ICICI Newsletter Financial Inclusion

8/6/2019 ICICI Newsletter Financial Inclusion

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Through our newsletter, webring you updates on our workin health, elementary education,access to finance, civil societyand the environment, as wellas information about corporatesocial responsibility initiativesundertaken by ICICI Group

companies, links to recentpublications and insights from

ICICI Foundations president andICICI Groups senior executives.For more information on ICICIFoundation, please visit usat www.icicifoundation.org.For suggestions andcomments, please email [email protected].

Issue 1, June 2010

Follow us on

www.twitter.com/icicifoundation

www.facebook.com/icicifoundation.inclusivegrowth

Message from ICICI

Banks ManagingDirector and CEO,

Ms. Chanda Kochhar

PARTNER UPDATE

ICICI Child Health

ICICI ElementaryEducationIFMR Finance

FoundationCSO Partners

EnvironmentallySustainable Finance

group

FEATURED

PUBLICATIONS

Read our publicationsabout quality in

education, ourstrategies for inclusive

growth at the districtlevel and more

Message from ICICIFoundations President,Dr. Nachiket Mor

ICICI GROUPCORPORATE SOCIAL

RESPONSIBILITYINITIATIVES

ICICI Fellows

Read to LeadHealthy Lokshakti

Global Private Clients

inclusiveforgrowth

ICICI foundationQuarterly Newsletter of


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As the world emerges from last yearsglobal recession, it is becoming clear

that the Indian economy weatheredthe storm better than most and is

positioned to surge in the comingyear. Engaging low-income andrural sectors in this growth will

be critical for Indias long-termsocial development and economic

prosperity.

ICICI Bank has been at the forefront

of efforts to fully integrate goodcorporate citizenship with good

business practices. This is reflectedclearly in our efforts to promote

financial inclusion a priorityfrom both a social and business

perspective.

Currently, fewer than 5% of Indias

600,000 villages have a commercialbank branch, and only 40% of the

population has a bank account. Lackof access to financial services for

a large section of the population

constrains the growth potential of the

entire Indian economy. Integrating

rural and low-income citizens intothe economic mainstream will boost

rural household incomes and multiplythe demand for goods and services

across the economy. Increasingfinancial access is therefore both

a social priority and an integral

business strategy of ICICI Bank.

Given the massive size of Indias ruralpopulation and its wide geographic

spread, neither the existing bankbranch-based infrastructure nor

the standard financial products

are optimal to meet the financial

needs of Indias rural population.ICICI Bank has and will continue topioneer new models for delivering

financial services, to customiseproducts that meet the needs of

rural customers, to bridge gaps

wherever there are missing marketsand to support the development of

new technologies that enable moreIndians to participate in and benefit

from Indias growth. To do so, weare working with key stakeholders

including agri-based industries,

government authorities and existing

rural financial intermediaries, as wellas ICICI Foundation for InclusiveGrowth, which serves as the centre

for ICICI Groups activities to promoteinclusive growth.

New models of serviceOne of ICICIs strategies for

Lack of access tofinancial services for

a large section of thepopulation constrainsthe growth potentialof the entire Indianeconomy. Integratingrural and low-incomecitizens into theeconomic mainstreamwill boost rural

household incomesand multiply thedemand for goods andservices across theeconomy. Increasingfinancial access istherefore both a socialpriority and an integralbusiness strategy ofICICI Bank.

Message from theManaging Directorand CEO, ICICI Ban

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ICICI Bank has been at

the forefront of effortsto fully integrate goodcorporate citizenshipwith good businesspractices. This isreflected clearly inour efforts to promotefinancial inclusion apriority from both a

social and businessperspective.

promoting financial inclusion has been

to provide liquidity to micro financeinstitutions, which reach out directly

to low-income households. WhenICICI Bank launched its innovative

microfinance partnership model in2003, micro finance institutions (MFIs)

reached just a few million households.

Today, MFIs reach approximately 20million Indian households, and ICICIs

partnership model is widely creditedwith jumpstarting the growth of the

sector.

