Gruh Finance Ltd. is one of India's leading Housing Finance companies focusing on housing loans to rural India. The company's CSR philosophy is to serve socially and economically weak sections of society especially in the most underserved areas where there is a complete absence of infrastructure and opportunities

In the vein of 'I CAN', Ambuja Foundation introduced a giving campaign called 'I GIVE', to encourage employees of Ambuja Cements Limited to give and help those less fortunate than themselves. The campaign was kickstarted during the 'The Joy of Giving Week' (also known as Daan Utsav) - India's own festival of Giving, from 2nd to 8th October.

As we celebrate 150 years of Gandhi, in this newsletter, we reflect upon some of his core philosophies and Ambuja Foundation's work to advance these philosophies for the betterment of rural India.

SHG women in Chandrapur have set up and are managing an outlet to provide Health & Safety equipment to key stakeholders at Maratha Cement Works, a unit of ACL Upparwahi, Maharashtra - helping rural women earn another revenue stream to support them and their families.

Swachhta Hi Seva, launched under the Swachh Bharat Mission, was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and kickstarted a nationwide campaign in September to tackle plastic waste awareness and management.

Mahatma Gandhi gave equal importance in terms of effort invested, to his mission to secure Independence for India, and his vision for a 'clean India'. Though he was successful in gaining freedom for the country, his dream for sanitation was left unfulfilled.

Ambuja Foundation was awarded by Sri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, the Hon'ble Minister of Jal Shakti, for its work in water resource management in the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat.

Over 2.3 crore pumps in India are drawing water, round the clock, to support agriculture - often to grow highly water intensive crops (such as rice, sugarcane, cotton and banana), sometimes in severely water stressed regions of the country.

The Ambuja Foundation Annual Report was unveiled at the Ambuja Foundation's 26th Annual General Meeting on 22ndAugust and for the first time ever, Ambuja Foundation took the report digital, creating a streamlined 'E-annual Report' to provide supporters with a 'bite-sized' overview of the full report in a dynamic, animated way.

In Oct 2017, Ambuja Foundation joined hands with the private sector banking giant HDFC Bank, to implement Holistic Rural Development Programs (HRDP) under their CSR initiative.

Good monitoring and evaluation can help identify when and how an organization is accomplishing its social goals. This is vital at varying points along the life cycle of a program, to not only ensure the delivery of outcomes, but also, through evidence-based approach, maximise the opportunity a programme presents to make a difference.

When a Skill Training Centre is established in a community, what is the ripple effect? How does it affect the broader community, beyond the individuals who study there? To answer these pressing questions, Ambuja Foundation decided to measure the Social Return Of Investment of 6 SEDI training centres, namely Sankrail, Nagaur, Chirawa, Kodinar, Dadri and Chandrapur, between 2015 - 2018.