On World Youth Skills Day, Ms. Manjushree, IAS – the Mission Director, National Livelihood Mission in Karnataka initiated the Code Unnati’s registration drive for women participants from the grassroots to undergo various interventions. This includes continuous experiential training to build enterprise awareness, a development program imparting basic enterprise planning, and Community Cadres (Unnati Sakhi’s) mentorship and handholding support.

One of the major objectives of this initiative which is called Code Unnati is to impart digital literacy to women and youth from rural Karnataka. Digital literacy is one of the key 21st-century skills required to improve their employability. Owing to disruptions in offline learning, the project learning modules were digitalized to provide timely guidance to participants.

Code Unnati engages with academia, government institutions at the state and district level, incubation centers, civil societies, and other bodies to create a sustainable impact. Through the following initiatives the project will reach over 20,000 youth and 5,000 women in Bangalore Rural, Raichur, and Dakshin Kannada districts over the next three years:

• Imparting digital literacy, entrepreneurial skills, and digital financial education for women and youth 
• Connecting youth with government incubation centers and providing them with opportunities to participate in design thinking workshops, innovation challenges, and boot camps
• Women would be supported through community-level mentorship and handholding support to start or scale their micro-enterprises. The project will raise awareness about various vocations, industry and professional linkages, and employee volunteering.

More than 300 women are expected to initiate their own businesses in three years and enhance their income by an anticipated 10 percent within 18 months of the program’s initiation. Karnataka has been at the forefront of creating digital opportunities while nurturing one of the country’s most mature IT and start-up ecosystems. This initiative is further working towards strengthening the enabling ecosystem with a focus on skilling. 

It will also provide 15,000 students with 21st-century skills training coupled with Entrepreneurship Development Programmes in the target districts. These students will have opportunities to attend design thinking workshops, demos, digital skills championships leading to scholarships and employment opportunities. SAP will lead directly lead the strategic mentorship for all the initiatives.

Sindhu Gangadharan, SVP, and Managing Director, SAP Labs India, said, “Technology has enabled everyone to stay connected, especially during the pandemic. The demand for digital skills will increase and a plethora of entrepreneurial opportunities will emerge. Our mission of making the world run better and improving people’s lives well aligns with UNDP’s global goals. We are happy to see ourselves in the role of equipping women and youth in Karnataka to make them future-ready, and thus ensuring diversity and inclusion.”

Ms Nadia Rasheed, Deputy Resident Representative, UNDP India, said, “The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened many existing inequalities. Empowering women and youth to access sustainable livelihood opportunities is critical to ensuring an inclusive and sustainable recovery. With the Government of Karnataka and SAP, we intend to leverage our collective strengths to expand opportunities for young people and women and to help make communities more resilient.”

About SAP

SAP‘s strategy is to help every business run as an intelligent enterprise. As the market leader in enterprise application software, we help companies of all sizes and industries run at their best: 77% of the world’s transaction revenue touches a SAP® system. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers’ businesses into intelligent enterprises. SAP helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition. We simplify technology for companies so they can consume our software the way they want – without disruption. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables more than 440,000 business and public customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, SAP helps the world run better and improve people’s lives.

About UNDP

UNDP works across 170 countries and territories to eradicate poverty while protecting the planet. We help countries develop strong policies, skills, partnerships, and institutions to sustain their progress. UNDP has worked in India since 1951 in almost all areas of human development, from systems strengthening to inclusive growth and sustainable livelihoods and sustainable energy, environment, and resilience. UNDP’s programs continue to integrate a global vision for catalytic change with India’s national priorities. With over 30 projects on the ground in almost every state, today, it works to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by transforming traditional models to do development differently.

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Yuvraj Bhardwaj, Chief Executive Officer, Petonic Infotech said, “Petonic Infotech is partnering with different NGOs from United States and India for COVID relief in India. In this initiative Petonic Infotech has mobilized approximately 2 Crore INR, for COVID relief for the society as of now & also pushing for more. The major intent of this initiative is to procure Oxygen Concentrators & other goods required to fulfil the oxygen requirements in rural parts of India.”

