About
Aafaaq Foundation is a not-for-profit company founded to support communities to acquire social, economic, and educational autonomy. It works in the remote parts of the country with the belief that geographical inaccessibility should not lead to opportunity inaccessibility.
Location of work
The social problem that we are addressing is that of underdevelopment in remote India. District Chamba of Himachal Pradesh was declared a backward district by the Government of India in 2017. Salooni, Tissa, and Mehla are the remotest and most backward tehsils/blocks of Chamba. Our first intervention is in the Kihar valley of Salooni Block. The geographical inaccessibility makes the villages in the area, a few of the poorest in the country. The area has been ignored due to its remoteness and inaccessibility, there has not been much effort to alleviate extreme underdevelopment in the area. According to the 2011 census, the population of Killod, a gram panchayat in Kihar where we are actively working with the cluster primary schools and communities, is 1546. There are 290 households in the village out of which 150 are below the poverty line.
Everyone here is affected by the problem of underdevelopment in multiple ways. Our focus is on the low level of education among youth creating a challenge for the skill development ecosystem leading to higher levels of unemployment. The schooling system lacks severely in quality, leading to high dropout rates and developing a sense of defeatism in youth that there is no opportunity for them to meet their dreams. Seventy percent of the youth from this demography feel that they are inadequately skilled for the jobs that are in demand due to misaligned curriculum, lack of career guidance, and limited access to skill development courses. The dearth of non-farming avenues of livelihood and insufficient farm earnings leave the families in a hand-to-mouth condition.
Approach of the organization
We want to further the community’s definition of development, hence building local leadership and sustainability are our guiding principles. Our theory of change is co-created with the locals, based on their understanding of needs and hopes for their community. We believe that different aspects of a community cannot be looked at in segregation and the realms of education and livelihood should be amalgamated to achieve self-sustainability.
In the short term, our core work is to connect with promising, bright individuals of a community and place them in the government primary schools of the community under a ‘teaching fellowship’ program under our education vertical. They are trained in pedagogy, instruction, content, stakeholder centricity, and project management, to facilitate excellent education in schools, working closely with teachers and School Management Committees (SMCs). During the fellowship, fellows are required to work on a project in whole-school transformation or community aggregation, that must be self-sustaining in nature.
The community leadership vertical falls under our ‘explore work’, where we work with the youth and women of the community to establish buy-in, identify their needs, build necessary capacity and map them with desired opportunities.
The projects started by the teaching fellows, along with the capacity building through Community Leadership interventions, will become sustainable interventions, aggregating the community and channelizing certain avenues to generate and increase the revenue in the community. The revenue is then pooled back into the community.
Partner updates
These are three bright girls from the village who work with us under the Teaching Fellowship Program and are placed as support to teachers in the Government Primary Schools of their communities.
There are 180 to 200 Students in 4 Government Primary Schools in different communities, namely Jakhral, Killod, Bhidro and Daand. On average, each school has 50 students. There is active Engagement with a total of 5 teachers in the above schools and 1 Cluster Head Teacher.
SMCs of all 4 Schools led to direct engagement with close to 60-65 parents.
Our fellows take up projects on the whole-school transformation that arise from what the community envisions for education – mainly mothers of children studying the school. Our facilitators conduct weekly circles for mothers/youth. These circles happen in 4 communities reaching 80-90 community members.
Plan for the next 1 – 3 years
Challenges & learnings
For the underprivileged children, belonging to rural pockets of the country, the pandemic almost halted their lives. Their learning stopped due to the lockdown, poor internet connectivity, and unavailability of smartphones. With the lifting of the Pandemic restrictions, we started getting students to the community center and our facilitators started working with them there for a fixed period every day. Our initial focus was to get kids into a routine, check their basic needs, and then work on their learning. We have been recording 60 to 70 percent attendance of the kids attending classes in these community centers. We’ve created the following guidance to help us plan for the upcoming year organized around a few key questions: how do we create a plan to accelerate student learning? how do we accelerate student learning in the next two years? And what other challenges should we be anticipating as we plan to accelerate student learning?
Some key points that have become a part of our strategy as responses to the above questions are
Wipro Foundation is the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) entity of Wipro Limited. Going back over two decades, we focus on social initiatives in the domains of Education, Primary Healthcare, Ecology, Disaster Response, and Cities & Public Spaces.
