Can CSR Projects Empower Lives Than Just Give Charity?

In my last article 'Can CSR Based Skills Training Initiatives Make a Difference in Livelihood Creation?' I had highlighted the vital importance of Skills Training in India, where only 2.3% of the workforce has undergone formal skill training as compared to 68% in the UK, 75% in Germany, 52% in USA and 96% in South Korea. With the example of the Taj Hotels initiatives in the hospitality industry, I elaborated on the opportunity and impact that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Based Skills Training Initiatives can have on Livelihood Creation.

Challenges in Skills Training For Rural Youth

However, no project is without its challenges. Taj’s livelihood initiative was no different. There were four major challenges that the team faced while executing the project:

First was the attraction of the daily wage schemes. The draw of instant money on a daily basis for doing casual work created a strong deterrence for working in a skilled job with a monthly salary. The former required no discipline, the latter demanded a lot of professionalism.

The second challenge was lack of proficiency in spoken English. In the hospitality industry, with international guests forming the majority, English is a very important component of success. While rural schools taught English, it was limited to the slate and blackboard variety. The language never graduated from the head to the lips. This made them diffident and created a glass ceiling they could rarely cross. The three-month training provided by Taj was helpful but inadequate to help them master the language.

The third challenge was the lack of ambition. No one talked of careers in villages. Even the Sarpanch (village head) had no clue of opportunities beyond government jobs.

The last and most important challenge was the lack of importance given to the girl child. The moment the father got an opportunity to marry her off, he would do so simply to avoid social pressure. This problem was noticed predominantly in North India. The girls who found the courage to step out of their homes to join the programmes faced not only social ridicule but also demeaning comments from within the family. The Taj Team was not in a position to handle this deep-rooted social problem. Sustained efforts at the national level were the only solution.

In this context, the ‘Beti Bachao-Beti Badhao’ Programme of the Narendra Modi-led Government can be considered an important step in creating awareness about the role of girls’ education and empowerment. It was launched in January 2015 with an initial corpus of Rs 100 crore by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, this programme literally meaning ‘Save the girl child, educate the girl child’, is a Government of India scheme aimed at generating awareness and improving the efficiency of women’s welfare services.

Image Courtesy: india.gov.in

Hope for Young India: The Stories of Mangala and Kishore

Every cloud has a silver lining. For scores unable to handle aforementioned challenges, there were dozens who faced them and emerged victorious. One of the examples is that of Mangala, the first girl to join the Taj skills training programme at Aurangabad in 2009. Till then, no girl had ever left the village she hailed from. She was the first one, and faced resistance when she did. She joined the course because she didn’t have money, and her parents were in debt. Post training, she began working with the Taj. When she first joined, her monthly salary was Rs 4500. She emerged as a hardworking person and was quickly confirmed in her job and went onto receive a monthly salary of Rs 10,000. With her savings, she was able to pay back all her parents’ loans, and eventually became the pride of her village.

The other story is of Kishore from a remote village near Kolhapur. He couldn’t speak a word of English, but soon realized the opportunities if he picked up the language. Through sheer hard work, he learnt the language and finally landed himself a job in the Taj at Goa. With this success, his hopes soared higher. His hard work was rewarded and in a short time he became a supervisor. From the initial Rs 10,000, his salary doubled. From the average monthly household income of Rs 2000, Kishore had managed to earn ten times that amount within a couple of years. Without the skills training, he would have remained in the village doing odd-jobs. Now his destiny was in his own hands, and sky was the limit.

Image: The Taj Exotica Goa

Hundreds of Mangalas and Kishores have their own unique story to share. They represent a young, resurgent and aspirational India. All they need is a helping hand. Companies such as Taj had taken the first step in the right direction.

A Life of Respect… For Prostitutes

There is an example of a different genre that we need to look at—a category of human beings whose lives become hell because of circumstances and the vicious desires of a handful. They lead a spiteful and undignified existence in a ‘profession’ called prostitution. In 2006, in Goa, the tourist hotspot of India, a renowned NGO, Anyay Rahit Zindagi (Arz), started Swift Wash (SW), a laundry aimed at being a non-shelter alternative economic programme for rehabilitated female sex-workers from Baina beach, Goa’s notorious red-light area that was partially demolished in 2004. Aware of Tata Group’s social focus, Arz approached Taj hotels in Goa to provide training and support for operationalizing SW.

The Taj Corporate Sustainability Team visited and assessed its potential. The initiative was not without challenges. They had inefficient infrastructure, and zero capacity to deliver quality output at scale. Though laundry services for room linen, staff uniform, spa dresses, and others, form a major requirement for any hotel, the question was whether SW could match Taj standards. So even without considering it as a service provider, the Taj Team planned an integrated training programme for technical and soft skills. For ten months, Taj volunteers worked with the Arz Team to build capacity among women.

Image: The Swift Wash Team at ARZ, Goa

Finally, in 2007, they gave the first order for 25 per cent of Taj’s spa linen. Unfortunately, the output was not up to standards. However, Foram Nagori, now Corporate Director of CSR at IHCL, and the Taj staff, did not lose hope. They continued to provide mentoring. Usually Taj is not soft with vendors for quality issues. However, in this case, they considered it as a commitment to the community. Eventually, through hard work and a zeal to emerge victorious, SW was able to win orders for 100 per cent of Taj’s Spa linen. The quality and quantity of work had made the relationship financially sustainable.

Remarkably, Taj did not take the charity route to support Arz’s social focus. It paid SW the market rate for its laundry services. Of course, through its year-long training and mentoring efforts, it had compensated many times more by building competitive capacity in the beneficiaries who, in their own words, were now able to earn a living with respect. Their kids knew them as working mothers, with jobs in a company. The women now looked forward to a dignified life with their children and grandchildren. In 2016, when SW completed a decade, Arz released ‘Beautiful Women—Despair to Dignity’, a compilation of life-transforming experiences of its women. The other jubilant feature of the decennial celebrations was their expanded network of clients that included dozens of companies, hospitals, and educational establishments. And yes, Taj hotels continued to be one among them…

Image: Director of ARZ receiving the 'Stree Shakti Puraskar' from President Mukherjee (2014)

In all the examples that I have quoted in the last two articles, the element of charity or philanthropy was hardly visible. The efforts made by the company were to empower the target group such that they can equip themselves with skills and live a life of dignity and independence for themselves and their families. With their time, talent and resources, I believe that corporations can play this role and catalyze the lives of the under-privileged men and women - that would be true Corporate Social Responsibility.

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