Capgemini Case Study. 4. Reduce child mortality

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1 Name of Company Parent Company Sector Programme Capgemini Capgemini Case Study Capgemini SA Management Consultancy Nanhi Kali (Little Bud) 1. The Millennium Development Goals Please select 1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger which of the 2. Achieve universal primary education MDGs your 3. Promote gender equality and empower women programme or 4. Reduce child mortality strategy is impacting 5. Improve maternal health 6. Combat HIV, AIDS, malaria & other diseases 7. Ensure environmental sustainability 8. Develop a global partnership for development 2. Geography Please indicate where in the world your programme or strategy is impacting 3. Context Please describe the background to your programme or strategy; the situation on the ground or in the market in which they are operating Central America Central Asia Europe Middle East North Africa North America Pacific Nations South America South Asia South East Asia Sub-Saharan Africa If you prefer to name specific countries please name up to a maximum of three where your programme or strategy is having the most impact. 1. India In 2007, Capgemini partnered with the Naandi Foundation in India, supporting the "Nanhi Kali" ("little bud") initiative. The Naandi Foundation works to eradicate poverty in India by improving child rights, education, creating sustainable livelihoods and providing safe drinking water and sanitation to Indian communities. Project Nanhi Kali is a national girl child sponsorship programme which aims to provide underprivileged girls with ten years of quality schooling by providing academic support and direct material support in the form of uniforms, clothes, stationery, etc. 1 P a g e

2 Whilst education in India is free, school books and uniforms are not, and often this is expenditure that poorer families are unable or unwilling to make for their daughters. Working in partnership with the KC Mahindra Education Trust, Naandi field workers use strict criteria to select girls from the poorest backgrounds whilst working with parents and communities to spread the importance of educating girl children. Government of India statistics reveal that only three out of ten girls who enter Std. I complete Std. X. While enrolment rates of girls are improving marginally in India, dropout levels remain alarmingly high. At primary school level, over 45% of girls dropout of school and this increases to over 73% by the time the child has reached Std. X. Research has shown that reasons for this dropout may be as minor as the girl child not being able to afford a dress/uniform to go to school and could include more complex factors like girls taking on the responsibility of household chores at a very young age as a result of gender stereotyping. Project Nanhi Kali aims to address this by increasing its current support of c.50,800 girls to 100,000 by What started as a friendship between Capgemini India and Norway looking for ways to support our Rightshore (Offshoring) strategy and to promote understanding and cooperation has now grown into a truly Global Capgemini Group program and a strong Naandi-Capgemini relationship. Today over 10 countries in the Group are supporting Project Nanhi Kali with more than 10,000 girls benefitting directly from the support of employees and the company. 4. Rationale Please state the reasons for initiating the project or strategy In the past 7 years our business presence in India has substantially expanded. Today, 22,000+ of our 90,000 employees globally are based in India. Alongside this business change has been the societal change ensuring that our employees expect their employer to be far more socially aware and work to support the communities they operate in. Our partnership is based on: - Our belief that diversity is key to our long term business health. Naandi allows us to take direct action that is visible to all employees and gives the opportunity for employees to be actively involved; - Our desire to engage with our employees and celebrate our multicultural approach, promoting cultural understanding internally; - Our need to develop strong relationships with clients and promote mutual understanding and goals. Today, we are supporting over 10,000 girls, across more than 10 counties in the Group. We have implemented different initiatives and schemes to enable our people to be involved. Senior level commitment has taken this beyond a worthy charity initiative and given us the credibility to showcase our commitment to diversity and ensured longevity of the relationship. Combined with client involvement this takes our relationship with Naandi to another level. 2 P a g e

