Holding Hands
A CSR Newsletter | Issue #2 | 2014
News and Events
Forbes Foundation
Education
Child Development
Youth Empowerment
FM Finishing School
Volunteering
Forbes Foundation
CONTENTS
Support to Quality Education Support Trust
News and Events
Child Development
Camp for tribal children at Chakan
Employability training programme with Global Talent Track
Unique project undertaken by Community Health Workers
Education
FM Finishing School
Study Hall students complete school successfully
Grooming youth for employability
Youth Empowerment
Volunteering
Antarang - Career guidance for students
Forbes Marshall members make a difference
News and Events
Forbes Foundation
Education
Child Development
Youth Empowerment
FM Finishing School
Volunteering
News and Events
Camp for Tribal Children at Chakan
On 21st May
a special activity day for tribal children from two hamlets adjacent to our upcoming manufacturing facility at Chakan was
conducted. 38 children of various age groups enthusiastically came together for this day. Initially a game of bursting the balloons was
planned as an ice breaker. Children got engrossed in various fun activities like making greeting cards with paper quilling, origami, clay
molding, tail the goat, etc. At the end of the activities the children were given snacks and gifts like crayons, drawing books and water
bottles. The activity was planned with resource person, staff of the CSR team and was supported by volunteers from Forbes Marshall. It
was an experience of joy for the children as well as adults.
News and Events
Forbes Foundation
Education
Child Development
Youth Empowerment
FM Finishing School
Volunteering
News and Events
Employability training programme with Global talent track
JOBS
Skill development and employability are the prime needs of the youth of our
country. At Forbes Marshall , we are constantly seeking
initiatives that would link youth from our communities to the “world of work “ . We came across one such initiative, Viz. Global Talent
Track . Global Talent Track (GTT) www.gttconnect.com is a path breaking global educational initiative and corporate training solutions
company.The venture has been established to train aspiring students on vocational skills that will help them get ready for the industry,
and eliminate the gap existent in their employability quotient.
The first batch launched in Pune was in association with us at Forbes Marshall, and was held at our Community centre at Kasarwadi.
The one month long program aims at imparting employable skills for those who have minimum education of 12th standard students.
Those undergoing the training program - presently 31 have completed the Kasarwadi batch- will be getting adept at Communication
Skills, Negotiation Skills, Art of Handling Customers and will be well prepared for opportunities in the Telecom sector. During the course
of the training programme GTT provided the students with real-life situations through on-the-job training in various organizations. The
program is part of a Government scheme and enables candidates to undergo the training programme free of cost and will enable the
youth to become employable.
News and Events
Forbes Foundation
Education
Child Development
Youth Empowerment
FM Finishing School
Volunteering
Forbes Foundation
Quality Education Support Trust (QUEST)
Improving Quality in Primary Education in Public Schools through the Balbhavan initiative
“The problem of accessibility to schools in India is almost at its end”, Mr. Nilesh Nimkar, founder and Director of
QUEST, was discussing with some visitors who had come from the busy life of Mumbai, travelling 90 kms to the
North-East of Thane district, to understand the pedagogy practiced in Balbhavans. “Excluding some rare
locations, government schools are present at almost every kilometre. Now the serious concern is quality of
education.”
Since the quality of education is at stake, there is a strong need for a model which can easily be implemented
at any Government institution for addressing some of the fundamental quality issues. Balbhavan is an attempt
made by QUEST to design such a model. QUEST is a not for profit organisation working in the field of Elementary
Education and Teacher Education since 2007 in four districts of Maharashtra Thane, Dhule, Jalna and Nandurbar.
With a mission of providing quality education to all children QUEST is trying to connect the dots in the sector
through research, teacher education, working directly with children, designing teaching learning material and
using technology in the field of education.
Balbhavan is a school plus programme for the students of lower and upper primary schools, to strengthen
the foundations of learning. Educated village youths are trained to become ‘Balmitra’, to conduct Balbhavan
activities with children of Grades 1 to 4, before and after the school time. The teaching-learning activities in
Balbhavan are conducted in a child-friendly atmosphere, using specially developed books and materials. Since
Language and Mathematics are the foundation areas in elementary education, Balbhavan mainly provide inputs
in these fields.
Mr. Nimkar shared the impact assessment of Balbhavan program by comparing the scores of students who went
through the Balbhavan program for four years to those of the students out of the Balbhavan program. “In
Language, around 55% of student scored above 75% marks while only 2% are below 25% .” He added, “Whereas,
Mathematics shows a moderate development as we do not have a structured program for Math like the one for
language, Maze Pustak .”
News and Events
Forbes Foundation
Education
Child Development
Youth Empowerment
FM Finishing School
Volunteering
Education
Study Hall
Study Hall is a programme which provides a conducive learning environment for Children from the 5th to the 10th standards
attending
government schools . Study hall functions at our Kasarwadi community centre five days a week for two hours in the morning. Along with
assistance for children in their school subjects, activities are conducted for exposure and fun. Every passing year witnesses an increasing
demand from parents and children who would like to enroll for the activity.
We are delighted to say that nine children graduated from school and the school topper is a student from our study hall. With all
enrolled for colleges , our past students are the first from their families who would graduate .
News and Events
Forbes Foundation
Education
Child Development
Youth Empowerment
FM Finishing School
Volunteering
Child Development
Ummeed
“Ummeed” Child Development Center gave short term training in child development and disability to our Community Health Workers
(CHWs) to work with families to promote child development in high risk populations in the less privileged communities. After the training
the CHWs effectively started identifying children with developmental difficulties, and families at risk.
