Triple win for IIFL Foundation at Asian CSR Leadership Awards 2021

IIFL Foundation, which runs CSR mandate for IIFL Group of companies, has received three awards at the Asian CSR Leadership Awards 2021. The Foundation’s flagship program- Sakhiyon Ki Baadi (SKB) won two awards at the event – for Best Innovation in CSR practices and Best COVID-19 training solution.

Ms. Madhu Jain, Director, IIFL Foundation received the ‘Social Entrepreneur of the year’ award at the forum. This award recognized her invaluable contribution towards education of girls, women empowerment, poverty alleviation and an array of measures implemented to fight the pandemic.

Sakhiyon Ki Baadi (SKB) is one of the largest and most successful girl child education programs in the country, which has brought over 36,000 out-of-school girls into education fold in Rajasthan in just over a four year period.

Over the past one year, despite the pandemic-induced lockdowns coming in and out of force, team SKB ensured that learning continued uninterrupted for these girls. This was made possible by the untiring efforts of the team to familiarize Dakshas (teachers) with online ways of teaching.

The team overcame hurdles such as absence of mobile handsets, weak network connectivity and negligible understanding of Dakshas about digital platforms such as Zoom, Google Meet, etc. The Foundation conducted online sessions on digital literacy, basic and advanced English and financial literacy to upgrade the skills of the Dakshas. They were also taught how to use digital learning tools such as PDF documents. They then shared the learnings with the girls and the community. Thus, it was ensured that learning never stopped at SKB.

Ms. Madhu Jain, Director, IIFL Foundation, said, “Our team has remained committed to our objective of providing functional literacy to school dropouts and illiterate girls even during the toughest times. Taking digital learning to the underprivileged girls in rural hamlets was not an easy task. But our team’s hard work, dedication, solution-oriented mind set and deep-rooted relationships with stakeholders made it very easy.”

“The humanitarian crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated my social entrepreneurship drive. I am truly fortunate to be able to do something for the society. We have now increased the ambit of our social outreach with more interventions in the areas of health, poverty alleviation and livelihood.”

Such awards further motivate the team to keep up the good work. Going forward, IIFL Foundation will continue to make a positive impact in the society through its various programs.