Deloitte has recently celebrated its 15th annual Impact Day, the company’s flagship volunteering programme to accelerate positive societal impact in the country. This year, more than 37,000 Deloitte professionals volunteered 1,82,000 hours for the benefit of local communities and not-for-profit organizations through skills-based and traditional volunteering initiatives, across 13 cities in India.
The projects focussed on pressing issues such as education, employability and skill building, healthcare and sanitation, environment sustainability and empowerment.
Deloitte had taken various initiatives that focus on education and employability. Last year, Deloitte mobilized over 29,000 professionals to participate in over 175 different projects and impacted the lives of 9,42,000 people on a single day.
Speaking on the same, Bruce Stewart, Principal, Deloitte LLP, said, “Our 15th consecutive Impact Day stands testament to our ongoing commitment towards furthering education & employability in the communities we live in. At Deloitte, making an impact that matters is at the heart of what we do. This translates into applying the same commitment, talent, and teamwork that we use to serve our clients, to make a meaningful difference in the lives of those in need.”
In New Delhi, Deloitte has collaborated with an NGO named Khushii to initiate the change at grassroots level through education and employability among children, youth and teachers. In an effort to help the overall development of the child, contemporary skill building activities, vocational activities and career counselling sessions were initiated by Deloitte. Khushii’s students have benefited from the mentoring classes, allowing them to pursue higher studies in the fields of engineering, B.Pharm and home science.
Driving a significantly positive impact, Deloitte has successfully entered its third year of engagement with the Bahadurpura mandal, one of the largest divisions in Hyderabad. With a vision to develop the mandal’s schools and enhance learning abilities of its underserved children. Additionally, the project has bought about community transformation in about 120 schools, comprising 18,000 students who come from areas where school dropout rates are very high.
Also to bring the change in Bangalore, Deloitte has collaborated with Samarthanam, a not-for-profit organization in which aims to create a better environment for differently-abled kids by providing developmental activities that focus on their educational, social and vocational aspects. Deloitte actively supports the running of the call centre where some of these young adults are employed, to ensure that residents of the home earn a livelihood of their own.
In Mumbai, Deloitte supports Teach for India, through strategic donations and employee-giving for their fellowship program. Through this, Deloitte aims to actualize Teach for India’s vision of, “One day all children will attain an excellent education”.