Ambuja Foundation, a pan Indian social development organization dedicated to transforming rural communities has successfully undertaken multiple activities to play its part in the ‘Swachhata Hi Seva Campaign’ organized by the Central Government from 17th September to 2nd October. This initiative aims to reignite the spirit of collective action and community participation in cleanliness efforts across India.

“Millets are incredible ancestral crops with high nutritional value. Millets can play an important role and contribute to our collective efforts to empower smallholder farmers, achieve sustainable development, eliminate hunger, adapt to climate change, promote biodiversity, and transform agrifood systems.” - FAO Director-General QU Dongyu

A movement is underway across India, to empower women to become ‘lakhpati didis!’ Ambuja Foundation is playing its part – encouraging rural women to strive for a Rs. 1 lakh income and fostering micro enterprises along the way.

Sanjay Kothari lights up when he talks about his philanthropic initiative, Krishnashray Gurukul, a skill training institute where he has collaborated with Ambuja Foundation to expand its impact. Having spent a lifetime in corporate advisory, wealth management, debt syndication, finance, and compliance & taxation, his foray into Philanthropy has brought a whole new ‘spring’ in his step as he spends time giving something meaningful back to the community. And Ambuja Foundation is helping bring his vision to life.

Ambuja Foundation welcomed partners in the field across a variety of locations this month as they witnessed firsthand the impact of their investments on the ground in grassroots communities.

An event organized by Ambuja Foundation and Apparel Made-Ups & Home Furnishing Sector Skill Council organized an event in August for the women of Virasat to foster continuous improvement and excellence in the workplace.

Ambuja Foundation celebrated Independence Day with gusto this year, and was lauded in a number of locations for its work and impact:

Ambuja Foundation, in collaboration with Idobro Impact Solutions and Samhita-CGF, launched the CSR PACT recently - an initiative for CSR leaders to come together and discuss four strategic pillars: Policy, Action, Capacity and Transformation. After a decade of CSR law, there was a felt need to relook at CSR strategy and impact, and to bring together leaders from the space to collaboratively discuss the decade gone by. An invite- only forum, CSR PACT will be organized every quarter, and invites leadership to discuss challenges, share experiences and explore opportunities for collaboration and innovation.

In a district of Saurashtra, Gujarat, select villagers are of a princely lineage – being direct descendants of small-scale princely states that once ruled the lands. Here, women are considered so ‘royal’ that they are confined to the four walls of their house compound to prevent them from ‘mixing with commoners’ – their faces never seen by others, forbidden to travel and unless a person is of a particular caste, they can never enter their homes.

Ajija Bibi (35) was just 12 years old when she rolled her first bidi (cigarette). She grew up, and today lives in Murshidabad, West Bengal, which has emerged as a prominent centre for the bidi industry in India. Women in every household spend their days rolling bidis and have become so proficient at the task, that they can roll up to 3000 bidis a day!

The lanes and backyards of Lakhamapur Village, Chandrapur, are, literally, teeming with goats. Families here are busy expanding their herds and growing their small, but thriving, backyard businesses – the incessant song of bleating goats rings through the air at every turn...

When Ambuja Foundation, Ashok Leyland and Hinduja Foundation joined forces to improve the water situation in 5 villages of Alwar, Eastern Rajasthan, the men of the village denied that water was a problem. Tubewells used for irrigating crops had a 300-400 metre water accessibility and so they felt water was not a high priority.