3 For example, Capgemini India, Norway, Sweden, UK, Australia, Slovakia and Sogeti India have formally adopted the project as a community initiative. Within those countries a pay-roll giving system has been set up in which our people have the ability to voluntarily contribute to the Nanhi Kali project and either individually or collectively sponsor the girls' education. Capgemini Norway, through strong collaboration with Naandi has established the first Naandi outside of India, Naandi Norway. Many initiatives are being matched by Capgemini, ensuring a combination of employee passion and company commitment to the Nanhi Kali project. Board level examples include: - Norway: established Naandi as a registered charity, providing the start up capital and senior executives to chair the board of Naandi Norway; - UK: provided corporate funding for 1,250 girls and covered the upfront costs of employee donations, so Naandi had funds on day one and employees are able to make a nominal monthly donation to cover the cost of annual sponsorship; - Finland: Naandi has been integrated into our Leadership Development Programme which brings together colleagues from Finland and India as One Team on Naandi projects. We see our culture as being unique; giving our people freedom to do what they believe is right for them and for the company. The way our relationship with Naandi has matured illustrates this. Our Norwegian team started working with Naandi in relation to the growth in business being delivered out of India; today it truly is a global initiative. This has never been mandated, but taken up by employees and executives where they saw a way to combine support Indian girl child s education. Business growth came when we extended Naandi to client partnerships where each Indian FTE used on the client account results in a girl being supported by both client and Norwegian company. 5. Objectives Please indicate the objectives for the project or strategy There are four principles at the heart of our business strategy: - creating a diverse, engaged and skilled workforce, - developing strong client relationships, - supporting responsible Offshoring to manage our impact and ensure a positive contribution, - supporting the development of India as a long term and a viable business location. Together with clients we are creating a CSR incentive model. We have pioneered working together with clients and Naandi, so that on some client projects for every FTE we take on to support their work, participating clients match our commitment by sponsoring a girl. Clients appreciate the ability to develop their own CSR credentials and it enriches the relationship between us. Our fourth objective of "supporting the development of India" unites us with the Naandi Foundation and Project Nanhi Kali as it aims to use this programme to develop India by focussing on providing: Dignity - Many children in India are excluded from receiving an education because they cannot afford to buy the basic school uniform or books required to attend. This programme provides for support in the 3 P a g e

4 form of uniforms, undergarments, socks and shoes and stationery material including a school bag to ensure the girls attend school neatly dressed with dignity and pride. Learning - Female children in particular face a significant disadvantage in obtaining an education as they are generally kept at home to shoulder the burden of household chores, care for younger siblings, or marry at a very young age. Interaction with parents and two hours of supervised support (made possible through this sponsorship) to understand and practice lessons and exercises every day helps girl students catch up on the classes they have missed at school because of their household responsibilities. These classes also help ease girls into studies as many of them are first generation learners whose families cannot read and write. Gender Equality - Naandi's team work with communities, their preconceptions and prejudices against girl children to create a more wholesome and equal rights environment within villages and homes. This encourages more parents to send their daughters to school, look after them better and in many cases prevent child marriages so girls can continue going to school. Empowerment - Project Nanhi Kali is about making a girl selfconfident and self reliant so they can negotiate for their needs and advocate their case. This is done by creating platforms where the girls from different schools get to interact with each other and share notes on how they have overcome problems and hurdles they face to get to go to school. Furthermore, Project Nanhi Kali creates an ecosystem that emboldens the girl child to fight for her rights and empowers her to fight for equal opportunity in realising her fullest potential. Through Capgemini's visits to India and interaction by our Indian team with Project Nanhi Kali, we are also fulfilling our primary focus of developing an engaged and educated workforce. Our partnership offers Indian girls, dignity, education, equality and empowerment. The same attributes that our people seek for themselves and the company they work with. Our partnership with Naandi is about changing the way we think and fostering multiculturalism as we become a truly open and diverse company, just as much as changing the lives of the girls we support. 6. Mechanics Please give a description of how the project or strategy functions and was/ is implemented Support for the initiative started in Capgemini India and we now have programmes in Norway, the UK, Sweden, Finland, Australia, Germany, Slovakia, and the Netherlands. Supporting the education and long term promotion of girl-children in India has captured the imagination of employees world-wide, becoming a Global level initiative. Our approach to business is to provide leadership and strategic vision and to ensure we create the right environment for our people to apply their creativity, and expertise. For our business to succeed we are reliant on the talent of our people and encourage an entrepreneurial culture. Our community approach is exactly the same. 4 P a g e

