EVolVe (Employee Volunteering Venture): Volunteering Retreat Programme held on 10th December 2004.
EVOLVE (Employee Volunteering Venture) a Volunteering Retreat Programme was held on Friday 10th December 2004 at Oneness Centre, 4 Tilak Marg New Delhi. The event was partnered by Business & Community Foundation, Times Foundation, Youthreach
The whole idea was to bring voluntering centrestage within CSR policy.. A model for volunteering would open up avenues for corporates to be involved in development work through their employees using their skill sets in specific projects/organizations. The volunteering process would sensitize the employees as well as give them an opportunity to get involved and use their skills in terms of finance, administration, marketing etc to make a difference to the social causes.
The daylong event was marked by presentations and issue based discussions. It was attended by several corporate houses and civil society organizations. In his welcome address Sunil Rajshekhar Highlighted the fact that companies are no longer limiting themselves to financial contributions but are increasingly contributing towards the holistic development of the society.
The President and CEO of GE India, Scott Bayman pointed highlighted the activities undertaken by the Indian chapter of GE Elfun a global community service organization, which includes blood donation drives, education with mobile crèche projects, environment related causes including tree planting projects and participation in AIDS related causes among others.
The presentation by The Tata Council of Community Initiatives focussed on the need to institutionalise a corporate volunteering programme and thereby companies need to work towards creating a critical mass of volunteers within. Mr Badri Narayan, corporate quality Head of North Delhi Power Limited (NDPL) stressed on the Tata mission statement which is to 'strengthen our belief in serving the society'. He added that many employees from his company had been working as volunteers and learning from the community.
Mr Aadesh Goel from Hughes Software Systems and Mr Venkatesh Valluri from Agilent Technologies gave an indepth idea about the volunteering initiatives and processes undertaken by their respective organizations.
As a part of the issue based discussions Mr Sanjeev Sachdev from Samarthya drew the attention of the corporates towards the need to work towards creating a barrier free environment for all in the workplace inturn enhancing the accessibility of their respective organizations. Business & Community Foundation, Youthreach and Ashoka Foundation pointed out as to how the corporates can make volunteering efforts towards the issue of hunger and homelessness, development of child and youth and peace initiatives respectively.
The day long programme was closed with the wonderful performance of the orchestra lead by the students from Blind Relief Association.
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