In line with the Reserve Bank of Indiaguidelines, ICICI Bank also employs

the business correspondent (BC)

model to extend financial servicesto rural customers. ICICI Bank has

actively pursued financial inclusionthrough this channel and has been

responsible for steering the policy

and design work for the model. Thebusiness correspondent model has

enabled ICICI Bank to offer savingsfacilities to the poor and has also

enabled the automated payment ofbenefits under the National Rural

Employment Guarantee Scheme

(NREGS).

Customised products: As partof its financial inclusion strategy,

ICICI Group seeks to provide accessto a wide range of products and

services, like credit, life and general

insurance, and investment productsto its rural and agri customer base.

This requires new financial products

that consider the realities of ruralIndia, such as seasonality in income

and dependence on weather, alongwith the varying financial needs

of different customer segments,such as manual labourers, farmers,

traders, and rural entrepreneurs.

New technology: ICICI Bank

believes that technologysolutions will be central to our ability

to provide access to financial servicesacross the country. We envisage

employing the latest technologiesin the area of smart cards, biometric

authentication, mobile phone-based

platforms, rural ATMs, and theintegration of universal identification

(UID) to provide safe and securebanking and financial services to rural

and low-income customers.

ICICI Bank uses state-of-the-art

technology provided by FinancialInformation Network & Operations

Ltd. (FINO), a company incubatedby ICICI that provides innovative

technology solutions for reachingmillions of under-served people.

FINO has become the largest and the

fastest growing provider of biometricsmart-card technologies and banking

ASP platform in India.

Mobile banking, we believe, has the

potential to become a significantchannel for scaling up the delivery

of banking services and expandingaccess to finance in rural areas.

Opening markets: Based on

our belief that efficient marketsare the key to achieving sustainable

growth, ICICI Bank has worked in the

mainstream markets to partner others

in the creation of the National StockExchange (NSE), the promotion of theCredit Rating Services of India Limited

(CRISIL) and National Commodity andDerivatives Exchange (NCDEX), and

the development of other institutions

that helped mainstream marketsacquire more depth and reach out to a

wider audience.

By establishing ICICI Foundation forInclusive Growth, we have deepened

our investment in several areas thatare critical for inclusive growth in

India and strengthened ICICI Groupscommitment to create conditions forthe empowerment of low-income

Indians. In its work to enhancebasic health, elementary education,

access to financial services, strongcivil society and environmental

sustainability, ICICI Foundation

carries on an ICICI Group traditionof partnership in Indias growth and

development that goes back over halfa century.

Chanda Kochhar

Managing Director and CEOICICI Bank

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PresidentsMessage

Welcome to the first quarterly

newsletter of ICICI Foundation forInclusive Growth.

Two years ago, to consolidate its

earlier work in this area, the ICICI

Group established ICICI Foundationfor Inclusive Growth and through it

made a long-term commitment toempowering low-income Indians to

participate in and benefit from thenations growth process. Our support

for inclusive growth is grounded in

the philosophy of the ICICI Groupand its history of partnering India in

the nations economic growth anddevelopment.

ICICI Foundation has focused on

building the prerequisites for inclusive

growth across the country to createa platform upon which the citizens

of India can build their own lives. Todo so, we have established strong

partnerships with five organisationsworking in the areas of primary health,

elementary education, access to

financial services, civil society andenvironmental sustainability.

Why have we chosen to work in these

five areas? We began with primaryhealth and elementary education,

which we believe are absolutely

essential capacities for all humanbeings particularly for the poorest

to participate meaningfully in social,economic and political processes.

Through ICICI Child Health,

we focus on improving the

health of mothers and children bysupporting large-scale improvements

in government health systems.ICICI Child Health is working to

improve maternal and child healthin Jharkhand, for example, by

supporting the National Rural Health

Mission there to train community

health workers and Village HealthCommittees across the state to workwith communities. The focus is on

changing dietary practices, reducingworkload during pregnancy, availing

antenatal care from health facilities,

and promoting appropriate childfeeding and caring practices; the goal

is to see fewer babies born at lowbirth weight (under 2500 grams) and

more babies growing into healthyyoung toddlers.