Sachin Bansal heads finance function for Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting in India and South Asia.
He moved to Wipro Consumer Care in 2022 and prior to that was the head of finance of Wipro Infrastructure Engineering (WIN). He joined WIN in 2007 and over the last 15 years has essayed several roles including Plant Finance, India Hydraulic Business Finance, Global Operations Finance and Mergers & Acquisitions.
A qualified Chartered Accountant and a Black Belt in Six Sigma, Sachin has led several successful initiatives to streamline and strengthen the Finance function. As part of the leadership team of WIN, he played a pivotal role in driving profitable growth with improved focus on ROCE, Productivity and Cost Optimization.
Isaac George has held several positions at Wipro across Sales & Marketing, Consulting, and IT Operations for over two decades. Since 2014, he has been leading People Function and Employee Relations at Wipro Infrastructure Engineering. Isaac also heads the group’s social initiatives efforts and works towards creating an inclusive environment for Persons with Disabilities.
Samir Gadgil is the Head HR for the Chief Growth Office and all Corporate Functions at Wipro. He is also Wipro Cares’ Pune Location Head.
Previously, Samir has worked as Head – HR for Digital Operations & Platforms and managed multiple initiatives under HR and People Supply Chain Functions, including Talent Acquisition, Talent Transformation, Workforce Management, Facilities & Transport.
A seasoned professional, Samir has also served as the Global Head- Compensation, and Benefits at Wipro and worked with best-in-class Manufacturing, Consulting, Financial, and IT Service Companies in a career spanning over two decades.
Narayan P S is the Global Head of Sustainability and Social Initiatives at Wipro Ltd. He is also the Managing Trustee at Wipro Foundation, the social initiatives arm of Wipro Ltd. He has been instrumental in the creation of Wipro’s sustainability initiative and has stewarded it since its inception in early 2008. Wipro’s sustainability charter is built on the core principle that business and social purpose must reinforce each other in addressing several key challenges around ecology and the environment, education, and communities.
In addition, Narayan is Visiting Faculty at the Azim Premji University where he teaches ‘Ecology and Development’ in the MA ( Development) program. He is also a Visiting Faculty at Xavier School of Sustainability, Xavier University, Bhubaneswar. Narayan also conducts learning sessions regularly on Sustainability at IIM Bangalore and IIM Indore.
Narayan’s interests center around (i) the broad interplay between Ecology, Economics, and Humanities (ii) the role of the business sector as a change agent in sustainable development (iii) Sustainability in Education, and (iv) Sustainable and Inclusive Cities.
Prior to the current role, Narayan was the Global Head of Information Systems for Wipro’s IT business, when he was chosen as one of CIO’s global 25 Ones to Watch.
A graduate in Electrical Engineering with a post-graduation in Management, Narayan has more than twenty-seven years of cross-disciplinary experience in Business Development, Enterprise Systems, and Corporate Sustainability. He is also involved in sustainability advocacy as a member of several industry forums on sustainability. He is currently the Chairman of the CII-GBC Greenco forum for Bangalore.
Vikrant has recently joined to lead the human resources function for Wipro Enterprises which includes Wipro Infrastructure Engineering (WIN) and Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting businesses.
Vikrant comes with 25 years of diverse global leadership experience in Strategic Talent Management, Mergers & Acquisitions, Organization Design, Cultural Transformation & Change Management, D&I, and Leadership Coaching & Development across Services, Manufacturing, Retail and Technology industries. Besides Human Resources, Vikrant has also led roles across Finance & Audit.
With a career spanning L&T, GE Healthcare, Nike, Accenture, HCL, and Harman International, Vikrant has a distinguished track record and is an alumnus of the Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune.
Aparna C. Iyer is Wipro’s Chief Financial Officer.
Aparna joined Wipro in 2003 and over the years has held several finance roles, including Internal Audit, Business Finance, Finance Planning and Analysis, Corporate Treasury, and Investor Relations (IR).
Most recently, Aparna was Senior Vice President and CFO of Wipro FullStride Cloud, leading finance operations for one Wipro’s fastest growing global business lines.
Prior to taking over as CFO of Wipro FullStride Cloud, Aparna was the Corporate Treasurer and Head of Investor Relations for Wipro Limited. As a part of that role, she was responsible for building and executing forex risk management framework, investment of surplus cash, working capital management, customer credit risk evaluation, driving capital allocation decisions, managing balance sheet exposure as well as investor and analyst relationships.
