“CSR is an opportunity for companies to come up with innovative solutions for social problems.” 

Dr. Y. Suresh Reddy is the Director of SRF Foundation and oversees the SRF’s corporate social responsibility and philanthropy programs. SRF Foundation’s network has grown significantly under his leadership. He is a prolific writer, and has authored various books, such as the “Co-operatives & Rural Development” and “Child Labour in India”.

Dr. Reddy is a Ph. D. in Public Administration from SV University. He brings more than 24 years of experience in philanthropy, social change, and non-profit leadership. Prior to joining the SRF Foundation, he worked with the Byrraju Foundation, Hyderabad; Dr. Reddy’s Foundation, Hyderabad; CARE India (International NGO), New Delhi and the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), New Delhi.

In an exclusive interview, Dr. Suresh Reddy shares with Marie Banu his thoughts on the future of CSR in India.

Can you tell us about SRF and SRF Foundation?

SRF Limited is a multi-business chemicals conglomerate engaged in the manufacturing of industrial and specialty intermediates. The company’s business portfolio covers Fluorochemicals, Specialty Chemicals, Packaging Films, Technical Textiles, Coated and Laminated Fabrics.

At SRF, we believe that it is essential for companies to have a purpose, more engaging than profits and that purpose should be intrinsic to the fabric of the organization. Building on this belief, SRF Foundation (SRFF), formerly known as the Society for Education and Welfare , was set up in  year 1982 as the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) arm of SRF Limited.

Drawing inspiration from its founders, Late Sir Shri Ram and Late Dr. Bharat Ram, who believed in contributing to society through education, SRF Foundation is dedicated to the transformation of education in the country. 

SRF Foundation implements CSR programmes for SRF Ltd. as well as for 11 Corporate houses like IndiGo, IBM, Capgemini, HP, etc. This is a unique feature of the SRF Foundation. Our focus areas are Education and Skill Development. 

What are the advantages of implementing the CSR programmes directly?

I joined SRF Foundation in 2009 when our annual CSR budget was only Rs. 1 crore. Significantly, continuing the journey to  FY 2020-2021, our budget was 13.25 crore rupees, and we expect our next year budget to be around 15 crore rupees. Similarly, an equivalent amount is our Corporate partners’ budget too. 

I have developed the institutional processes and capabilities of my team to take up these CSR projects. We implement the projects directly in 21 locations in 9 states of India. We have set up our project offices and SRFF project officers stationed here.

SRF Foundation acts like a conduit in bringing the people together – local communities, government, and corporates. By timely delivery of CSR programmes, we have garnered goodwill for SRF Foundation.

The advantage of implementing your own CSR is that you can have more vision driven control on the quality of the programmes. You know what you want and, with the experience you gain over time, you know what works and what does not work on ground. 

Secondly, you have an opportunity to try out some innovations. By directly implementing your CSR programmes, you get well connected with the local communities and government. This helps you to understand their actual needs over felt needs and engage them in their own development process. 

What are the challenges faced during programme implementation?

It is obvious that challenges are faced by all organisations, not just SRF Foundation, while implementing the CSR programmes on ground. It takes about three to six months’ time to build the trust of the local communities. This is crucial as our project team needs to work with the local people while designing the programme.

SRF Foundation operates in nine States of India and the norms/systems followed by each State Government while engaging with NGOs, are different. In some cases, we need to sign a MoU with the Government. 

SRF Foundation is well-equipped to deal with our Corporate partners who are unique in their own ways. They have their own way of funding, their own expectations from the CSR programmes, and different reporting systems. 

SRFF’s aim is to bring people together and serve as a single platform for corporates, government, and communities.  We adopt an inclusive approach with  differential strategies. For example, for a school programme, few corporates want to provide physical infrastructure facilities like toilets, drinking water, library, labs, etc.; some focus on digital literacy programmes; few want to offer teacher training programmes; and some want to work on girl child education. Each one of them have their individual focus areas. 

SRF Foundation follows a holistic approach. We work towards transforming the school into a ‘model school’ where children gain holistic development. The challenge we face in this process is allocating more time and resources to bring about this change. I would argue that the physical change process of a school is more resource intensive but less time consuming. However,  the academic transformation of a school is more process driven as well as   time intensive. It takes around three to five years to build the capacity of the teachers and enhance the children’s learning outcomes. 

In providing a holistic education programme, with the limited resources available, we prioritise the activities. When we have corporate houses expressing interest to collaborate with SRF Foundation, we link them with our relevant CSR projects. For instance, IBM offers training programmes for school teachers, Coca Cola contributes towards physical infrastructure for schools; Times of India wants to work with Spoken English programme; Schneider prefers to work for school drop-outs and electrical training programmes; etc.

SRF Foundation’s approach facilitates corporates to participate in our CSR activities and at the same time enables us to address issues faced by the children, schools, and local communities at the ground level.

In what ways do you strengthen the interface with the government, corporates and the communities?

Strengthening  happens at two levels: at SRF Foundation head office level and at the program level.

At head office level, we sign a tripartite agreement with the respective State Government, Department of Education and the Corporate and clearly outline the programme outcomes and roles and responsibilities of each of the partners involved. Our team visits the programmes periodically to ensure that the programmes are implemented as planned and identify the gaps for applying better solutions. 

At the micro level, we coordinate monthly meetings and interact with our key stakeholders ¬–children, school teachers, headmasters, panchayat, government officials at block and district levels, etc. We encourage community ownership so that they are capacitated to handle the programme after our exit.  

How do you ensure transparency and accountability for your CSR programmes?

Corporates, who wish to partner with SRF Foundation, conduct due diligence to assess our capabilities for implementing their CSR programmes.  They visit our programme areas and also review our annual reports, governing structure, systems and processes, and legal documents (12A, 80G, FCRA). 

Once the Corporate expresses interest to collaborate with SRF Foundation, we submit a proposal with a budget, detailing the programme area and activities. Likewise, on obtaining consent from the corporate a formal MoU is signed. 

Notably, periodic monthly / quarterly reports as desired by the corporate partner is shared by our programme team. We also publicise our programmes’ best practices in social media. The fund utilisation certificate is shared with the corporate partner on a quarterly basis. We ensure that the funds are spent as per the proposed plan. 

Your thoughts on the future of CSR in India?

CSR is an opportunity for companies to come up with innovative solutions for social problems. 

Since independence, our Government has been spending crores of money in the development sector. The welfare schemes offered by the State and Central Government are laudable. The CSR spend is only around 20,000 crore rupees. The reason the government has made CSR mandatory is because they want the corporate houses to apply their technology, management practices, and develop innovative solutions for issues concerning education, health, sanitation, drinking water, etc. 

The CSR space is evolving and getting matured.  The recent CSR Amendment has stated Impact Assessment as mandatory for projects with a budget of over one crore rupees. This is good! The CSR programmes will be carried out not for the sake of spending the allocated funds but rather to make an impact in the society which can be measured, reported, and documented as best practices.