Through ICICI Elementary

Education, we work to transformstudent learning in governmentschools by focusing on the quality of

learning taking place. ICICI ElementaryEducation has worked in partnership

with the state of Chhattisgarh since it

was constituted in 2002, developingschool curricula and textbooks and

improving the quality of learning for4 million children. In Rajasthan, ICICI

Elementary Educations work with

the government educational systemin the district of Baran has resulted

in students and teachers attendingschool more often and improved

reading skills among students.

While our view is that healthyand educated individuals

will have the intrinsic capacity to

transform their lives, we also believethat their ability to do so depends

on their access to transformativetools such as finance, which enables

them to allocate their resources most

productively. Through IFMR FinanceFoundation, we focus on ensuring full

financial access in India. Among otherthings, IFMR Finance Foundation has

been learning from and disseminatingnew models for providing financial

services. They have supportedthe development of new financial

products and services for migrants,

for example, as you will read moreabout in this newsletter.

Our work doesnt stop there.

In our view, for the Indiangrowth process to be truly inclusive,

additional efforts on the part of

civil society and policymakers arerequired. Through CSO Partners,

we focus on mobilising human andfinancial resources for civil society

organisations, which play a key rolein ensuring that the voices of the

marginalised are heard and that the

poorest of the poor are not left out.For example, CSO Partners platform

partners, www.GiveIndia.org andwww.GlobalGiving.org, help NGOs

raise money online and throughpayroll-giving programmes. CSO

Partners enables these platforms toreach both a broader group of NGOsin need of resources and a larger pool

of companies willing to sign on theiremployees for payroll giving.

Finally, we believe that if

growth is to be sustainable, it isessential to examine environmental

sustainability in relation to economic

and social development. ThroughEnvironmentally Sustainable Finance

group, we focus on driving research,analysis and policy change to make

Indias economy more environmentallysustainable in a manner thatcomplements rather that competes

with its development priorities. Oneexample of the groups work is their

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By establishingICICI Foundation forInclusive Growth, ICICIGroup made a long-term commitmentto empoweringlow-income Indiansto participate inand benefit fromthe nations growthprocess.


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new Environmental SustainabilityIndex (www.greenindiastandards.

com), a state-wise ranking of theenvironmental performances of

Indian states, which union and

state-level policymakers have

expressed interest in using as adiagnostic tool for planning betterenvironmental policies.

Over the course of the last two

years we have worked hard to

build these partnerships and turnour ideas into action and results.

Now our challenge is to learn fromour past efforts and scale up our

programmes to increase theirimpact.

To keep up to date on our

work, we invite you to follow

our activities and share yourthoughts with us on our website

(www.icicifoundation.org),orthrough Twitter(www.twitter.com/icicifoundation)

and on Facebook(www.facebook.com/

icicifoundation.inclusivegrowth).

Nachiket MorPresident

ICICI Foundation forInclusive Growth

Better healththrough research

Research on public health has beena driving force of development

around the world, leading to newvaccines and medicines as well as

improved healthcare systems. Butpublic health research in India faces

significant capacity gaps, and as a

result, research output in the countryis minimal and unrepresentative of

the nations health problems.

This is captured by what has beencalled the 10/90 gap: only about 10

percent of health research spending

is dedicated to diseases that affectthe poorest 90 percent of the worlds

population. Because of this, thetreatment of certain diseases and

certain populations women andchildren in poor underdeveloped

regions, for example continues to

be neglected in India and around theworld.

Partner Updates

The ICICI Centre for ChildHealth and Nutrition is aninterdisciplinary fundingand research centrefocused on improving thehealth and nutrition ofvulnerable women, infantsand young children across

India.

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In this context, ICICI Child Healthis initiating a research practice to

strengthen public health research inIndia. For a number of years, ICICI

Child Health has supported actionresearch projects to improve the

health and nutrition of mothers and

children across the country. Theyhave worked on large-scale projects

with communities in Jharkhand,for example, to reduce the

proportion of low birth weight, and

in Melghat, a primarily tribal regionin Maharashtra, to improve early

child development and nutrition.Through these projects, ICICI Child

Health has encountered a number ofchallenges including lack of research

and data and difficulty in attracting

and retaining human resources withresearch capacity.