This project is being conducted by our CHWs in our neighbourhood communities of Bopkhel and Morwadi . Nearly 500 homes are covered within a year and 10% of the total children are detected to be having developmental difficulties. This intervention was presented by
Dr. Vibha Krishnamurthy, Medical Director of Ummeed in a conference organized by World Health Organization at Geneva and the work
of our sincere and committed CHWs was acknowledged and appreciated by the dignitaries present at the conference. On the completion
of the year , the CHWs were felicitated in front of their family members who were very proud of them. Kudos to our Community Health
Workers!
News and Events
Forbes Foundation
Education
Child Development
Youth Empowerment
FM Finishing School
Volunteering
Youth Empowerment
Antarang
”Antarang” is a Mumbai based organization working for career guidance for the 8th, 9th and 10th grade students. They conduct workshops for the students where they introduce the meaning of career, talk about different careers, opportunities available when a student
selects a particular branch of studies, discuss the attitude, expectations from self and from the family members and whether the expectations are realistic or not. The students are guided through various activities and exercises, at the end of which they are clear about
what they want to do in the future and how to go about it. Antarang counselors also talk to the students about work culture and importance of work ethics.
We thought it was very important for the 10th grade students to undergo this exercise and get sound career guidance as they do not
know about various alternatives and opt for the choice their friends select/their parents insist on. Often the students are not happy with
the career choice at a later stage and undergo immense frustration and psychological trauma. We keep hearing about cases of students
committing suicide. To us it is important to address the , issues of this young generation. Therefore, as a pilot project we selected a private school called Dnyanaraj Prashala which is situated close to our company in Kasarwadi. 50 girls and boys from the 10th grade were
invited to Forbes Marshall for the five day workshop. Follow up session is planned before the students schools/colleges start and they
would be assisted by the counselors in case they have any issues.
The students enjoyed the workshop as it was conducted in a very interesting way and they could do whole lot of activities and games.
They expressed that they have benefited from it immensely and have become clear about their choice of career.
News and Events
Forbes Foundation
Education
Child Development
Youth Empowerment
FM Finishing School
Volunteering
FM Finishing School
CII Symbiosis Finishing School
As part of Confederation of Indian Industries
( CII ) Affirmative Action on reservations in private sector for Scheduled Caste / Scheduled Tribe students, CII in association with Symbiosis Group have launched a program named as ‘CII - Symbiosis Finishing School’. . The
foundation of this program has been laid by Farhad Forbes, Director , Forbes Marshall in association with CII and Padmabhushan Dr. S.
B Mujumdar of Symbiosis, Pune.
The objective of this Finishing school is to provide soft skills coaching to the semi-final and final year students from various streams
like Engineering, Law, Management, IT, Architecture etc. Equipping them with communication skills and soft skills improves the
employability of these students. The uniqueness of this school is that the course curriculum has been designed with inputs from
Industries in collaboration with Institutes like English Language Teaching Institute of Symbiosis (ELTIS).
Faculty from Symbiosis & co-faculty from industry are appointed to train these students from industry & institute point of view.
Employees from various CII Member companies have given their inputs in designing and
defining the syllabus of this course on points such as interview techniques, personal
grooming, presentation skills, etc. to these students. The students undergo training for a
period of 10 weeks for 6 hours duration in each week over weekends. A joint certificate by
CII-Symbiosis is awarded to the students who have successfully completed this course.
Until now 22 batches have been conducted benefitting over 700 students. Forbes Marshall
has sponsored 4 batches along with sponsors viz. Tata Motors, Thermax and others. This
model is in the process of being replicated India-wide with the success stories of Pune being at the fore Mr. Pushkar Wagh, Manager , Learning and Development states” As a faculty
conducting sessions on interview techniques, work culture and group discussions, the entire
experience for me personally have been fulfilling and that of re-learning from the college
graduates.”
News and Events
Forbes Foundation
Education
Child Development
Youth Empowerment
FM Finishing School
Volunteering
Volunteering
FM member’s support
S. Rajeshwari , Internal Audit shares her experience of volunteering for the Forbes
Marshall Akanksha Centre:
Since long I have been nurturing the idea of associating with Akanksha in their effort to
uplift the plight of the children of slum dwellers and construction site workers. Everything
happens in its own time so now is my chance to do my bit for the society.
At our centre in Forbes Marshall , there are about 15 girls who come for English classes
who are also part of the mentor-mentee program. Objective of this activity is not to
provide them with opportunity but train them to find opportunities that will help fulfilling
their dreams. There are four of us volunteering for this activity - two of us from Forbes
Marshall , Swati and myself , two others, from other Corporates. We meet every Saturday from 4:00PM to 6:00PM. These two hours spent with the kids is the best time of my
weekend. We plan team games, puzzles, pick up topics like Indian States, Our government, Solar System, Vocabulary enhancement etc, each week. Most games are competitive in nature but we also emphasize on collaboration which is the need in our society
today. We also had a session of telescope viewing. We have planned a star gazing session
too in the coming weeks. They are a nice bubbly group with lot of energy and enthusiasm.
As we go long, once they are more comfortable with us, we expect they will open up with
their inner thoughts. They have aspirations and we do hope we can help them achieve
their dreams which may not otherwise see the light of the day if left untapped.
News and Events
Forbes Foundation
Education
Child Development
Youth Empowerment
FM Finishing School
Volunteering
Department of Social Initiatives
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News and Events
Forbes Foundation
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