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Tag: #SustainabilityWithNGOs

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CSR Partners In Change Partnerships Smile

Social Impact & CSR-driven NGO Initiatives: What Drives Change?

Social Impact vs. CSR-Driven Initiatives: What Truly Drives Change?
Social Impact vs. CSR-Driven Initiatives: What Truly Drives Change?

In a podcast by Seeding Labs, industry leaders explored the evolving landscape of social development goals, highlighting how corporate engagement has become a powerful force for social change. Today, corporate commitment to social development is a responsibility and a practice that most companies have embraced.  While some may choose to contribute to social causes through internal initiatives, others contribute through CSR driven NGO initiatives and solutions that can help in achieving social development goals.

Corporate Social Partnerships for Positive Action

The Nudge Institute, Mr. Arun Maira, former Planning Commission member, advocated for a holistic approach to village development. He stressed the importance of adopting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in their entirety, rather than focusing on individual themes, to realise the vision of Viksit Gaon, Viksit Bharat. This initiative aims to uplift underserved communities through collective efforts in education, healthcare, livelihoods, women’s empowerment and community building, ensuring that no one is left behind.

Mr. Maira’s opinion highlights that in today’s interconnected world, social development is a shared goal that requires collective action for lasting change. The debate between classifying companies as “social impact” organisations or those engaged in corporate social partnerships misses the larger picture of social progress. 

While contributions towards social causes and CSR-driven NGO initiatives are valuable, they are most impactful when companies work alongside diverse community stakeholders. True social impact emerges from long-term collaboration, where all sectors align their efforts toward sustainable growth. By focusing on holistic social development, businesses, NGOs and governments can achieve more than isolated successes.

The Role of the Social Stock Exchange

In an article published in The Times of India, Dr. Agyeya Tripathi highlighted the potential of the Social Stock Exchange (SSE) in India to drive impact investing. By providing a platform for businesses focused on social and environmental outcomes, the SSE offers access to ethical investors and promotes transparency in social impact reporting. This initiative encourages companies to integrate social responsibility into their core business strategies, ultimately transforming how CSR is perceived and practiced. As more businesses align their goals with sustainable development, the SSE could become a pivotal driver of long-term social change.

CSR Strategies Driving SDG Achievement

One clear truth has emerged: the sustainable development of a nation cannot be achieved through isolated efforts. Social stakeholders must collaborate to go beyond philanthropic actions and engage collectively in the process of positive change. Through CSR driven initiatives, companies can implement tailored CSR strategies that focus on:

  • Collaborative Investment for Sustainable Development

To accelerate the achievement of the SDGs, corporates must partner with NGOs to invest in mechanisms that ensure underserved communities benefit from these goals. By leveraging innovative technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence, businesses and social stakeholders can adopt more efficient strategies for sustainable growth, ensuring that SDGs are met for all.

  • Enhancing Transparency through Technology

Corporates, in partnership with NGOs, can significantly amplify the impact of CSR initiatives by advancing the use of technology and ensuring access to reliable data. Effective deployment of information technology in sectors like clean energy, healthcare and education will support sustainable development, improve transparency and foster long-term societal progress.

Life-Cycle Approach for Social Impact

The Life-Cycle Approach adopted by Smile Foundation is dedicated to empowering underserved children and communities across India, ensuring access to quality education, healthcare, livelihood training and comprehensive women’s empowerment.

Key initiatives such as Mission Education focus on enhancing foundational language, numeracy and STEAM skills, aligning with the National Education Policy to equip children for future success. Smile On Wheels (SOWs) provides mobile medical services, including outpatient consultations, diagnostic tests and free medications, improving healthcare access in remote areas.

The Swabhiman program addresses maternal, menstrual and neonatal health, ensuring better reproductive care. Additionally, initiatives like STeP and Swabhiman offer vocational training, equipping youth and women with skills to boost employability, foster entrepreneurship and encourage economic independence.

Corporate Partnerships for Social Impact with Smile Foundation

Our Life-Cycle Approach has proven effective in addressing systemic challenges such as poverty, inequality and lack of access to essential services. This year alone, over 1.5 million children and their communities have benefited from our grassroots initiatives, as we continue to work alongside like-minded partners to create lasting, positive social impact.

