Mumbai: Ambuja Cement Foundation (ACF) team in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh was felicitated by the Rotary Club for their outstanding contributions towards water, sanitation and hygiene initiatives over the years.
Ambuja Cement Foundation (ACF) is the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) arm of Ambuja Cements Limited. Over the last 15 years, the team at Dadri has been working in the areas of agro-based livelihood, education, women empowerment along with sanitation and hygiene.
Under Water and Sanitation, ACF has been working on creating awareness on the WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) model in core villages of this area as well as in schools. Awareness campaigns are organized in the communities on saving water, encouraging water testing practices, installation of hand pumps and building toilets.
As a part of these efforts, 3 hand pumps were installed benefitting over 700 community members, 350 women were inculcated hand washing practices and 5 core villages are now “Open Defecation Free”. At a school level, ACF has also distributed IEC materials and sanitary napkins to adolescent girls and women. In addition, ACF has also repaired and improved infrastructure in two government schools which has benefitted over 3,500 children till date.
Mr Neeraj Akhoury, MD & CEO, Ambuja Cements Ltd. said, “Our CSR efforts are focused on enabling progress of our rural communities. A healthy and prosperous rural India bodes well for the entire nation.”
Despite the pandemic, ACF’s health workers (Sakhis) have been working rigorously to reach out to maximum persons. This transformation is already being seen with community members making efforts towards water, sanitation and hygiene. ACF also harnessed the flipbook platform to spread awareness messages about COVID-19 via WhatsApp and post the lockdown, personally went door to door in communities to engage with people.
Ms Pearl Tiwari, Director & CEO, Ambuja Cement Foundation said, “Rotary has been one of our long-standing partners and we are humbled by this recognition provided to ACF’s team in Dadri. This is a testament to the untiring efforts of our teams, the total participation from our communities and the constant need to improve on our own targets.”
Under the WASH initiative across locations, ACF also conducts gap analysis across schools and communities to ensure 100% availability of safe drinking water and functional toilet facilities. It also initiates hygiene education for children and adults including proper hand washing to prevent diseases. Such interventions are playing a vital role in reaching the ‘SDG 6 Goal- Clean Water and Sanitation.
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