Increasing Focus on Corporate Social Responsibility
Over time, increasing attention is being given to social development
within the Indian landscape. With the new Companies Bill coming into the
picture, Indian companies with certain financial standing will not only be
pressured to spend 2% of their net profit on CSR initiatives, but also increase
the transparency of what this money
is going towards. The current proposal by the government suggests that
companies with a profit of over Rs 5 crore, or turnover of Rs 1,000 crore,
should make every effort to spend a percentage of their profits on social
causes such as the eradication of poverty, education, health and vocational
skilling. Not satisfied with just the above, former finance minister Yashwant
Sinha has suggested this clause be made mandatory. However, even if not made
mandatory, with companies having to justify why they haven’t spent money on
CSR, one should soon see crores of rupees entering the development sector hence
giving rise to huge opportunities within the social sector space.
It felt like a visit
home to return to Pratham Ahmedabad in November 2012 after visiting the head
office two years ago. During this visit,
I went to an urban learning center in the Behrampura area of Ahmedabad with
Sherin Shabu from the Pratham Gujarat head office. When I visited, two classes were being taught
simultaneously. Chandrikaben was
teaching a grade 3 science class and Bhartiben was teaching a grade 2 Gujarati
vocabulary class.
During a
recent trip to India, I visited a Pratham urban learning center in the Santa
Cruz area of Mumbai. Before entering the learning center, I was greeted by
Yashaswini Kumar from the Pratham Mumbai head office. When we first entered,
she showed me a Balwadi (preschool) class where young children from age 3-6
were playing games in a lively manner. They were very adorable.
Afterwards, we went to see a library class where students were silently reading
different books. I had visited classes at a Pratham Ahmedabad urban
learning center just a few days earlier, so I did not spend as much time here.
The most interesting part of the visit for me was interviewing Bharti, who is
the central coordinator in charge of reporting to donors regarding the programs
in several urban learning centers. I interviewed her with questions about what
type of documentation is required for the urban learning centers. She
confirmed that the cost per urban learning center is a little less than $10,000
and was able to break down specific expenses. We went over the types of
classes held at the center, whether they charge students to attend classes, and
information that donors typically request. I was very impressed at their ability
to document whatever is requested for donors as well as the flexibility to fund
a learning center in a place requested by the donor such as one’s native town.
In terms of value for the money, Pratham’s programs are extremely cost
effective. Extensive use of volunteers and existing building
infrastructure helps reduce costs and make funding go farther. There is
an increasing focus on self sustainability of programs by charging fees to
attend an urban learning center which makes sure that the local community has a
stake in the program. I would strongly recommend that more people from
India or other countries visit a program and see for themselves the impact of
Pratham’s work.
In a country with over 29 states, over 600 Districts, and more than 350 million children, it is a monumental task to ensure that every child is literate, a task that government cannot accomplish alone. This thought gave birth to Pratham Education Foundation in 1994 with aim of providing pre-school education to children in the slums of Mumbai city. Since then, the organization has grown to become India's largest non-governmental organization to provide education to the underprivileged children in India. Today it is reaching to three million children annually in rural and urban areas across 23 states of the country.