We invite corporates to join us in this journey, aligning CSR efforts with a shared vision to uplift communities and contribute to sustainable social change. Together, we can make a real difference and create lasting impact for all.

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CSR Education Health Livelihood Skill Development Smile

Achieving 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030- How?

17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 can be achieved collectively and by collective efforts

Sustainable Development Goals are no longer an unknown term, and the world is aiming to achieve these 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 for the welfare of every individual regardless of their socio-economic status. Adopted by the United Nations in 2015, the SDGs have become a well-recognised framework for global development. These goals, encompassing 17 objectives and 169 targets, are designed to ensure everyone can live with dignity. 

They address a broad range of issues including poverty alleviation, quality education, gender equality, clean water and climate action, while also focusing on health, economic growth, sustainable cities, responsible consumption and justice. 

Therefore, as we approach 2030, it is important to evaluate our progress toward achieving the SDGs and identify strategies to accelerate our efforts. The aim must be to fully realise these goals across India, ensuring that every individual benefits from each SDGs.

Separate or Combined Goals?

Each Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) is crafted to support and enhance the others, emphasising the strength of their interconnectedness. The first goal, “No Poverty,” sets the foundation for the remaining 16 goals, aiming to eradicate hunger, ensure access to quality education, healthcare, clean water and sanitation, and promote a healthier environment both on land and in water.

Additionally, the SDGs focus on providing underserved communities with equal financial opportunities and encourage nations to foster decent work and economic growth through industry development and technological innovation. The ultimate aim is to eliminate inequalities across all areas of life, ensuring that no one is left behind. This approach drives us toward an egalitarian world with sustainable communities that practise responsible resource management and support each other’s holistic development.

Collective Efforts for Sustainable Development Goals by 2030

Recently, during Charcha, India’s Largest Collaborative Convening held by The Nudge Institute, Mr Arun Maira, a former member of the Planning Commission of India, highlighted that to develop holistically, India needs to revisit its village development model by adopting the Sustainable Development Goals collectively and not just by focussing on particular themes, if we truly wish to achieve “Viksit Gaon, Viksit Bharat” in its truest essence.

To ensure that no one is left behind, Viksit Gaon and Viksit Bharat must support underserved communities in India through simultaneous and collective efforts in accessing and embracing quality education, healthcare, livelihood training, women’s empowerment and community building.. 

But how? These parameters can be a guiding light for all those involved in the realm of sustainable development- 

  • United Strategic Partnerships 

Over the years, strategic partnerships between government initiatives and social stakeholders, including corporates and social development organisations, have consistently driven greater positive transformations than single entities acting alone. SDG 17 emphasises the crucial role of these collaborations, highlighting that achieving the SDGs and their interconnectedness requires collective efforts towards shared objectives.

  • Financing (SDGs) Sustainable Development Goals 

To keep the momentum of implementing the sustainable development goals, it is imperative that the state continues investing in mechanisms that help in equipping underserved communities with the benefits of the SDGs. By implementing new techniques and technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, the state and social stakeholders can collectively adopt newer ways of speeding up and achieving the sustainable development goals for all.

  • Transparency with Technology

Advancing and spreading new technologies, alongside gathering high-quality, timely and reliable data, are crucial for implementing the SDGs. Enhancing access to technology and boosting capabilities for technological development are essential. It is also vital to utilise the most effective information technology tools and resources across sectors such as clean energy, health and information.

Smile & 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030

Before the globe committed towards Sustainable Development Goals, the approach was focussing only on Millenium Development Goals, with a focus only on developing countries. However, this approach had to be changed as collective development became more of the need of the hour rather than selective empowerment.

In this context, Smile Foundation is dedicated to supporting underserved communities in India through our LifeCycle Approach. This strategy ensures that disadvantaged children and their communities benefit from quality education, accessible and free healthcare, livelihood training for improved employment prospects and comprehensive women’s empowerment, including reproductive healthcare and financial independence. Additionally, we strengthen grassroots organisations to foster community development and break the cycle of generational economic stagnation.

