What are the similarities and the dissimilarities between your roles as the Trustee & Founder CEO at Bansidhar & Ila Panda Foundation (BIPF), and as Chief of CSR (Special Initiatives) at Indian Metals and Ferro Alloys (IMFA)?
When you talk about the similarities, the foundation comprises the values and ethos of the company and carries forward the legacy of community-centric growth.
In terms of dissimilarities, I would not quite use that word. I would actually say that my role at IMFA is Phase One of the solution in which you know we underscore the importance of social development to the business teams at the corporate level. Phase two, which is my role at BIPF, is really about you know implementing initiatives.
You were also the convener of the G20 Empower Group on Mentorship. How was your experience?
The G20 Empower Group actually worked on three factors: women’s entrepreneurship, partnering for promoting women’s leadership at all levels, and education. And there was a cross-cutting dimension about giving them access to technology and the digital medium. Given that, I think we did a very good job in terms of pushing the mentorship agenda for women because that is what helps navigate systemic challenges and gives them the guidance to break the barriers and access the opportunities. I think it is important for them to get the exposure in the professional networks, which will open doors to career growth and entrepreneurial opportunities.
And platforms like the G20 Empower Group on Mentorship is what allowed them to be able to get onto an aggregator platform to understand what are the various schemes out there, and what are the various opportunities out there — be it financial linkages or market linkages.
India is performing the slowest on the gender SDG amongst all SDGs. So what can be done to accelerate the progress?
It is not about simply empowering women; it is about creating an environment for them to thrive. I think we need to reshape the stereotypical gender expectations for both men and women and this must be done across the family, the community and the workspace. So the fastest way to accelerate this is to address gender norms from early life stages by giving gender sensitive training at both schools and homes.
Something that will really help this cause is community-driven change behaviour change campaigns, which are a tremendous way to create awareness through influencers, media, tech-aided communication. I think it is very important to advocate to the masses that gender equity is not just about women, we have to make men a part of the solution.
We have seen CSR come a long way, but how do you see it really going forward in terms of evolving and also catalysing more change?
I do believe that the key in this is to make strategic investment through CSR. We have come a long way in terms of the significant shift that CSR has had from sporadic charity to making a structured impact. I think we are going to continue to evolve in this space from a compliance-driven activity to a more purpose-driven approach, focussing on creating measurable outcomes as well as long-term social impact. The cornerstone is the power of CSR to leverage the experience that corporates brings with them in this space. And that is why I believe that collaborations are the key for sustainable progress on achieving the SDGs by the 2030 target.
