New Delhi: HCL Foundation, the CSR arm of HCL Technologies, concluded the third edition of its annual “HCL Grant CSR Symposium”. With an aim to build capacities of NGOs, the foundation conducted Symposiums in 8 cities this year that included Kochi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Gangtok, Lucknow, Mumbai, Shimla and Jodhpur, taking the total tally to 32 workshops in three editions.
The day-long Symposiums held by HCL Foundation across India, comprised of a panel discussion with local NGO representatives and civil society experts.
The panels werefocused on the themes like “Exploring the Interface of CSR with 5 Ps of the Sustainable Development Goals – People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace, and Partnership with reference to the thematic areas of HCL Grant, that are Environment, Health and Education”and “CSR for bridging the sectoral gaps in education, healthcare and environment.
The symposiums also had several sessions where experts shared their experiences and insights on subjects like Decoding Section 135, Facts on the Changing CSR Landscape in India, and Design Thinking for Development Sector Solutions. The symposiums also had a session on the ‘Power of Fifth Estate’ where the recipients of HCL Grant shared their experiences of how HCL Grant helped them bring about the desired impact.
Through these workshops, HCL Foundation reached out to more than 400 NGOs and spoke with them on CSR mandate, challenges and opportunities in the local area development, Proposal writing and Project Management and encouraged them to apply for HCL Grant 2019-2020.
HCL Foundation Director Nidhi Pundhir believes that through dialogue and interactions amongst various stakeholders, a deeper understanding of the CSR sector and its role in achieving Sustainable Development Goals can be enabled.
“At HCL Foundation we believe in the power of Fifth Estate – the NGO. Through the HCL Grant Symposiums, we aim to bring together all the stakeholders – NGOs, Government, Corporates and Policy Makers – on a common platform,” adds Ms Pundhir.
Highlighting the importance of the initiative, she expressed the confidence that the symposiums will go a long way by empowering NGOs with the latest information on best practices, transformative ideas and support them in building a better India.
The HCL Grant Pan-India Symposiums is an initiative by HCL Foundation to bring together NGOs, Government, Corporates, and Policy makers on one platform, across India, such that they can interact, develop regional as well as sectoral understanding about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and deliberate upon how it can contribute towards Nation Building.
Through these symposiums, HCL Foundation aims to inform the NGOs about HCL Grant, one of the most coveted institutionalized grants available in India, which identifies NGOs doing path-breaking work in rural development through an independent, robust and democratic process.
The HCL Grant 2020 is going to be the 5th consecutive edition of HCL Grant in which grants will be awarded in the categories of Education, Health and Environment, with a commitment of ₹5 crores for a five-year project in each category. The Grant would also reward the other finalists with ₹25 lakhs for a one-year project. The total fund committed for Edition 5 is ₹16.5 Crores.
HCL Grant has seen a significant increase in the number of registrations coming in, from the first edition in 2016 to the fourth edition which concluded in February 2019. In the 2018-19 edition a total of 11,468 registrations were seen, of which, 9,195 registrations were unique NGOs.
The idea of HCL Grant is not only to recognize the work of NGOs contributing to the nation’s growth and development but also to stay engaged with them to achieve the desired impact.
The HCL Grant Compendium published each year features not just the winners, but also the work of up to 30 shortlisted NGOs, 10 from each category. It is a step towards re-establishing the value of strong governance in civil society and providing international visibility to Indian NGOs doing path breaking work in the rural development sector.
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