5 Naandi initiatives are driven nationally by people from across our business with our Sustainability teams providing advocacy support and chairing senior commitment to the cause. We have senior managers on the Naandi Norway Board, UK executive sponsorship and executives taking their teams to projects in India. Capgemini has always had a strong tradition of engaging with community initiatives where we can make a tangible difference. We are delighted to be working with Naandi, the simplicity and power of the Nanhi Kali initiative has captured the imagination of a significant proportion of our employees. Tom Blacksell, CEO Capgemini Consulting UK The main thrust of our activity is employee centric: - India the Power of 50 allowing Indian colleagues to donate 50 rupees a month money to collectively support girls. - Norway - employees can contribute a set amount each month and girls are supported collectively, building a team spirit and appreciation of everyone contributing to the greater good. We have worked with Naandi helping them gain Norwegian charitable status, the first outside of India, allowing Norwegian citizens to support Project Nanhi Kali. - UK & Australia - employees sponsor an individual girl through small monthly salary deductions by completing a one click online form and then receive details of their sponsored girls online, making sponsorship very personal. The UK is currently sponsoring over 2,550 girls (launched 1st Oct 2008), Capgemini UK as a business sponsoring the education of the first 1250 girls. - UK - support of Project Nanhi Kali contributes to the UK's target to have 20% of employees engaged in our Community projects. Our UK employees have already contributed to the funding for a new school library (2009) and this year to celebrate National Learning at Work Day, we are using donations of books and CDs to fund another Naandi library - such libraries benefit all the community not just girl students. In addition, a team of colleagues have raised over 5,000 in just 6 months through the sale of samosas to fund wider intiaitives run and managed by Naandi in India. - Sweden the Power of 10 initiative in which Swedish colleagues can donate towards joint sponsorship. - Finland to develop increased cultural understanding between our Finnish and Indian colleagues, our emerging leaders work together on the ground on Naandi initiatives as part of their Leadership Programme - Global Group communications has supported Naandi through our e- cards, where for every 1,000 e-cards sent, our HQ sponsors a girl in India. Since this initative started in 2007, each year the number of girls sponsored via this route has increased to upward of 113,000 cards sent in 2009 alone. - Other successful initiatives include art camps in India in which our employees and the Naandi children work together to produce images and art. These art pieces have been auctioned, images have also been used for our Naandi e-card initiative. At the global level we promote our activities internally through various Group Internal Communications campaigns, which includes articles, 5 P a g e

6 brochures, posters, websites and videos. To gain greater resonance we align this activity to other employee centric campaigns for example seasonal e-cards and International Women s Day. As a multi cultural company, we celebrate globally different religious festivities; running holiday season e-card initiatives from Diwali to Chinese New Year. The e-card artwork was made by the girls through Art Camps run by Capgemini Germany/Norway. 7. Business Benefits Please provide Client engagement is the ultimate accolade for this type of programme, details of how and to have clients willingly agree to join in our programme and sponsor the business has girls in India is a strong endorsement. In the wider marketplace Naandi benefited from supports our Offshoring strategies, and through managing and ensuring the project or positive impact, we contribute to the development of India as a long term, strategy viable business location. Our e-card campaign has allowed us to demonstrate that we may have a consistent delivery model across the world, but we actively make room for everyone. The marked uptake in the ecards in 2009 shows our success, as does the number of external cards sent. Employee engagement is a key measure. Our employee survey shows our community work is a key driver in employee engagement and retention of the talented people. We can see a real link to the increase in our profile with Naandi. For example in the UK, our scores for the way employees view Capgemini as a responsible company have increased 14 points in the past year. We're able to integrate Naandi into our people development. At our university, Naandi helps illustrate to our people the link between the community, the importance of diversity and enabling multicultural understanding. This means our leadership understand the importance of diversity, so we are instilling diversity into our DNA through our people s appreciation of our work with Naandi. We have an active and vibrant Naandi network connecting colleagues from across the world and innovating on new ideas and ways to support Naandi, creating global networks that can translate into global team working for clients. Because the take up of Naandi has been fostered at a grass roots level, without mandating anything or pushing particular diversity platforms at our people, we are changing the way we think about diversity starting with gender diversity, but going across the multi-cultural spectrum. Very soon few (if any) of our home grown executive talent will not have been impacted by the programme. Already many of our people have visited girls in India. Creating client relationships with a significant CSR model built in will by their very nature have a long term impact. 8. Society Benefits Please provide There are clear social benefits to both the communities in India receiving 6 P a g e