“Different societies and multinationals are also supposed to join the initiative to make this a grand success, and help our country to successfully come out of this pandemic with least fatality. Other than this, Petonic Infotech is also engaged in running different ‘Free of Cost’ helplines for people to consult Doctors telephonically and get themselves treated,” Bhardwaj added.

Mr Yuvraj Bhardwaj is ably supported by his twin brother Yashraj Bhardwaj to take strategic decisions and initiatives in playing a meaningful role amidst the ongoing COVID crisis that India is going through. The brothers have been researchers, ideators and entrepreneurs who started their entrepreneur journey at a very young age. Since then, they had undertaken 36 Research Projects, filed 18 patent applications and launched various innovative, breakthrough products and companies in India and global market. Petonic Infotech is one of the group company of Bhardwaj duo.

The company has its Corporate Headquarters at New Delhi, with a representative office in Hong Kong. The uniqueness of Petonic Infotech as a consultancy firm lies in its collaborative approach with focus on innovative & creative solutions as per organisational needs. Outcome based business model has been success factor for Petonic Infotech. The company also build distinctive and adaptive strategies that help organisation to succeed in today’s complex and uncertain world. Since inception, the company has been able to register a tremendous growth and transformed a large number of Corporates, Societies and Markets. The Company with its business well-established in India and Hong Kong is also aiming to penetrate USA market soon this year.

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The key India Philanthropy trends are as follows:

1. Family giving deepens in awareness and understanding

With little or no rigid mandates to constrain their giving decisions, families in India have shown a great deal of flexibility and nimbleness in their giving over the last year, acting quickly to deploy both short term relief funding as well as longer term grants to non-profits in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the last year, families have taken a step back and invested greater time in reflecting on their approach to giving – both among themselves and with philanthropy advisors – and in better understanding the institutional and sustainability needs of their non-profit partners, through more frequent conversations with organization leadership. Next generation givers are also leaning in to philanthropy now more than ever, even if their interest areas are largely varied compared to that of their families. Overall, family giving is expected to witness an increase in 2021.

2. Restrained global giving due to regulations & local movements

2020 saw a tremendous outpouring of support for Indian non-profits by diaspora givers in the US, the UK and around the world. Interestingly, the pandemic led to diaspora givers expanding their awareness of and giving beyond the top 5-10 large organizations that typically receive disproportionate attention from this group, to now also supporting newer, previously less well-known non-profits in India. As a result of the FCRA amendments however, several international foundations have been rethinking the nature and extent of their activity in India, and it remains to be seen whether or not and how many of these international foundations are here to stay over the long-run. These restrictions and the growing momentum around movements such as Black Lives Matter, have also recently led to a greater diversion of funds among individual diaspora givers to local issues in their home countries.

3. Democratization of giving through rise in retail and the Social Stock Exchange

According to a recent survey by GiveIndia, India’s appetite for giving has radically increased during the pandemic – 85% of respondents plan to increase their giving, with 74% more inclined to contribute to local communities. As normalcy resumes, priorities of retail givers might shift, but at least a fourth of fresh givers are expected to remain active during this year. With the advent of new platforms such as the Social Stock Exchange (SSE) in the coming year, this thrust towards expanding the base of givers is expected to grow even further.

4. Underserved sectors spotlighted: Migrants, public health, urban governance, mental well-being

Indian philanthropy’s focus on India’s migrant workers has been front and centre over the last year. While the response so far has been largely around emergency relief, philanthropy is increasingly beginning to focus on interventions addressing livelihoods, and organizations looking to build long-term strategies that empower vulnerable groups such as youth and women to upskill themselves and accrue sustainable incomes. With a growing recognition that the pandemic resulted in increased anxiety, grief and home-based violence in India, there is an emerging interest to support or include interventions that address mental health and well-being across several cause areas such as education, health and child protection.

5. Place-based philanthropy gains significance

While the idea of “giving in your own backyard” is not new, the COVID-19 pandemic last year has led to family philanthropists adopting a greater focus on proximate giving than ever before. Directly witnessing the impact of the pandemic on local communities has spurred an increased sense of responsibility towards their own cities and communities, pushing them to give where they live. What is interesting however, is that this focus on local giving is not only limited to individual decisions, but is also translating into increased collective philanthropic action, with cities as the units of focus. Among corporates in India, while proximate giving has always been an important emphasis, the pandemic has heightened its significance and further pushed CSR funding towards areas in and around company offices or factories – a trend that is expected continue on this year.

