NCW proposes gender budgeting in CSR: CII-NCW Round-table with Industry

“It is crucial to educate and empower every woman, enabling her to reach her full potential. By transforming the lives of women, we can ensure the sustainable development of our society”, said Ms Rekha Sharma, Chairperson, National Commission for Women (NCW). She was speaking at a Roundtable on CSR as an Enabler to Strengthen Women’s Livelihood, jointly organised by the CII and the National Commission for Women (NCW) in Mumbai today.

Deliberations at the Roundtable centred around the role of India Inc., in strengthening livelihood for women and the importance of a collaborative approach with government, industry and civil society collectively working towards creating a robust ecosystem that would help women, especially vulnerable women, realise their economic potential. Ms Sharma emphasized on gender budgeting urging companies to channelise their CSR investments in sustainable solutions that focus on empowering women by making them economically independent. Ms Sharma reinforced the need to collaborate bringing together the combined strength of Government and Industry in the area of women’s livelihood.

Ms Meenakshi Negi, Member Secretary, National Commission for Women (NCW) touched upon key role of Industry and Government collaboration in specific verticals to achieve long term goals and reach incremental growth in those verticals while addressing the Roundtable.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms Rumjhum Chatterjee, Chairperson, CII National Council on Women Empowerment and Co-founder and MD, The Infravison Foundation, said that the need for CSR in women’s interventions is well understood and acknowledged that the transformative power of CSR initiatives is beginning to bridge the gap in the area of gender disparity. She said that working together, Government and Industry will be able to identify where and how solutions can be scaled up as a lot still needs to be done. Ms. Rumjhum Chatterjee also mentioned that women’s development is the game changer to measure a nation’s progress.

Present at the Roundtable were senior leaders, especially CSR Heads, from leading corporates such as TCS, Vedanta, Mahindra Group, Apraava and IndusInd. The Roundtable brought over 30 companies together on a single platform to identify opportunities and explore synergies for greater  impact in the area of women’s livelihood.

To accelerate industry engagement through its CSR initiatives, a Compendium of CSR initiatives of Indian Industry, ‘Boosting Livelihood Opportunities for Women’ was launched by Ms Rekha Sharma. The Compendium captures the journey of 19 companies that have identified gaps and successfully designed and implemented CSR projects towards empowering rural women to accelerate India’s inclusive growth.

The Roundtable paved the way for collaborative efforts to strengthen livelihood for women, which would have a cascading positive socio-economic impact.

13 July 2023

Mumbai