Bengaluru, February 2, 2016: At Nasscom Foundations’s CSR Leadership Conference 2016, organized in Bengaluru, Save the Children’s Head of Partnerships, Charu Sethi spoke about how Save the Children is leveraging new-age technology available with its corporate partners to improve lives of children. Centred around the theme: ‘Making technologies work for the poor’, the event aimed at finding solutions based on Information and Communication Technologies which can enable people with limited means get a better access to welfare services and opportunities.

Charu explained, how, in some of its programmes run in partnership with corporate partners like Nokia, Avaya, etc., Save the Children has used technology in a big way to improve the lives of the most marginalized children in India. For instance, together with Nokia, Save the Children is making use of Information and communication Technology, geographical mapping systems and other technologies to build resilience of children and their communities to enhance their capacities to deal better with emergencies. In another programme, Save the Children is equipping health workers in different parts of India to make use of mobile apps to provide adequate care to newborns and mothers.

Charu also stressed upon the need for companies to support NGOs and invest in technologies to improve child health, education, protection and development. She concluded by saying that corporate and NGOs can collaborate to effect huge change at the grass root level.

In the 2014, the Government of India mandated Indian companies to spend 2% of their net profits on corporate social responsibility (CSR). This opens up a huge opportunity to bring transformation in India, especially in growth and development of the marginalized. With companies investing and getting involved in improving quality of education, school enrolment and attendance, child health and protection, gender equality, India can see unprecedented levels of economic and social growth.

With organizations such as Save the Children present, it becomes extremely easy for companies to ensure that they meet this mandate, and more importantly effect some meaningful change. There are numerous high impact stories to be seen already. Save the Children has been a partner of choice for some of the biggest corporates of India such as RB, Nokia, Mondelez, IKEA, HP, Oracle and Intel for implementing their CSR duties; with their support, Save the Children has worked to eradicate child labour, improve the status of child education, provide quality healthcare to them and provide them life-saving aid during disaster.

In 2014, Save the Children reached 9.45 lakh India children in need of education, healthcare and protection. With decades of experience, International funding and network and resources on the ground, Save the Children is able to ensure change at the grass root level through programs in regions across India, and through advocating and campaigning for policy changes.