19 Feb Outcome Report – The role of CSR in India’s sanitation challenge

The recently launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has trained the spotlight on India’s severe sanitation problems. There is an urgent need for government agencies, corporates, NGO’s and other like-minded individuals to work hand-in-hand and bring about a more effective and efficient approach to achieving the goals of sanitation through convergence with CSR. Ennovent in partnership with GIZ therefore recently organized a half-day workshop to discuss and create a road map for convergence between various programs to achieve India’s national sanitation goals.

The workshop was attended by over 50 sanitation experts and representatives from NGOs, corporations and donor agencies. Key attendees included Mr. Sujoy Majumdar – Director, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Mr S. Sen – Director, CII, Dr. KK Upadhyay – Director, FICCI and Mr. Manu Prakash – Director, TARU.

Following on from the workshop Ennovent has released an Outcome Report to share the key highlights and next steps discussed while assessing the role of CSR in India’s sanitation challenge. This report shares information about the sanitation challenge in India, highlights key discussions from the workshop and talks about the key areas of intervention for CSR programs within sanitation.

The main objective of the workshop was to provide a framework to create sustainable CSR models focusing on sanitation services. Changes and progress in the sanitation area require strong, productive and committed partnerships. The task at hand is too large for any one agency to handle. Hence, there is a need for the Government, Corporations, NGOs and other like-minded individuals and agencies to work hand-in-hand to enhance its reach and bring about a more effective and efficient approach to achieving the goals of sanitation through convergence with CSR.

Download the outcome report from the CSR in sanitation workshop  

As part of the next steps and to continue talking about the opportunities within this space Ennovent has set up a sub-group on LinkedIn, titled Innovations in Sanitation, to take potential synergies ahead. This working group will be effective in discussing the challenges within the sanitation sector, highlight new innovations and analyse how partnerships can be formed so that CSR funds are effectively used to address India’s sanitation challenge.