India CSR News Network
MUMBAI: Voltas Water was the proud sector roundtable support partner at the National CSR conclave 2016 jointly organized by IICA & Sattva at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), Mumbai on June 26, 2016.
This CSR Conclave, being the first of its kind, brought together CSR heads from some of the leading corporations of India, non-profit leaders and business heads to discuss potential meaningful ways to build value through strategic investments, partnerships and implementation in CSR. The focus of the conclave was to ideate and discuss how businesses can collaborate for growth with social impact and can collectively chart the course for effective CSR in India.
The session on healthcare, with the theme – achieving better health outcomes through CSR, was supported by Voltas Water. Voltas Waterhaving been established to serve the ever-growing need for water treatment in India, focuses on providing smart water treatment solutions for sustainable water management. The theme of the National CSR conclave resonated with Voltas Water’s mission of being partners in the improvement of health and hygiene in society and thus the conclave proved to be the right platform for Voltas Water to showcase their support for community welfare. The conclave provided a refreshing amalgamation of perspectives from the corporate and the non-profit sector representatives, wherein collaborative contribution to the social ecosystem was identified as the way forward for CSR in the new-age India.
Responsible corporate contributions will result only when sustainable community based models of development are fostered through CSR. It is along these lines that Voltas Water launched its Water ATM initiative, focusing on providing a convenient and inexpensive source of safe potable water to rural communities.
Voltas Water’s Design Lead, Vishal Pandey, elaborated at the National CSR Conclave’s Healthcare Session, how the Water ATM model encouraged two types of sustainable CSR practices. The corporates can either engage in direct implementation of the ATM or by engaging in a collaborative tripartite model of implementation. In the direct installation model the corporate can either adopt a community or a village and thereby funding, installing and operating the ATM in that community or it may choose to create village level entrepreneurs (VLEs) who facilitate the operation of the ATM in their community.
The latter initiative not only satisfies the water management needs of the community, but also creates a self-sustaining, self-reliant community empowered with employment opportunities. The tripartite model involves collaboration by a corporate entity – the funding and implementation partner, a non-profit organization working in close affiliation with the community – the operational and liaison partner and Voltas Water – the technology partner; to enable the community with the water ATMs.
Pandey also highlighted examples of communities in states of Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, where the ATM concepts have been successfully implemented as a part of CSR initiative by corporate entities in collaboration with Voltas Water and how the concept has transformed those villages. This collaborative effort has better facilitated growth and development of the concerned communities via strategic partnerships among businesses and non-profit organizations.
The National CSR Conclave 2016 forum not only stood witness to the changing CSR orientations of companies seeking green, community-oriented solutions for sustainable community development in the health and sanitation segment, but also paved way for collaborations between such companies and strategic partners like Voltas Water, providing such smart solutions.