Our LifeCycle approach has enabled us to empower underserved children and families across India, impacting over 1.5 million individuals in 2,000 villages across 25 states annually.

Our flagship programs, including Mission Education, align with the National Education Policy to enhance foundational language, numerical skills (FLN) and STEAM education, providing a strong base for children’s future success. In healthcare, Smile On Wheels (SOWs) offers comprehensive mobile medical services, including OPD facilities, diagnostic tests and free medications, while the Swabhiman programme focuses on maternal, menstrual and neonatal health.

Furthermore, initiatives like STeP and Swabhiman empower youth and women through vocational training, boosting employability and entrepreneurship. This holistic support approach drives economic independence and societal upliftment.

Dedicated to supporting government initiatives for underserved communities in India, Smile Foundation actively incorporates the 17 Sustainable Development Goals into our programmes through our comprehensive LifeCycle approach. We work strategically to address every SDG theme in collaboration with government and corporate partners. We focus on creating significant impacts, building resilience and advancing sustainable development and community strengthening nationwide, working towards the idea that no one is left behind.

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Smile

Building sustainability into NGO initiatives

Building sustainability into NGO initiatives
Building sustainability into NGO initiatives

It is said that innovation and invention are the children of necessity. But how often have we noticed that inventions always give birth to new challenges in the ever-evolving landscape? Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) work hand-in-hand with the government in tackling the issues, be they economic, environmental, or social. Their role becomes vital since, most of the time, they come up with a solution or another in resolving the issues.

One can certainly not question their effectiveness, and many times they end up making visible short-term impacts. The actual struggle for NGOs is ensuring long-term impact and resilience. No longer building sustainability into NGO initiatives is a choice. In recent times, it has become an essential and fundamental necessity to create enduring positive changes in society.

Understanding sustainability

According to the Cambridge dictionary, sustainability is the quality of being able to continue over a period of time. In detail, it is the ability to meet present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs independently. In simple terms, it is nothing but the ability to maintain a process continuously in the long run without compromising on natural or physical resources.

To build sustainability, one needs to encompass a wide set of concepts and practices. These practices should aim at both maintaining and improving the health and stability of the environment, economy, and society in the long run. It is usually explained with the concept of Triple Bottom Line (TBL), which encompasses three core dimensions – environmental (planet), social (people), and economic (revenue) sustainability. 

To build environmental sustainability, one needs to ensure that natural resources are used in such a way that they can be replenished and support both the ecosystem and human needs. Individuals need to ensure that people have access to basic needs and opportunities to attain social sustainability. The third and important thing to remember is building economic sustainability by developing economic systems that provide prosperity even while ensuring endurable stability and resilience. One needs to be cautious enough not to deplete resources or create disparities in communities while trying to attain economic growth.

The goal is to achieve a balance where each of these three dimensions is addressed harmoniously, leading to overall sustainable development. Only then can one ensure long-term visibility in the projects that they take up and also protect the environment, ensure economic stability, and promote equality in society. Only by ensuring sustainability can one keep the project alive in the long run.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

In 2015, the United Nations set a set of 17 global objectives as the sustainable development goals as a part of its 2040 agenda for sustainable development. Following the visible success of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), including improving global health and reducing extreme poverty, the UN developed the SDGs both to address MDG shortcomings and to include broader integrated goals. These goals were aimed at addressing a broad spectrum of complex global issues. It is designed in such a way to guide international efforts to create an equitable, sustainable, and resilient world for all.

The SDGs provide a clear and actionable framework for governments, individuals, and organisations to follow while trying to tackle one of the global issues. The SDGs offer targets and indicators to measure progress, ensuring accountability apart from providing a roadmap for implementation. Some of the SDGs are no poverty, zero hunger, quality education, gender equality, affordable and clean energy, reducing inequality, and good health and well-being.

Strategies for building sustainability

Now that we know what sustainability is and how important it is to integrate sustainability into projects, we should also figure out how to integrate sustainability. There are a few key strategies for integrating sustainability in all the projects that NGOs take up so as to ensure that they remain alive for a long time.