As the Head of Treasury & IR, Aparna devised Wipro’s forex strategy, aiding the operating margin performance of the company, and driving improved predictability.
Aparna is a Chartered Accountant (CA) and was a gold medalist of the CA 2002 batch.
Saurabh Govil is the Chief Human Resources Officer at Wipro, and a member of the Management Team. He leads all Wipro’s HR functions, including talent acquisition, talent engagement, and learning and development programs.
Saurabh has been a HR practitioner for over two decades, and has worked with organizations like ITC and GE. Since joining Wipro in May, 2009, he has been instrumental in transforming the organization. His work with people, processes, and organizational structure over the last three years has contributed significantly to Wipro’s growth, improving operations and introducing many new initiatives.
Saurabh is an alumnus of XLRI, Jamshedpur where he completed his master’s in human resources. He is on the advisory board of SHRM India. Saurabh has been a regular speaker at NASSCOM’s HR summit. He also contributes to NHRDN’s journal as an author.
Anurag Behar is the Chief Sustainability Officer of Wipro Limited & Vice-Chancellor, Azim Premji University.
Anurag is a member of the Committee that has developed India’s National Education Policy (2019), the first comprehensive education policy for the country, since 1986. He has been deeply engaged with efforts to improve education in India, for the past seventeen years.
He has been a vocal advocate for the critical importance of public systems, in particular the public education system. His many years in business have given him an insider’s view of both the possibilities and limits of markets. For the past few years, he has also been engaged with environmental and ecological issues. He writes widely, including a fortnightly column for the national newspapers Mint & Hindustan, and other publications.
Anurag has earlier played leadership roles in business. As the CEO of Wipro Infrastructure Engineering, he led the business from being No. 20 in the world to being the No. 1 in 5 years. He has also been responsible for many corporate functions for Wipro including Brand, Quality, and Innovation. He continues to provide oversight to the social and ecological initiatives of the Wipro Group, as its Chief Sustainability Officer. He is a member of Wipro’s Group Executive Council.
Anurag has served on various boards including that of Wipro GE Healthcare Ltd, The University of Trans-Disciplinary Health Sciences, and of the TERI University. He serves on many government & sector councils, such as MHRD’s EQUIP, the National Mission on Teachers and Teacher Education, the Government of India implementation committee for the Justice Verma Commission, Karnataka Knowledge Commission, and with the CII’s National Climate Change Council.
He has an MBA from XLRI, Jamshedpur, and a BE in Electrical & Electronics Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Trichy. Both institutions have honored him with their Distinguished Alumnus award. He was elected as a ‘Young Global Leader’, by the World Economic Forum in 2008. He enjoys long-distance running.
Narayan P S is the Global Head of Sustainability and Social Initiatives at Wipro Ltd. He is also the Managing Trustee at Wipro Foundation, the social initiatives arm of Wipro Ltd. He has been instrumental in the creation of Wipro’s sustainability initiative and has stewarded it since its inception in early 2008. Wipro’s sustainability charter is built on the core principle that business and social purpose must reinforce each other in addressing several key challenges around ecology and the environment, education, and communities.
In addition, Narayan is Visiting Faculty at the Azim Premji University where he teaches ‘Ecology and Development’ in the MA ( Development) program. He is also a Visiting Faculty at Xavier School of Sustainability, Xavier University, Bhubaneswar. Narayan also conducts learning sessions regularly on Sustainability at IIM Bangalore and IIM Indore.
Narayan’s interests center around (i) the broad interplay between Ecology, Economics, and Humanities (ii) the role of the business sector as a change agent in sustainable development (iii) Sustainability in Education, and (iv) Sustainable and Inclusive Cities.
Prior to the current role, Narayan was the Global Head of Information Systems for Wipro’s IT business, when he was chosen as one of CIO’s global 25 Ones to Watch.
A graduate in Electrical Engineering with a post-graduation in Management, Narayan has more than twenty-seven years of cross-disciplinary experience in Business Development, Enterprise Systems, and Corporate Sustainability. He is also involved in sustainability advocacy as a member of several industry forums on sustainability. He is currently the Chairman of the CII-GBC Greenco forum for Bangalore.