With this in mind, ICICI Child

Healths research practice focuseson strengthening public health

research capacity at the individual,organisational and sectoral

levels, particularly in resource-

poor settings. Through targetedtraining programmes and forums

for knowledge sharing, ICICI ChildHealth will improve public health

research capacity among local-level researchers, community-level

organisations, and practitioners.

They will also build capacity byproviding support for academic

fellowships supporting researchersto undertake studies on topics of

strategic interest to ICICI Child Health

and for the advancement of Indianpublic health journals.

As part of this new research

initiative, a meeting, Exchange of

Research Experiences in India, wasco-organised by ICICI Child Healthand the London School of Hygiene

and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)

on March 3-4, 2010 in Delhi. Themeeting brought together academics

and researchers from LSHTM andcollaborators from Indian research

institutions to discuss public healthresearch experiences, resources

available and to share experiences

with various models of researchcollaborations and partnerships.

For more information onICICI Foundations workon primary health visit

www.icicifoundation.org/icchn-9.htm

ICICI CHILD HEALTH

VisionOur vision is a worldfree of povertyin which everyindividual has thefreedom and powerto create and sustaina just society inwhich to live.


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Empowering teachersfor improved education

One of ICICI Elementary Educations

partners is the Kolkata-based NGOVikramshila Education Resource

Society, which works to make qualityeducation available to the most

deprived groups of children. ICICIElementary Education and Vikramshila

share a focus on transforming

the quality of education in Indiasschools by focusing on the quality of

teaching and learning. Many gaps ineducational quality can be addressed

through improved curriculum, but thecapacity and agency of teachers is

an aspect of educational quality that

is sometimes overlooked. As part ofits core work to build the capacity of

teachers, Vikramshila employs someunique methods to empower and

professionalise teachers.

Vikramshilas Shikshak Sammelans

advocacy-based conventionswith teachers and educationists

offer a platform for teachers andpolicymakers to sit together and

discuss educational issues, whichcan help to identify issues that

need urgent attention at the policylevel. One such issue is teacherprofessionalism, or what many

teachers perceive as a systematicdegradation of their profession.

Teacher professionalism is relevantto the quality of education because it

affects the role, working conditions

ICICI ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

and pedagogy of the teacher, whichin turn affect childrens ability to learn

effectively.

At a Shikshak Sammelan in Tripurathis past November, teachers met

to discuss their teaching/working

conditions and status in society withlocal level political representatives and

administration functionaries. Panellistsnoted that simply delivering the states

demanding curriculum and conformingto the evaluation system takes up all

of teachers time, leaving no scope for

innovative teaching or understandingthe individual learning needs of

children.

Policymakers sometimes disregardthe role that teaching and learning

conditions play in teachers

effectiveness and therefore inchildrens learning. Because of this,

providing teachers with the opportunityto identify aspects of policy and

practice that impede their work can be

an important driver of policy changesto improve education.

To ensure that their students are

learning, teachers must be empoweredto exercise professional judgment

in teaching. Unfortunately, Indiasteachers have often found themselves

on the wrong side of the accountability

debate in education. Teachers at theTripura Sammelan felt anything but

empowered and expressed their anguish

at the repeated failure they see in theoutcomes of their efforts and hard work.

During discussions about punishmentand discipline, teachers lamented

the widespread media portrayal offrustrated, ill-tempered teachers and their

unrestrained use of corporal punishment

in classrooms. Living in constant fearof public remonstration for disciplinary

activity in the classroom impededthem from developing any deeper

acquaintance with their students andinterest in his or her overall progress.

ICICI Elementary Education supports

such forums as an effective means of

organising government teachers into aprofessional body that is empowered

to make decisions about the content,methodology and evaluation of their

work. By empowering and motivating

teachers to innovate, Vikramshilas

Shikshak Sammelans and their uniqueinteractions can give teachers as well asstudents a chance to succeed.

For more information on

ICICI Foundations work onelementary education visit

www.icicifoundation.org/icee-10.htm

The ICICI Centre forElementary Educationis an interdisciplinaryorganisation dedicatedto improving theprovision of elementaryeducation in governmentschools in India.

