Airtel 2014 Annual Report Download - page 48

Digital for all
Annual Report 2014-15
46
The three social pillars include:
1) Increasing digital footprint and bringing everyone
within the fold of digi-presence;
2) Applying Airtel’s existing platforms to the universe of
health, education and financial services to the weaker
sections of the society; and
3) Fostering community development through active
community service and engagement through Airtel’s
reach and accessibility in urban and rural India.
Airtel seeks to accomplish these objectives by:
Bridging the digital divide through its robust network
and far-reaching distribution.
Emerging with innovative business models like Airtel
Money, mHealth, mEducation to overcome sustainability
barriers.
Working towards expanding its bouquet of services and
enhancing its communication technologies.
Supporting the programmes, run by Bharti Foundation,
directed towards free education and vocational trainings
for the society’s economically marginalised sections.
Encouraging Social Development
Airtel engages with communities within its operational
area through the Bharti Foundation and its Satya Bharti
School Program. The programme helps impart free and
quality education to underprivileged sections in rural areas,
especially girls.
It encourages the participation of local communities in
base and around the area not only for improved results, but
also for the sector’s overall development. Through Bharti
Foundation, the Company provides opportunities to its
various stakeholders/beneficiaries to grow and learn in life
through the following:
Recruitment of school staff from neighbouring areas
Local youth recruited as teachers from local and
neighbouring communities
Teacher training programmes ensure that teacher’s
skills are updated and constantly enhanced
Community members, especially mothers, are
selected as mid-day meal vendors. These vendors
also provide a ‘Didi’ (maid) to the school
Airtel circles have taken the community engagement and
community volunteering initiatives to the next level, by
actively supporting the needs of the community, be it disaster
relief, green-movement or social equity.
Financial Contribution towards Community
Development
During FY 2014-15, Bharti Airtel made significant
contributions towards various philanthropic projects, which
include:
` 411 Mn
Bharti Foundation towards furtherance of its
objectives
` 41.52 Mn
Other Contributions
Measuring Social Impact
The impact of Bharti Airtel’s social initiatives has been
assessed both internally, as well as through third party
evaluation.
Community involvement, participation and their sustained
support towards the Satya Bharti Schools have been a key
component of the programme since its inception. Bharti
Foundation ensures adoption of its various initiatives through
following ways:
School’s connect with the community
Regular home visits by teachers
Structured parent-teacher meetings
Community development campaigns
Community connecting schools with local culture
Community Volunteering Week
Teaching children history, traditions, art and craft
Community participation in school events
A structured impact assessment study was conducted by a
third party to assess the Satya Bharti School Program. Fifteen
Satya Bharti Schools across Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan
were compared to 15 other schools (from villages which do
not fall in the catchment area of a Satya Bharti School). This
was to ascertain the impact of the programme on children,
parents, communities and teachers.
Bharti Airtel, while contributing to the larger National Mission of ‘Swachh Bharat’, is enthusiastically supporting the
‘Satya Bharti Abhiyan’, an initiative by Bharti Foundation in rural Ludhiana. The programme involves investment of upto
` 1,000 Mn in constructing toilets while reaching out to every rural household lacking such facilities in Ludhiana District.
Apart from the rural household sanitation, through the ‘Satya Bharti Abhiyan’, Airtel aims to improve the sanitation
facilities in Government schools in rural Ludhiana by constructing new toilets for girls, where none exist.