6. Philanthropy puts on a gender and equity Lens

The growing emphasis on creating enabling environments that promote fairness (Justice), ensuring that everyone has access to opportunities (Equity), embracing differences among us (Diversity) and welcoming various perspectives and voices (Inclusion), is not only limited to funding decisions with grantee partners, but is also emerging into an increased incorporation of the J.E.D.I. lens within the culture and principles of grant making institutions. An important part of this push towards equity and inclusion has been the growing recognition among the global philanthropy community that the gendered influences of the current pandemic requires an urgent and nuanced response from funders. As a result, several institutional foundations, have begun building in a strong gender lens to their grant making strategies, adopting more gender intentional practices within their own organizations, supporting more programs to amplify the voices of women and girls, and in some cases even building collaborative funds focused on gender.

7. Rise in regulations and decline in CSR  put non-profits in distress

Over the last year, CSR capital has drastically diminished, international funding has become increasingly restricted due to FCRA regulations, institutional funders are largely deepening their support to existing grantees in the short-medium term rather than finding and funding newer grantee partners, and an increasing number of family givers are looking to own and operate their own programs. Non-profits have therefore found themselves in a difficult scenario concerning financial and institutional health, compelling them to rethink their strategies for future sustainability and resilience. Larger and more well-established non-profits are expected to receive much of the available philanthropic funding. For mid-size and smaller organizations, recovery will be much slower, if at all.

8. Focus on technology & data empowerment to boost efficiency & transparency

Realising the critical need for digital technology adoption in the post COVID-19 world, philanthropists are increasingly interested in supporting technology-based interventions, for last mile program delivery as well as institutional capability building of non-profits. A survey conducted by Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy revealed that most organisations were completely unprepared during the lockdown to enable continuity for their employees and communities through digital adoption. There is also a growing recognition of the limitations of technology in the more remote parts of the country, and digitising service delivery inevitably prevents access to marginalised communities. While this conundrum is being acknowledged, there will continue to be increasing funder focus on supporting digital technology to enable remote service delivery among non-profits, and the recognition of the need to do this in an inclusive manner is stronger than ever before.

9. Surge in 9 collaborative action

While the rise of collaboratives in India was an emerging trend even before last year, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it an increased sense of urgency and action. Last year saw a significant thrust of several collaboratives quickly moving past design phase – more than 50% of the collaboratives seeded, moved into the implementation stage, with momentum from both Indian and international funders unlike ever seen before. Recognizing the criticality of the government in driving change at the pace and scale that India requires more urgently than ever before, collaboratives are engaging with government more meaningfully – at the local, state and national levels.

10. Increasing investment in innovation and 10 philanthropy scaffolding

The massive challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic have brought with it a growing recognition among the giving community of the urgent need to simultaneously support and push forward multiple layers of India’s philanthropy infrastructure and machinery – whether nascent start-ups and innovative solutions or more mature pillars of the philanthropy ecosystem such as data, knowledge platforms or capacity building. Specifically, the philanthropy sector in India is seeing a rising number of innovation awards, grants, incubation platforms and other opportunities seeking to support disruptive solutions to development problems, with increasing willingness to support start-ups rather than only larger and well-established NGOs. With the sense of urgency only intensifying from here, it is likely that such interest in supporting innovations will continue well into the year.

These 10 philanthropy trends of 2021 highlight the core responsibility of philanthropy towards serving India’s most vulnerable communities, how the external socio-political environment is impacting fund flows, what it means to make philanthropy more participative and broad-based, and how funders, government and non-profits are collaborating. While the shifts last year paint a stark picture of heightened awareness and empathy among the philanthropy community, 2021 will be a telling year in terms of its translation into greater and strategic action.

The post Dasra releases India Philanthropy Trends for 2021 appeared first on Startagist.