7 details of the social and community benefits of the project or strategy support and to the communties offering support to Naandi through engagement in international philanthropy and Capgemini Group are the second largest international corporate sponsor of project Nanhi Kali, contributing to nearly 20% of the total Nanhi Kali sponsorship in India. SOCIAL BENEFITS FOR THE COMMUNITY The benefits of Project Nanhi Kali are wide-ranging and include the reduction in girl child dropout rate, improvement in school attendance and academic performance (school exams and competitive exams), parents visiting schools and enquire about their children s education, and a significant reduction in child marriage. Such benefits are measured through school enrolment rate, retention rate, attendance rate, academic results in different exams, the number of children qualifying for scholarship and admission to competitive schools, and community involvement in academic support. One of the reasons that primary education, gender equality and the empowerment of women feature in the Millennium Development Goals is that they are fundamental to improving the life of all society's members and have real lasting impact. Educating the mothers and grand mothers of future generations supports the positive development of society in so many ways and challenges the long held beliefs about female educations. Its about real radical change that the society members foster themselves through the education of all their children and grandchildren. SOCIAL BENEFITS FOR CAPGEMINI In 2007 Naandi Norway was launched, the first outside of India and a collaboration between Naandi and Capgemini Norway. In the case of Capgemini Norway, Capgemini registered as a charity, known as Naandi Norway, the first Naandi outside of India. As a result Capgemini Norway now has a very interesting profile in Norwegian society. Norway s parliament knows about the relationship with Naandi, as does Norway s media. And potential Norwegian employees know about it as well as current and potential clients. So while following passion the initiative has also been converted into a business opportunity to raise the profile of the company in Norway and win business. To my mind it s a fantastic way of how you can start with just a link to a charity and take it to a new level. Manoj Kumar, CEO of the Naandi Foundation. Education, health and equal opportunities for all play the three most important roles in shaping developed societies in countries around the world. In my belief these three areas of special importance are reflected in the work of the Naandi Foundation, and therefore I ve decided to spend some of my working capacity for the benefit of this organization, as a goodwill ambassador. Anna Ljunggren, MP Labor Party / Naandi Norway Goodwill Ambassador. The CSR program of Capgemini Norway is a leading practise on how businesses must take a responsibility for the communities they operate in. We have to be truly committed to developing India instead of exploiting it for the advantages it offers Erik Solheim, Minister of Development, Norway 7 P a g e

8 9. Lessons Learned Please provide Our key learnings: a summary of the key insights and lessons learned through the project or strategy A greater understanding of India and the difficulties faced by our Indian employees and the country as a whole A stronger appreciation of our company s wide diversity and inclusiveness for all talent, particularly fostering gender diversity Recognition that CSR is high on the agenda of our clients Visible proof that these programs are increasing pride and engagement of employees and making the company more attractive as an employer In some countries, high potential graduates have been tasked with implementing programmes to help their learning curve. This exposes them to CSR and diversity principles and ensures a depth of talent in this area internally. 8 P a g e