dimensions for transformation was Infrastructure, we had varied choices like, do a survey, inspect the school ourselves or the other option was to refer the defined and proven standards, do a gap analysis and work on inferences. The National Programme on School Standards and Evaluation (NPSSE), known as Shaala Siddhi is a comprehensive instrument for school evaluation leading to school improvement, clearly gave guidance to assess the current infrastructure and plan where we need to be. Similarly, UNICEF’s WASH guidelines speaks everything of Water, Health and Hygiene.

Was pleased with the outcome and proudly presented the inferences for the Whole school transformation project with the sponsors and Implementation partners receiving impressive feedback that drives me to do more.

The overall journey to Design the Baseline Assessment, Develop a template, Collect and Collate data, Draw inferences and Publishing it was like a putting a puzzle together, which now incorporated into the implementation plan looks complete.

You can dream to land on the moon , set focus on your next step.

#CSRConsulting #sustainability #employeevolunteering #impact #rightdots

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