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CSC: Addressing social issues the IBM way
By Benny Thomas
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Saturday, 14 November 2009, 01:33 IST |
1 Comments
Bangalore: "Working for society through the IBM Corporate Service Corps (CSC) program has given a new meaning to my life," says Martin Hadinata, an IBMer from Zurich, Switzerland. He has spent the last four months working on an SMS based solution for the people in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Hadinata is one of 40 IBM professionals who have come from 19 different countries as a part of the CSC program by IBM.
CSC is a program that places IBM employees in emerging and developing countries to address core societal, educational and environment challenges, by empowering them technologically. "As a global citizen, we at IBM firmly believe that the challenges facing the world are too critical and far too urgent - and there are opportunities to make meaningful progress on them," says Shanker Annaswamy, Managing Director, IBM India.
Into its second year, IBM's CSC program saw 430 IBMers from 44 countries being selected for similar international assignments. According to Annaswamy, IBM spends $150 million annually on corporate social responsibility initiatives worldwide.
Through this initiative, IBM worked with organizations like SEWA, IndiCorps, Tribal Development Department of Gujarat, Ashoka, FWWB-I, Pratham, MITRA, iVolunteer, The Avert Society, Tata Institute of Social Sciences among others in India.
The 40 professionals were selected after a rigorous evaluation by IBM, more than 15,000 employees had applied to be a part of CSC and only about 750 employees were selected for the global program. "We select professionals based on their skills, only one in 20 is selected, therefore we have some of our top professionals working in these initiatives," says Julie Coyne, Manager - Corporate Citizenship and Community Affairs, IBM Growth Markets.
A majority of the work in India was done in Mumbai and Ahmedabad, which were selected as the first destinations in the country. IBM has announced that three new cities - Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune - will play host to the CSC teams in 2010. The first batch of around 30 CSC participants from around the world will arrive in February 2010 to work on a number of key socio-economic development projects here.
IBM is also collaborating with different state governments in India to address issues related to education. "Primary education is a key area of focus for us in India, for this we have started working with the Karnataka and Maharashtra governments and we are also supporting education of young girls," said Annaswamy.
Through these initiatives IBM is not only trying to address the problems in society, but it is also trying to enhance the skills and expertise of its employees to become empowered citizens. "I wish that I would get another opportunity to come and work for the Indian society, because there is so much to do here," were the concluding words of Hadinata.
