MUMBAI: Marking a new milestone in its CSR endeavor ‘Canon India Involve’, Canon India has announced the adoption of a new village-Parivali near Mumbai as part of the flagship CSR initiative – ‘Adopt a Village’. Resolving their commitment towards community development, the new village adoption is the next strategic chapter, as Canon successfully completes its association with Karanjoti Village in Mumbai, building a progressive and sustainable environment for the community members.
Building its CSR endeavors on the corporate philosophy of ‘Kyosei’, Canon envisions the achievement of a sustainable society and strengthening the social fabric of the country, under its 4Es including Education, Eye Care, Environment and Empowerment.
The flagship ‘Adopt a Village’ initiative was launched in 2012, through which Canon India undertakes the task of overall development of the villages across North, East, West and South India for a certain period of time for the holistic development of the society. At present, Canon India has three more adopted villages presently under ‘Adopt a Village’, which includes Maheshwari in Haryana, Maharaja Katte Village in Bangalore and Sol Gohalia in Kolkata.
Adopted in 2015, Karanjoti became the 3rd village that was adopted by Canon India and since then, the organization has focused on the development of the village community consisting of 2160 beneficiaries, with a special focus on the holistic development of children in the village school.
Sharing his thoughts on the ‘Adopt a Village’ project, Kazutada Kobayashi, President and CEO, Canon India stated, ” At Canon, we strongly believe in bringing positive impact on society along with carrying our business operations in the country. It is a matter of pride to see our flagship ‘Adopt a Village’ project come a long way in its journey of bringing smiles in underprivileged communities. As these villages became second family to us at Canon, community development became core to each and every initiative that we undertook aided by active employee engagement. With our adopted village Karanjoti in Mumbai reaching a self-sustainable model, it gives me immense satisfaction to see significant improvements made in our core focus areas of Education, Environment, Eye Care and Empowerment.”
Elaborating on the adoption of new village, he further added, “Today, we are extremely delighted to begin a new chapter in our CSR endeavor with the adoption of Parivali Village. We are positive that we will be able to bring about even greater change in the community, empowering the villagers to grow in a better and sustainable environment. With the constant participation of employees and stakeholders, we will strive towards building a fruitful association with our new family in Parivali.”
Adopt a Village’s new journey with Parivali Village
As part of the immediate steps of improvement at the village school, Canon India seeks to implement a wide range of activities at the school and the village, under its four core focus areas, including Education, Eye Care, Environment and Empowerment.
Education would start with improving the infrastructure of the school building and renovating toilets ensuring basic health and hygiene. Further, a ‘Resource Center’ will be established with access to computer classes and e-learning for children
Eye Care would lead to the establishment of a ‘Vision Center’. With more than 1000 people above 60 years of age in the village, there is no eye care clinic in the village as of now. With Canon’s Vision center, the initiative will enable free of cost eye checkups for the villagers and children, under the supervision of an eye care specialist. The activities under the domain would also include health camps and health related awareness sessions
Environment activities would involve regular tree plantation drives, quarterly mass scale village cleanliness drives accompanied with environmental awareness which would be conducted with the involvement of Canon employees. Establishment of kitchen gardens, formation of common garbage pits and installation of solar panels would also be initiated.
Under Empowerment, digital education will be ensured for youth through a vocational computer center. To support self-sustainable living, skill development courses will also be introduced for identifies community members.
