Dell Technologies has partnered with Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog to help millions of children to develop their social innovation skills. The company is also up-skilling the workforce of tomorrow through our employability skills program. In addition, it plans to address the scarcity of teachers in approximately 1.5 million institutes across India.
In an interview with Apresh Mishra, Company’s CSR Head for APJ, Archana Sahay talks about the company’s CSR philosophy, programmes and Covid19 related interventions. Excerpts:
Can you tell us about Dell’s CSR philosophy and agenda?
Dell Technologies believes in going beyond the companies’ profit-making objectives to make an impact in the lives of individuals. Our CSR commitment is to promote education, healthcare and economic growth, by creating the best livelihood for people. Dell uses its technology capabilities to enhance value creation in the society and the community in which it operates. Right now, we are dedicated and focusing to promote education and enable the youth with technology to prepare them for the workforce 2030.
What are your global priorities and interventions?
Dell Technologies, at the beginning of the year, announced moonshot goals that will propel the company’s social impact worldwide, aiming to impact 1 Billion lives by 2030. Over the past decade, Dell Technologies has increasingly focused on ‘Youth Learning’ programs. We are committed to empower and train our youth in skills required for the future.
Can you tell us more about your India Specific programmes?
In India, our initiatives are aligned towards encouraging more women and girls in STEM fields. We have \ launched focused programs and increased our support for skilling girls to create, tinker, sustain and innovate. Additionally, our 75% of India workforce is engaged in employee engagement programs aiming at our Dell Social Impact Vision for 2030.
We are focused on Education sector right now and we have divided our initiatives into two categories – initiatives to prepare young minds/youth for future and programs focusing on the development of children by introducing them to Social Innovation opportunities
We leverage technology to empower students to craft their own experiences. The key is connecting technology to those who need it the most. Human resilience can beat the odds of every challenge while converting the same into opportunity, and this is what our association with Government of India resonates.
We have developed a Gaming solution that will encourage the younger generation to disrupt technologies and develop gaming skills. The solution will be deployed in all 5000+ ATL schools across the country.
We are also up-skilling the workforce of tomorrow through our employability skills program. We have partnered with various skilling organizations to develop and implement the next generation technology skills that will help our youngsters be well prepared for tomorrow’s future.
Dell is providing technical support for nationwide prevention, control, screening, and management of non-communicable diseases, we have aligned this program with the Ayushman Bharat program proposed by the Government of India.
Dell is the technology partner to the Ministry of Family Health and Welfare (MOHFW) for the Ayushman Bharat Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) program and has developed a technology platform that is being used across 21 states. The Dell team is enhancing the NCD software system with a module for Covid19 Risk Assessment and monitoring of NCD patients
As education is your core focus area, what are the initiatives you have undertaken?
Our continued partnership with Atal Tinkering Labs, NITI Aayog has enabled us to reach millions of children to develop their social innovation skills through various programs.
As I told you earlier, We have collaborated with various up-skilling institutions to develop and implement the next generation technology skills. The partnership is aimed at promoting a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the country, thus empowering youth.
In addition, we plan to address the scarcity of teachers in approximately 1.5 million institutes across India. The current situation has reinforced our shared belief in the public-private partnership model.
Championing the thought of girl-led innovation and fueling their thirst for learning new things, we have launched SheCodes Innovation Challenge in collaboration with AIM; a countrywide challenge that will cut across all lingual, geographical and cultural divide. The challenge aims to encourage girls to tinker, create, sustain and innovate. The program is aligned with the countrywide Tinkering Challenge rolled out by Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog
In the year 2016, Government of India’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog partnered with Dell Technologies to adopt Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) in select Government schools across India. The partnership resulted in adopting more than 146 ATLs across the country impacting 1.5 lakhs students and over 1500 teachers.
The success of our Student Entrepreneurship Program launched in 2019 led us to introduce Student Entrepreneurship Program 2.0 recently and we are ready to witness the culture of entrepreneurial innovation is set to witness powerful changes. We also launched a Gaming Platform as a Tinker from Home (TFH) initiative and saw entries from 1080 school across India. Till date, this initiative has impacted more than 0.9 million students and 5000+ educators across India.
What do you think of the Covi19 pandemic? Please tell us about relief works undertaken by you.
As a nation we are facing one of the most difficult times of our lives due to the Covid outbreak. While, its of utmost importance to focus on providing immediate relief through Healthcare related programs, interventions through Education and other sectors need to continue to carry forward our progress as much as possible to enable societal development. India Inc has been quick to react and the Government’s policy towards considering Covid spend as CSR spend has enabled more corporates to get involved and join hands with NGOs, Civil society, and Government bodies to implement relief programs.
Through our partnership with Invest India – a national investment promotion and facilitation agency of NITI Aayog, we are contributing INR 3 crore to provide Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers
Dell rendered help to those in need including frontline workers, migrant wagers, HIV affected children and even stray animals. More than 75,000 certified PPE kits, hygiene kits, sanitizers and infrared thermometers were distributed across the country to hospitals, state governments and police departments. Additionally, 55,000 masks were also distributed to daily wagers, sanitization workers and migrant workers across India.
Our cumulative efforts have ensured food supplies for more than 45,000 migrant workers/ daily wagers. Groceries were provided to nearly 12,000 families of daily wage earners, widows, migrant workers and sanitation workers across India. Food packets were also provided for stray animals. We also supported over 300 rural women artisans to earn their livelihood with dignity.
Our partner organization innovatively leveraged their online learning solution, MyShaala, to create profiles of 1.2 million residents of rural areas in the state of Karnataka, to manage the outbreak and used it as a tool for disbursement of medical supplies.
Your views on National Education Policy and smart learning
The education sector is at a pivotal moment and we are in the middle of a significant shift in the educational model in India. The new education policy is focusing on recognizing, identifying and fostering the unique capabilities of students in India and that resonates with our objectives at Dell Technologies as well.