I2Cure has collaborated with MyGate to secure its 15,000 gated communities against the pandemic spread. I2cure’s patented BioShield Antiseptic Lotion, a single-use, broad-spectrum antimicrobial that offers the protection of iodine against COVID-19 for six hours at a stretch, is a significant step up from existing alcohol-based solutions, which are merely disinfectants. While the global launch of I2Cure’s solution is planned in January 2021, MyGate, recognizing the superficial nature of disinfectants and their limited usefulness, is bringing this state-of-the-art solution to all its societies across India ahead of time. The collaboration will see MyGate assisting gated communities to strengthen their protection against the virus with I2Cure Bioshield.

Ramesh Menon, Director – Marketing Strategy & Distribution, I2Cure, says, “Our product is currently the most effective COVID-19 preventive available to the masses, and we are happy to partner with MyGate to bring it to the gates of its 15,000 communities, to ensure the safety of the millions that reside therein as well as the millions of people, from daily help to delivery executives, that visit them on a daily basis.”

Elaborating on the initiative, Mr. Abhishek Kumar, COO & Co-founder, MyGate, says, “With the MyGate collaboration, gated communities can now get direct access to I2Cure BioShield. It is a matter of pride for us to enable this for our communities, who, in turn, have already shown strong interest in using the product to break the transmission chain. This movement has the potential to dramatically slow down the spread of virus in urban India.”

With education institutions and offices closed and public transport drastically reduced, gated communities are among the most active congregations and remain potential hotspots for the virus. The majority of housing societies are taking numerous precautions – ensuring that visitors and staff wear masks, running a temperature check at the entry point – but virus transmission via surface remains a major concern. With the BioShield, housing societies can protect themselves from this risk to a great extent, enabling life to return to near normal within the society.

While sanitizers offer protection only on application, BioShield’s molecular iodine solution percolates under the skin, acting as a shield against any virus and germs for six hours at a time. With a single application at the gate or at their homes residents can be protected from the possibility of being infected by the virus.  This will result in a significant drop in the potential number of virus carriers and breaking the chain of pandemic transmission. I2cure has been tested and certified effective by Intertekk labs USA. The product’s development has been guided by Dr. Jack Kessler, whose more than 2-decade-old research into molecular iodine has led to several advancements in the field and the successful development of I2Cure without the negative characteristics of staining, irritation, toxicity and the risk of acidosis. In addition to a global launch, I2cure is currently in discussion with public health bodies for mass distribution of the BioShield.

During the pandemic, MyGate has introduced a number of new features and inked partnerships to enhance the safety of the 2.5 million families that reside in its communities. 

About I2Cure

I2Cure is a biotechnology company promoted by leaders in the scientific & business world from the USA and Singapore. I2cure comes from the mind of Dr. Jack Kessler (Father of I2) and is an FDA Compliant, ISO 9001:2015, and WHO GMP certified product. It was founded on a simple idea to provide the world with a product that gave more than just a short-term, superficial protection against germs and microbes.I2cure is the first company in the world to provide molecular Iodine based ‘Bio Shield’, a deep cleaning hand lotion that is not just effective and safe, but also provides nourishment to the human skin.

 I2Cure is a ‘Make in India’ product for the world with global production located in Uttaranchal, India.

About MyGate

Founded in 2016, MyGate is the largest security and community management app in the country, simplifying urban living of over two and half million homes in 15,000+ housing societies. It was ranked #4 on YourStory’s list of India’s Most Disruptive Start-ups in December 2019 and one of India’s coolest start-ups by Business Today in 2019. MyGate was founded by Vijay Arisetty, an ex- IAF pilot (Shaurya Chakra awardee), Abhishek, former VP at Goldman Sachs, and Shreyans Daga, former project head at Oracle and Digit.

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When it comes to the treatment of women in the workplace, what was once an acceptable behavior and attitude for decades is now viewed as disgusting by current generations. With change in thinking, education and awareness, inappropriate remarks and behavior against women have now been replaced with opportunities and respect in many companies. The landscape has changed, and opportunities for women in the industry have increased. Leading women are taking center stage at several top companies in the automotive industries including car wash service.

Being a revolutionary concept in itself, Car Blushh remains unfettered in its visionary endeavour of providing jobs to female washers to promote women empowerment as one of its most sought in an entirely male dominated sector. Discerning the COVID-19, it emerges as a responsible company by creating job opportunities for car cleaners amid a backdrop of acute job losses during the pandemic.