Goal setting

NGOs should do a detailed field study that covers multiple aspects before attempting to find a solution for one of the existing issues. It is always wiser to use the local language of the community not just to get acquittal with the people but also to understand their requirements clearly. Setting measurable and achievable goals is important. But understanding the pressing demand of the community before setting goals is even more important. Only then will the goal remain sustainable. It is always better if the goals are set in collaboration with the people from the community. Making use of the local resources and local language has become a must while taking up initiatives.

Strategic planning

To achieve those goals, strategic and detailed planning is a must. NGOs should also consider cultural, social, religious, and gender aspects of the community while making plans. Without a proper plan and attainable goal, the project might either have no kick-off or become fragile. Organisations can use various frameworks, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, to guide their moves and broaden their knowledge on issues.

Community engagement

For an initiative to be effective, relevant, and long-lasting, it should need at least minimum support and involvement from the community. Only by engaging with people, a volunteer organisation can gain insight into the specific needs, priorities, and cultural contexts of that particular community. It will come in handy in the long run to tailor the initiatives based on their requirements. Thereby, it reduces the risk of being irrelevant or ineffective. When people are actively involved in the planning and implementation of initiatives, they tend to feel a sense of ownership and responsibility. It in turn helps in integrating sustainability into projects. Not just that, community engagement will also strengthen the trust between the organisation and the community, facilitate adaptation and resilience, provide accountability and transparency, and promote inclusivity and equity.

Partnerships and collaborations

Collaborating with government, businesses, or other organisations is equally important, mainly because of their ability to enhance effectiveness, amplify the reach and impact, and leverage resources. At times, it will also help us gain additional funding sources in terms of grants, donations, or even investments. Roping in different partners into an initiative means bringing in diversified experts and skills. For instance, by collaborating with a tech company, an NGO can get access to innovative and modernised equipment. Collaborative environments will not just let you share resources, including manpower and infrastructure, but also help you to generate creative solutions to complex problems.

Monitoring and evaluation

Continuous monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the projects are basic to integrating sustainability. Not just that, they also need to assess the outcomes and impact on the community. For which, NGOs should develop robust systems to track progress, measure outcomes, and even identify areas for improvement. With the help of the obtained data, the NGOs can tune their strategies to address emerging challenges even as they ensure that initiatives are relevant and effective.

Integrating sustainability into NGOs initiatives is one of the best ways to create long-lasting impact in the community. So, no longer it is an option for the organisations to dwell upon the idea of building sustainability. It has become the basic necessity to achieve meaningful impact. The notion to address immediate needs and to contribute to long-term positive change should begin from the beginning. For which, strategies to build sustainability should be incorporated right from the planning stage. As NGOs continue to tackle the world’s most pressing challenges, a commitment to sustainability will be essential in driving effective, thriving and transformative solutions.

What about Smile Foundation integrating SDGs into its work areas?

The areas that Smile Foundation works on align closely with several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations. Here’s how each area contributes to specific SDGs:

Education

SDG 4: Quality Education

Smile Foundation’s focus on providing quality education to children from low-income families directly supports this goal. By ensuring inclusive and equitable education, the foundation is helping to promote lifelong learning opportunities for all through its Mission Education programme.

Health

SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being

The healthcare services provided by Smile Foundation align with this goal, which aims to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for people of all ages. Our health initiatives like Smile on Wheels, telemedicine, dental care, health camps etc. contribute to reducing mortality rates, improving maternal and child health, and combating diseases.

Women Empowerment

SDG 5: Gender Equality

Our women empowerment programme Swabhiman are in line with SDG 5, which seeks to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. By promoting equal opportunities and financial independence for women, Smile Foundation supports this goal.

Skilling (STeP: Smile Twin e-Learning Programme)

SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

The skilling and livelihood programe STeP contributes to this goal by promoting sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all. By equipping youth with vocational skills, Smile Foundation is helping to reduce youth unemployment and foster economic opportunities.

These areas collectively support a broader agenda of sustainable development, ensuring that low-income communities have the resources, opportunities, and support they need to thrive.

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