NGO Consultant

NGO Consultant
Odisha NGO Consultancy Services

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Health and community development in India

New Delhi, 18 November: For profit-making companies grappling with the problem of finding suitable welfare projects under the new CSR regime, HLFPPT, one of India’s largest Non Government Organisation (NGO), offers a cut-and-dried solution in its domain areas of health and community development. 

“With India becoming the first country to make Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) mandatory for profit-making companies, a vast corpus of funds has become available that can be effectively channelised for healthcare projects,” said Mr. Sharad Agarwal, CEO of HLFPPT.
Hindustan Latex Family Planning Promotion Trust (HLFPPT) is a not for profit organisation promoted by HLL Lifecare Limited (HLL), a ‘Mini Ratna’ PSU of Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. 

Reports indicate that around 16,000 companies operating in India are likely to spend around Rs 20,000 crore in a year on CSR activities. 

“The unlocking of large amounts of CSR funding needs professional guidance and support for its utilization in a manner that is consistent with the spirit and the intent of the Act,” Mr. Agarwal said, adding: “HLFPPT has both the expertise and credibility to meet the CSR requirements of companies. It can plan, strategise, implement and monitor large-scale social welfare projects on their behalf and ensure value for money.” 

HLFPPT is a one-stop destination providing end- to-end CSR solutions to corporates on a range of development issues in the areas of reproductive health, maternal and child healthcare, family planning, adolescent health and nutrition, livelihood and sanitation, besides HIV/AIDS prevention and care.
It has supported several corporates and PSUs in conceptualising and implementing their CSR projects, such as Merck for Mothers, CAIRN India, Essar, HLL, EdCIL and National Fertilizers Ltd. Several other CSR partnerships are in the pipeline. 

The enormous funds to be released under CSR offer both opportunities and challenges for companies. The challenge mostly lies in using the funds efficiently to promote social welfare. 

“Companies are willing to roll out CSR activities, but they need clarity. HLFPPT is keen to extend its expertise, ranging from technical consultancy to direct implementation, to support corporate houses in designing and executing need-based and community-driven health intervention projects that are efficient, impactful and sustainable,” Mr. Agarwal said. 

There are various successful high impact models that HLFPPT is keen to scale up and replicate in different geographies aimed at benefitting the under-privileged, vulnerable and hard to reach population in the country. Some of these standard CSR models are Mobile Medical Unit, promotion of institutional delivery, care of people living with HIV/AIDS, school health programme and voluntary blood donations. 

HLFPPT, which has been working in the area of public health for the last 22 years and is a pioneer of Social Marketing and Social Franchising in India, has created a separate vertical for CSR within the organization
“We can customise CSR strategies aligned with the company’s values, expectations, expertise, geography and products and also ensure effective implementation,” Mr. Agarwal said

Source: http://www.southasiamail.com/news.php?id=117062