Smt. Mamta Saikia is the Chief Executive Officer of Bharti Foundation, the development arm of Bharti Enterprises, one of India’s leading business groups with interests in telecom, agri business, financial services, retail, realty, and communication & media devices. She leads the development of the organization and its education programs at primary, elementary and senior secondary standards. Through her experience, clear vision and strategic thinking, she has also been able to establish a successful and replicable model of Public Private Partnership.

Mamta has recently been honoured in the 100 Women Achievers of India, an initiative by the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD), Govt. of India. She has been honored among 2019 Class of Influential Leaders by AACSB International – the world’s largest business education alliance. Under her leadership, Bharti Foundation also bagged the ‘Hurun India CSR and Philanthropy Award 2019’ at its very first edition. She has also been awarded the Karmaveer Puraskaar – National Citizen Awards for Social Justice and Action for her contribution to the field of development and corporate social responsibility. She authored a book titled “Money matters…People Too” which is based on the issue of self-reliance in the Indian NGO sector and was released in Germany in June 2005.

In an exclusive interview, Mamta   Saikia shares with Marie Banu Bharti Foundation’s CSR programmes.

About Bharti Foundation and its key CSR Focus areas?

Bharti Foundation was set up in the year 2000 as the philanthropic arm of Bharti Enterprises. Since its inception, the Foundation has been proactively engaged in formulating and executing education programs in primary, secondary and higher education as well as sanitation.

Since 2006, the flagship Satya Bharti School Program has been providing free quality education to thousands of underprivileged children in 183 schools in rural areas across six states, with a focus on the girl child.

The impact of quality education has been scaled-up by transferring the learning and good practices of this program to over 2,45,000 students studying in nearly 800 partner government schools across 13 states and union territories, through the Satya Bharti Quality Support Program, since 2013. Satya Bharti Learning Centre Program (SBLC) was started in 2013, to identify and mainstream ‘Out of School Children’ in the rural areas, by offering remedial/bridge courses in collaboration with the government. SBLC Program has been integrated with the Satya Bharti Quality Support Program since the year 2018.

Satya Bharti Abhiyan, the sanitation initiative started in 2014, has helped over 2,17,000 beneficiaries by improving sanitation conditions in the districts of Punjab, providing access to toilets and by fostering behavioral change in communities. Together, these programs have cumulatively impacted over 2.2 million community members.

Increasing emphasis on CSR has only strengthened our relationship with the partners on field. The Foundation continues to play a significant role in complementing government and civil society action in support of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in close partnership with local communities.

Our Satya Bharti School Program, Satya Bharti Quality Support Program and Satya Bharti Abhiyan are aligned with Sustainable Development Goals of Quality Education, Gender Equality, Clean Water & Sanitation and Partnership for the Goals, and with government programs, like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, National Nutrition Mission, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan etc.

The higher education partnerships undertaken by Bharti Foundation are designed to fulfill the education paradigms of the 21st century. The Foundation has established centers of learning and research partnerships in collaboration with leading national and international institutions including Bharti School of Telecommunication Technology and Management (IIT, Delhi), Bharti Centre for Communication (IIT, Bombay) and Bharti Institute of Public Policy (ISB, Mohali).

Bharti Foundation has recently entered into a strategic collaboration with Plaksha University, which also includes providing scholarships to undergraduate/graduate students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

What has been the impact of Satya Bharti Learning Centre Program?

Started in 2013 the Satya Bharti Learning Centre Program was aimed to support ‘Out of School Children’ in the rural areas, by offering them remedial/bridge courses.

Partnerships were established with the governments of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand. Under this program children from remote villages, who had never been to school or had dropped out were identified. Remedial education was provided to bridge the learning gaps so that these children could be mainstreamed in age-appropriate grades and admitted to government schools.

The Satya Bharti Learning Center Program worked with the community influencers to mobilise children while ensuring their parent’s active participation in various initiatives. We had 1,522 learning centers spread across 3 states, to provide free education to 37,500 ‘Out of School Children’.  In this process 33,816 children were brought to mainstream learning. Satya Bharti Learning Centre Program has been integrated with the Satya Bharti Quality Support Program since the year 2018.

What are the success and challenges of the Satya Bharti Abhiyan progamme?

Bharti Foundation launched the ‘Satya Bharti Abhiyan’ program in Ludhiana and Amritsar districts (rural) in 2014 to improve sanitation conditions by providing toilets to households and institutions to foster behavioral change among community members. The Foundation partnered with various organizations for construction of over 31,000 toilets, benefitting over 2,17,000  beneficiaries.

Through this program we were able to spread awareness on the importance of toilets highlighting the potential health risks of open defecation. The community leaders and influencers were involved in the process of monitoring and evaluation. While the Foundation’s team conducted regular quality audits, the state government supported in quality assurance of the toilets and mobilizing people.

One-on-one interaction with beneficiaries, use of easy-to-understand booklets, gram sabha meetings and rallies etc, helped encourage regular use and maintenance of toilets.

About your partnerships and learnings from them?

Partnerships with key stakeholders, including government, corporate sector, civil society, professionals, entrepreneurs and community is the backbone of our programs. Our corporate partners not just offer technical expertise and resources but also extend volunteering opportunities to their employees. Employees from these corporates are encouraged to engage with students to conduct sessions (recently all virtual sessions) as per curriculum and co-scholastic programs.

At Bharti Foundation we engage with our partners and donors though different types of partnership, be it financial, material support and support in terms of time & expertise. All our partners are kept informed about the progress at regular interval. Our teams also share success stories as well as evaluation or outcome reports form the program.

We have found that close engagement with the program leads to sustainable partnerships as well as students gain tremendously by the exposure various volunteering programs provide. Collaborations also encourage exchange of ideas and new prospective that helps us enhances our work in the field.