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Mission

Our mission is to create and support strong independentorganisations which work towards empowering the poor toparticipate in and benefit from the Indian growth process.


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IFMR FINANCE FOUNDATION

IFMR FinanceFoundations missionis to ensure that every

individual and everyenterprise in India hascomplete access tofinancial services.

cFinancial services forunderserved communitiesOne of IFMR Finance Foundations

research priorities is to understand the

needs and behaviours of low-incomeindividuals, households and small

enterprises that have traditionallybeen underserved by the formal

financial market. Once equippedwith insight about these underserved

populations, IFMR Finance Foundation

supports the development of highquality financial services that meet

their needs.

IFMR Finance Foundation haspartnered with Aajeevika Bureau,

for example, to develop origination

models for rural migrants. AajeevikaBureau (www.aajeevika.org) is a non-

profit organisation headquarteredin Udaipur that provides services

and security to seasonal migrantswho migrate to seek employment

in cities, factories and farms. Rural

migrants are one of the mostfinancially excluded groups in India,

primarily because of their mobility,lack of identity proof and absence

of appropriate financial products.IFMR Finance Foundation supported

Aajeevika Bureau to develop financial

services products and deliverychannels for rural migrants and

their families back in the village byincubating Rajasthan Shram Sarathi

Association (RSSA), a Section 25Company. Following registration and

issuance of identity cards for migrants

by Aajeevika Bureau, RSSA providescredit, facilitates opening of bank

accounts and offers pension andinsurance products from third party

institutions.

Migrants and their families have

specific needs that differ from other

low-income and financially excludedcommunities. Families who staybehind at the source, for example,

may find it difficult to meet householdconsumption needs. At the migration

destination, migrants may not

have sufficient income particularlyin their initial months to pay for

accommodation and food. Payments

to migrants are rarely made on time,and lack of access to affordable and

timely credit forces migrant workersto borrow money from moneylenders

or contractors.

Based on this understanding ofmigrants specific situation, RSSA

offers loans and other financialproducts to meet their needs. One

loan that RSSA offers to migrants

is designed to enable migration, sothat workers have enough money

to reach their destination and/or

make immediate arrangements foraccommodation. Loans are also

offered for health, to cover fees oftraining programmes, to set up small

businesses and for the consumptionexpenditure of workers and their

families back in the villages.

Because the incomes of migrants areoften low and unpredictable, RSSA

wanted to put in place a mechanism

that allows migrants to collect moneyas it comes in. At the time of loan

disbursement, a gullak (savings box)

is issued to the customer, to collectmoney for repayment. In addition tohelping ensure timely repayment,

this gullak system helps the RSSA

team understand the ability of a

family to save. It allows them to offercomplementary products such as

insurance and pension, as well as bank

accounts to families that are able to

save large amounts. Aajeevika reportsthat this gullak system seems to beacquiring a central position in the

money management system of migranthouseholds engaged in daily wage

labour, highlighting the importance of

short-term consumption smoothing forsuch households.

Learning from the experiences of

working with the migrant population,IFMR Finance Foundation plans to

support the expansion of the projectand to develop RSSA into a full-service

financial institution that offers a widerrange of financial services. They planto use innovative channel technologies

with low capital expenditure, likemobile-based payment technology,

to reach migrant populations. Theinstitution will also offer to clients

wealth management advice on using

financial services to achieve theirlifecycle goals. RSSA can then serve as

a model for similar institutions acrossthe country, a significant development

given the rapid increase in migration in

many parts of rural India.

For more information on ICICI

Foundations work on access to financevisit www.icicifoundation.org/

ifmr-foundation-11.htm


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Outstanding AnnualReport Awards for theVoluntary Sector

By disclosing an organisations

programme activities and financialperformance for the previous

year, annual reports serve as tools

for ensuring transparency andaccountability in any organisation.

Annual reports are beginning to beaccepted by voluntary organisations

as a desirable means of disseminating

information to stakeholders andthe public, which enhances their

credibility. To be successful, reportsmust describe activities and

achievements, disclose administrative,

legal and governance matters,present accounting information in

an understandable format and beinteresting to read.

