Community Development

SDG 1: No poverty

Target 1.1: Eradicate extreme poverty

Target 1.2: Reduce by half people living in poverty

Nand Ghar has its genesis in the Government of India’s vision of eradicating child mal-nutrition, providing healthcare, and empowering women with skill development.

In India, ‘aanganwadis’ or day-care-centres form a critical resource for women in rural or low-income clusters to provide nutrition and early education for their young children. The country has nearly 1.4 million aanganwadis that support nearly 85 million children and 20 million women at any given point in time. However, given their wide geographical spread, often times they operate in sub-par conditions. Nand Ghar was envisioned as a proof-of-concept, where Vedanta would establish state-of-the art centers that provide e-learning opportunities, healthcare facilities, hygienic pre-cooked nutritious meals and a space for women to be provided vocation based skills training.

As of 31st March 2022, Vedanta has established more than 4,000 such centers across the states of Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. 100% of these centers are powered by solar-energy with nearly 1 MW of installed capacity.

E-learning programs have been developed by education experts and rolled out by UNICEF and the State education boards. The material has been designed for both smart-phone and feature-phone users. The program has used Interactive Voice Response Systems to ensure that feature-phone users do not miss out on the curriculum due to access challenges.

Nand Ghars today provide 44,000 children access to safe drinking water along with nutritious pre-cooked meals. The meals cater to local tastes and have been developed in accordance to the nutrition norms provided by the “Integrated Child Development Services” government programme. One of the ancillary outcomes of providing nutritious meals has been the improvement in school attendance. Mobile Health Van and a doctor-on-call provide healthcare services to the children, their mothers, and members of the community.

25,000 women are also enrolled in skills training programs and 3,000 of them have launched micro-enterprises, secured by INR 2 million in loans. They are also provided market linkages, financial literacy, business development and soft-skills training. The monthly income of these women from this program ranges between INR 5,000 – 10,000. The women have responded to the COVID 19 crisis by manufacturing >50,000 face masks.

A typical day for rural women in Meghwalo-ki-Basti in the Barmer district of Rajasthan begins early morning when they have to clean the house, cook the food, fetch fodder for the cattle, help in the fields and look after the children. Despite this packed schedule, Pavani, a young married woman with three children, found the time to attend Vedanta’s women’s empowerment programme that was held on alternate days a week for a period of three months.

Determined to supplement her husband’s meagre income of INR 9,000 a month, this young woman learnt how to build on her entrepreneurial abilities and became proficient in tailoring. With the help of a loan of INR 10,000 to be paid back in monthly instalments, Pavani bought a sewing machine and related materials. She learnt how to build on her entrepreneurial abilities through the programme and became proficient in tailoring.

Since hers is the only shop of its kind in the village, her average monthly income is INR 4,500. Today, Pavani’s success has inspired her sister Dhaneshwari, who also wants to start a tailoring business in her village. Being a role model for her community, Pavani was featured at WeTheWomen Asia series as a successful Nand Ghar Change agent.

Livelihood programs are central to the community development activities undertaken by Vedanta. As the largest private entity in many of the areas where we operate, community members look towards our organization to improve their economic circumstances.

Where possible, we have tried to integrate community members into our workforce or into our supplier network. For others, we have established robust, tested, livelihood programs to help individuals gain new skills, allowing them to add new or enhanced sources of income. Some success stories are given below:

The agriculture support program managed by the BALCO CSR team provides soil testing, fencing infrastructure, fertilizer and seed-based input support, and technical training programs. This intervention has motivated several farmers to adopt modern farming techniques such as System of Rice Intensification (SRI), which has doubled yields and enhanced incomes. Many farmers have also diversified their crops, further enhancing family incomes.

Self Help Groups (SHGs) are another way to empower women and enhance family incomes. Built on the community-loan model, SHGs help women entrepreneurs start their own micro-enterprises – either individually or in a group. Women who have participated in these programs have started tailoring units, farms, toy making, among other endeavors. These activities have not only supplemented their household incomes, but also empowered them to become independent members of society.

A third model involves the setting up of technical training centres, which teach individuals the skills to become part of the modern workforce. From call centre training provided by Cairn to the vocational training programs such as plumbing, electrician, machine operators, among others – these programs have allowed individuals to becoming primary wage earners for their families. HZL’s skill development programmes have a wide range of options to cater to each segment of youth from those who have attended secondary schooling to graduates, ITI & diploma-holders. Training partnerships with automobile companies such as Maruti Suzuki have provided participants with a two-year ITI degree along with a stipend.