“When I joined as principal of Zilla Parishad School in Pimpalgaon in 2013, children from the community were mostly going to faraway schools for education. Teachers were even waiting to get their transfer orders and shift to other schools.

P.K.Laheri is one of Ambuja Foundation’s longest standing Board Members, and has had one of those careers where the mind simply boggles at all that was seen, heard and been a part of. He served as the Chief Secretary of Gujarat for 3 years and was the Chairman and Managing Director of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited, Gandhinagar – responsible for the development of one of the largest water infrastructure projects Gujarat has ever seen. Oh to have been a fly on the wall …

Across Ambuja Foundation locations, a cadre of ‘Water Volunteers’ is the quiet, driving force behind access to water in communities – for both drinking water and livelihood purposes. Playing diverse roles, from monitoring water quality, to operating irrigation pumps, these water champions work long hard hours – for free – to ensure water is available when people need it. Who are they? And what drives these selfless heroes?

Through a recent study conducted on Solar Irrigation Pumps provided by Ambuja Foundation, Nabarun Sen Gupta, a rural development professional, shares insights and key features of the importance of such pumps inspite of the given challenges.

Ambuja Foundation Bhatapara, Chhattisgarh recently won the award for Best CSR in the Health Category at the Impactful CSR Award of Metropolis Healthcare Heroes of India Awards 2022.

Ambuja Foundation’s SEDI team recently launched an Alumni Chapter in order to provide support to SEDI students - even after placement. This initiative was conceptualized to provide additional support to SEDI alumni who are placed outside their own geographies, by creating a community of alumni’s in the area.

“I used live an ordinary life – catching a few fish from the shores of my village. But one day I came across a relative of mine, who was returning from a big fishing expedition. He was a contractor for a boat owner and told me stories of catching hauls in a single trip worth 1lakh.

“I was one of 7 children and growing up, there were many days where my parents couldn’t provide even one meal for us all. So at the age of 10, my father sent me to Baishnabnagar to work as a child labourer on a dairy farm.

"My heart used to weep seeing my husband struggling to earn a decent income from his crop. And it wasn’t just him. The local moneylenders and middlemen were making farmers’ lives in our village miserable. I wanted to help, but how? I had never even stepped out of the house ever before!

Ambuja Foundation has once again been certified as a Great Place to Work in the Non- Profits & Charity Organization. Ambuja Foundation has proved to rank high in the High-Trust and High-Performance Culture which has made it seamless to bag this certification.

Aiming to equip rural youth with skills for livelihoods, Ambuja Foundation, working in rural livelihood and youth employment, has joined hands with Sir Mathuradas Vissanji Education Trust to upgrade its automotive training program. The Education Trust has upgraded the skill training infrastructure in four of its Skill & Entrepreneurship Development Institutes (SEDI) locations including Chhindwara (Madhya Pradesh), Jaitaran (Rajasthan), Sanand (Gujarat) and Farakka (West Bengal). This partnership focuses on advancement of the existing automotive training centres with BS6 technology labs and an upgrade of curriculum as per the market demand, to help improve the employability of trainees.

Ambuja Foundation has partnered with Godrej Agrovet Ltd to create income opportunities and support livelihoods via the ‘Grameen Vikas Project’ across 6 villages of Bundi, Rajasthan and 8 villages of Tilda, Raipur , Chhattisgarh - impacting a population of more than 28,000+ people. The project will provide necessary skills, expertise, infrastructure and training for the community to strengthen agro-based livelihoods, whilst leveraging government schemes, empowering women by strengthening SHGs and training youth in vocational skills.