As part of their work to promote

transparency and accountabilitywithin the social sector, CSO Partners

in 2008 initiated the OutstandingAnnual Reporting Awards, together

with Financial Management Service

Foundation (FMSF), Spatial AccessAdvertising Consultancy (SAAC) and

Credibility Alliance (CA).

The second annual report awards,which covered the financial year

2008-2009, took place on March 6,

2010, at the India Habitat Centre in

New Delhi. The 240 applicants were

categorised according to organisationsize and judged on financial reporting,

transparency and effectiveness ofcommunication.

C.A Amarjit Chopra, President of the

Institute of Chartered Accountants

of India, gave away the awards,emphasising that the annual

report is an important source ofinformation reflecting right principles

of transparency, great narration andgood corporate governance which

in turn provides a big picture to the

stakeholders.

The winner in the large NGO categorywas Childline India Foundation.

Udayan Care took top honours inthe medium NGO category, while

the winner among small NGOs was

Ashadeep. Runners up among largeNGOs were Swami Vivekanand

Youth Movement and Akshaya PatraFoundation. In the medium category,

Dream-A-Dream and Muskaan wereselected as runners up. In the

small category, runners up were

Diya Foundation and Foundationfor Initiatives in Development and

Education for All (IDEA).

Soumitra Ghosh, Founder CEO of CSOPartners, congratulated the winners

and the other entrants on the high

quality of the reports, observing thatthese organisations and their annual

reports will go a long way in giving

the voluntary sector greater visibility,preference and confidence amongst

their diverse stakeholders, ushering intransformation in society.

Anil C, Project Officer at Swami

Vivekanand Youth Movement,which was the first runner up in

the large NGO category, said, This

is a great recognition of the workwe do at a national level. Our good

documentation practices has broughtus this appreciation, we are thrilled.

For more information onICICI Foundations work to

strengthen civil society visitwww.icicifoundation.org/cso-partners-12.htm

CSO PARTNERS

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CSO Partnersis committed to

supporting civilsociety organisations(CSOs) throughoutIndia by mobilisinghuman and financialresources andproviding them withappropriate supportservices. CSOPartners provides

opportunities forcontributors includinggovernment, corporatebodies and individualsto engage with CSOsthrough activitiesincluding strategiccorporate socialresponsibility (CSR),donor servicing,

volunteering, socialinvestment, financialmanagement,governance,documentation,advocacy andcommunications.


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ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE FINANCE GROUP

The Environmentally Sustainable Finance group sees tointegrate environmental sustainability into developmentinitiatives, influence policymaing and support scalablecommercial and non-profit interventions to mae Indiaseconomy more environmentally sustainable from thebottom up.

carpooling to reduce travel emissions,or switching from incandescent to

Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL)

bulbs to reduce household emissions.

One challenge that theEnvironmentally Sustainable Finance

team faced was to identify theemission factors (how much CO

2

is emitted from certain activities) inthe Indian context. Emission factors

from an international perspective areavailable, but emission factors vary

according to local context because,

for example, the processes used togenerate electricity differ. To make the

nature savings calculator relevant inIndia, emission factors in the Indian

context are required. IIT-Madras hasprovided expert guidance in this area.

This project was initiated in September

2009 and the work on the Nature

Savings Calculator is nearly complete.Currently, the Environmentally

Sustainable Finance group is workingwith ICICI Banks technical team to build

the interface and position the calculatoron their website. The calculator will be

launched by ICICI Bank during the next

quarter.

For more information onICICI Foundations work on the

environment visitwww.icicifoundation.org/esf-13.htm

Helping companies togo green

In the last several months,Environmentally Sustainable Finance

group (ESF) has undertaken a newinitiative on strategic corporate social

responsibility, assisting companies

in different sectors to managetheir environmental and social risks

more effectively, improve theirbottom line by investing in green

products and green supply chains,and communicate their activities

and initiatives to consumers and

stakeholders more effectively.