Daily car cleaning is 99% unorganized sector, consisting primarily of local domestic help who are neither efficient nor fully equipped to do the work. Car Blushh is launched to provide the right approach required to organize and perform premium car care services to make daily driving a super hygienic and comfortable experience with complete auto care services.

Speaking on the occasion, Car Blushh Founder and CEO, Ruchhi Wadhwa said, “We saw how this pandemic hit employment, in the same way, these car washers also succumbed to it and lost their jobs. The company was therefore formed not only to employ these people but also to streamline the sector, creating a new experience for customers where hygiene is kept on top.”

It currently offers detailed car cleaning using waterless cleaning solutions along with daily sanitization and air check and has plans to soon roll out complete auto care services from maintenance to auto insurance. The startup brings integrated car care services to the doorstep for customers, making their experience hassle-free. It adopts technology to identify and address the problems of the customers.

Since its inception, Car Blushh has covered 45 societies and has more than 1350 happy customers. The company currently operates in Delhi/NCR and will be expanding in Gurgaon, Jaipur and Chandigarh soon, eventually making its space felt in Pan India.

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The webinar was organised by Pearson’s Teacher Education and Leadership Academy and Access-School, an ed-tech start-up launching India’s 1st Hybrid-Flexible Learning Ecosystem and was divided into a 2-part online event series from September 28 to October 2.

Dr G. Balasubramanian, former Director (Academics), CBSE, said: “Education in India has been waiting for disruption for a long time. While the industrial revolution scaled to 4.0 generation, the education sector largely remained at 2.0. This long-overdue disruption received impetus from the new NEP 2020; naysayers have accepted the reality and value of technology in education during the COVID-19 pandemic.” 

He went on to say that “The very definition of schools is likely to change. Access-School is a kind of school which I am looking forward to in the future”. 

Ms Seshni Naicker, Director, Teacher Education and Learning Academy, emphasized that irrespective of technology and acquisition of digital skills, teachers would always be the heart and soul of teaching. These essentials skills of empathy, cooperation, confidence, growth which are the skills of the future would come from the teachers as models.

Teachers would need to provide literacy and numeracy curriculum knowledge on the one hand and develop skills, attitudes and values on the other hand, to enable students to become global citizens, she said.

Ms Manju Gupta, Principal, Kothari International School said, “A change in mindset and attitude of a teacher is a must, and a necessity in order to stay relevant to the needs of the students. Human education must be more emphasised in today’s schools. We need to remember that education is for the growth and development of a learner, not for competition. I look forward to a tomorrow where the teacher connects with the child and not the book.”

Day 1 commenced with a webinar and panel discussion on the topic ‘Expanding the Teacher’s horizon: The Future for Educators’. Days 2 and 3 focussed on developing teachers’ skills in teaching online through two professional teacher training sessions with an international trainer. More than 200 school educators, leaders, teachers and trainers took part in the event.

The webinar delved in detail on the present challenges and opportunities for educators as well as on future skills required to stay relevant; trends and changes that are taking place globally in the education industry; and the new landscape for schools and teachers. 

Amit Mathur Co-Founder, Access-School set the tone for the future with these insights. “Basis the pan India survey we conducted last year, three critical areas in the Indian Education System that require focus are Accessibility, Adaptability and Flexibility. We at Access-School leverage technology to cater to these 3 areas and create a HyFlex school which offers blended learning opportunities for students,” she said. 

At the end of 1st part of the online event series, an open panel session was held, moderated by Ms Ruvneet Bains, Chief Learning Officer, Access-School These panellists included Mrs Kaadambari Muttoo – Ex-teacher The British School, Ex-Director Academics for GEMS India, Author; Mrs Neerja Bhasin – Innovative Science Teacher, Ex-Systems & Design Analyst and Mrs Shoma Lahiri – English Teacher and Cambridge Coordinator, Ex-The Shri Ram School. 

The event series ended on October 2 with online teaching pedagogy training sessions for teachers by Sarah White, International Teacher Trainer with Pearson Teacher Education and Leadership Academy (TELA).

While, the Teacher Education and Leadership Academy develops Pearson’s professional learning courses and resources for teachers, Access-School is an ed-tech start-up providing India’s 1st Hybrid-Flexible Learning Ecosystem. 

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