As part of ICICI Banks Go Greencampaign that began in 2008, for

example, Environmentally SustainableFinance group is helping the bank

to build the ICICI Nature Savings

Calculator. This online calculator willappear on the Banks website and

show how simple steps taken byindividuals in their daily lives can result

in reduced green house gas (or CO2)

emissions or nature savings.

By adding up the CO2

emissions that

result from an individuals bankingactivities (e.g. receiving physical

monthly/quarterly statements, physicalbill payment) as well as non-banking

activities (e.g. travel, electricityconsumed, cooking fuel used,

water consumption), the calculator

is able to reveal the environmentalimpact of an individuals daily

activities. Once the final CO2

emissions have been calculated,

the site offers recommendations

on how to reduce emissions fromthese activities. Depending on theindividuals consumption pattern,

the recommendations might include

nature savings activities such as


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Helping mothersand children get thehealthcare they need

Healthy Lokshakti is an ICICILombard initiative to improve the

health of mothers and children

(0-1 year) in two tribal blocks ofMaharashtra. It aims to reduce

newborn and child mortalityby working in partnership with

government healthcare systems toensure that women receive good

healthcare during and after pregnancy

and medical assistance duringdelivery.

The programme is being piloted in

two blocks Trimbak and Peth inNasik district of Maharasthra and

is implemented by Vachan, a non-

governmental organisation (NGO),with support from Bhavishya Alliance.

Studies have shown that institutional

delivery and facility-based carefor mothers and newborns during

the 24 to 48 hours after delivery

can significantly improve maternaland child survival. In Nasik district,

only around 50 percent of mothersreceive ante-natal or post-natal care

and about the same percentagehave institutional births (the figure is

actually much lower in the districts

tribal blocks).

Healthy Lokshakti seeks to overcome

obstacles that mothers and their

babies face in receiving medicalcare. First are the delays in seekingappropriate care, which may result

from lack of transportation to a

hospital, lack of money to pay fortreatment, or other community and

family factors. Another obstacle isin receiving quality service at health

facilities, which may result from staffshortages or low levels of training at

the facility.

To address these delays, Healthy

Lokshakti will set up a health helplineto receive calls and provide assistance

with child and maternal health issues.This will be linked to a transportation

system at the block level to ensure

appropriate emergency care. InTrimbak block, Vachan has partnered

with a local taxi union to provideemergency transportation, while in

Peth, its own vehicles will be madeavailable.

A flexi-pool financial system will beset up at the community level to

meet the emergency financial needsof mothers and children. A multi-

skill training has been proposed fordoctors and paramedics at primary

health centres and rural hospitals, as

well as for ASHAs (Accredited SocialHealth Activists) and health workers to

improve quality of their services.

ICICI Foundation along with the Global Private Clients (GPC) group of

ICICI Bank has launched a new initiative to enable the GPCs high networth clients to participate in the development process by volunteering

their time and skills, mentoring a social enterprise, assisting the boardof an NGO or taking informed decisions on donating money to a cause.

The relationship managers of the GPC group will shortly introduce this

new programme to the customers.

ICICI Foundations CSR team conducted a workshop to orient therelationship managers with the programme and the concept of

philanthropy counselling. The participants were very enthusiasticabout the programme concept and felt that it held a lot of promise.

Mr. IAS Balamurugan, Business Head GPC, ICICI Bank, declared the

programme a truly excellent opportunity which offers a completebouquet of philanthropy services to engage our clients to give back to

society.

Featured

Publications

For more in-depthinformation aboutICICI Foundationswor, tae a looat some of ourpublications:

The Indian PublicSchool System:Time for a QualityRevolutionICICI Foundations October2009 report identifies a set ofinitiatives that will improvethe quality of education inpublic schools across thecountry.

Strategies forInclusive Growth:Some Perspectivesfrom the FieldReport on ICICI Foundationsdistrict-level strategies forinclusive growth and the

foundations experiences withover 30 effective localised

interventions.

Flood RehabilitationProgramme 2008: AHumanitarian Responseby ICICI Group

Companies, Employeesand CustomersReport on ICICI Groupsprogramme for the long-term rehabilitation of areasof Orissa, Bihar and WestBengal that were affected bymassive flooding in 2008.

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ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth

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