With a focus to create and preserve sustainable livelihoods, LTFS designs its CSR programme around one of the key hygiene factors i.e, Water. Water being a crucial enabler that facilitates livelihood, LTFS acknowledges the need to understand its availability, management and deployment. Realising and believing that the heart of our interventions is the rural regions and farmer is our prime beneficiary, LTFS channelizes its CSR efforts to bring in changes by addressing farmer’s key challenges in Water. A large proportion of population in India depends on nature based agriculture and the recent climate variability trends create an alarming situation for them. While the Rural farming communities strive hard to balance between drought and flood like conditions which directly attack their wellbeing, security and income, LTFS lends a helping hand to augment their perceptions on Water.   

Our Integrated Water Resource management (IWRM) programme brings in opportunities to vulnerable communities to regenerate the degraded watershed they live in. It brings forth challenges in soil and water conservation to the forefront and designs innovative and sustainable solutions to address them. We impact over 15,000 farmers directly and 50,000 community members indirectly through our IWRM programmes.

LTFS currently intervenes in the drought-affected communities through two IWRM projects - Jalvaibhav and Navnirmaan. The expected Outcomes of the project are to increase the availability of ground water, increase crop yield for food crops and cash crops by improving efficient use of water (more crop-per drop) and integrating water budgeting for village and enhance the household income from agriculture.

Jalvaibhav   

Name of Project: Jalvaibhav

Implementation partner: Dilasa Janvikas Pratishthan

Project Location: 12 villages at Dharur Block

LTFS has partnered with Dilasa Janvikas Pratishthan to implement the second phase interventions of IWRM in the 12 villages where LTFS had previously created 65 Dohas and de-silted 5 small water bodies benefitting more than 6000 farmer households directly and 30,000 community members indirectly. After requests from the community to continue the impactful drought proofing activities at the villages, the second phase of programme was undertaken.

Interventions: Watershed structures/ Drought proofing intervention

1.       Farm Bunding / Compartment Bunding

2.        Water Accumulated Deep Trenches (WADT)

3.        De-silting of dams and pouring silt on the land

4.        Continuous Contour Trenches (CCT)

5.        Loose Boulder Structures

6.        Earthen Nala Bunds 

Navnirman

Name of Project: Navnirman

Implementation partner: Manavlok

Project Location: 20 villages, Ambejogai and Parli block, Beed district, Maharashtra

The fundamental objective is to improve the crop yield for the marginalized farmers in the semi arid regions through Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) in the villages of Beed District, Marathwada. The project lays special emphasis on protective irrigation in order to improve crop productivity. The Project was launched on 17^th March 2017 in the presence of Additional District Collector, Mr. Ajit Kumbhar at Ambejogai, Beed district followed by a field visit to the locations of intervention. The intervention commenced with Baseline Survey and Capacity Building of community level institutions. The villagers are being motivated for creating Village Water and Sanitation Committee and other water user groups to get the community participation in water structure creating as well as maintenance of them.

Interventions: Watershed structures/ Drought proofing intervention

Following integrated water shed management practices adopted based on the need and resources of the villages

1.       Farm Bunding / Compartment Bunding 

2.       Water Accumulated Deep Trenches (WADT)

3.       Desilting of dams and pouring silt on the land

4.       Doha

5.       Continuous Contour Trenches (CCT)

6.       Loose Boulder Structures

7.       Earthen Nala Bunds

8.       Rejuvenation of tube wells      

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LTFS CSR conducts Stakeholder's Workshop with Community and Government at Marathwada

LTFS CSR nurtures and creates opportunities for sustainable livelihoods for communities through the key enabler Water under the Integrated Water Resource Management pillar of intervention.  We have partnered with grassroot organisations Manavlok & Dilasa Janvikas Pratishthan, to support 32 villages from the drought affected Beed district of Marathwada, Maharashtra.

A Stakeholder's Workshop was held on 1^st November 2017 at Ambejogai to appraise the District administration and the benefitting community on the programmes being implemented by LTFS in the region. Mr. M.D. Singh IAS, (District Collector and District Magistrate, Beed) and Mr Shivkumar Swami, (Sub Divisional Magistrate, Ambajogai) graced the occasion and applauded the efforts of LTFS in making a tangible change. Mr Manoj Shenoy (Chief Executive - Wealth Management & Group Head CSR, LTFS) along with Ms Richa Pant (Head CSR, LTFS) addressed the community and explained our journey so far along with the vision we have set for the future. The event saw the participation of 300 rural community members from the adjacent 32 villages of LTFS intervention.

L&T Financial Services is currently designing a platform for communities especially women to educate themselves and imbibe nuances of financial literacy leading to enhanced absorption of facilities and schemes granted by the Government and other financial institutions. Such a step towards automation helps Rural India to adopt schemes especially Micro-credit with the end objective of nurturing a digital India. 

LTFS has launched its Digital Sakhi programme which is a unique financial inclusion initiative aiming towards inclusion of rural women in digital payments space by strengthening their capacities in areas of digital financial literacy, sustainable livelihoods & enterprise development opportunities.

We aim to touch 1.5 lakh rural individuals through a cadre of 200 ‘Digital Sakhis’, who are rural women enabled and empowered with knowledge and skills to create a conducive environment for rural geographies to move towards a digital economy. This programme will be implemented in states of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh in FY 18.

Digital Sakhi

L&T Financial Services launched 'Digital Sakhi’' a digital financial inclusion programme for rural women in Maharashtra in partnership with Action for Agricultural Renewal in Maharashtra (AFARM), on June 29, 2017 in Pune. The launch event was graced by the Divisional Commissioner, Mr. Chandrakant Dalvi.

‘Digital Sakhi’ is a rural woman between 25-35 years of age, with a digital device in hand, equipped with skills and knowledge to confidently impart digital financial literacy training to women from the villages. The program will develop a team of 100 ‘Digital Sakhis’ as digital enablers, who in turn will impart training to 1,000 women entrepreneurs to conduct daily transactions using digital modes of payments.

She will also conduct camps in villages with the aim of sensitizing close to 1,00,000 villagers on various government initiatives and programmes on digitization and moving towards a less-cash economy.

The Digital Sakhi programme will be run on a pilot basis in 32 villages of Pune, Solapur and Osmanabad districts of Maharashtra in partnership with Action for Agricultural Renewal in Maharashtra (AFARM), an NGO engaged in rural livelihoods promotion, enterprise development of socially and economically marginalized rural communities.

The programme will build capacities of rural women on digital modes of payments; enhance their economic capabilities through entrepreneurship development and enable up-skill interventions on market relevant community trades.

Snapshots from the programme

Digital Sakhis of Mardi Village, Solapur District addressing the community while conducting Digital Financial Literacy camps to disseminate information on digital modes of payments. The ‘Digital Sakhi’ programme by L&T Financial Services aims to train and develop 100 rural women as Digital Financial Literacy enablers in the community. The programme has an outreach of 1,01,100 rural population of Osmanabad, Pune and Solapur districts.

LTFS values, respects and attends to the individuals desirous of support. Engaging the key stakeholder employee into the larger structure of the organisation, LTFS believes in the potential to create incremental yet impactful changes in the lives of those in need. Through the programme Boondein, employees volunteer with their heart and soul in projects and programmes specially designed to carefully bring changes in the community. The impact is both ways – as the community gets facilitated with the skills imparted, employees start to care more for the lesser privileged individuals whereby developing a caring culture in the organisation. Employees take pride and displays excellence with the confidence that they contribute to a sensitive and compassionate corporate house.

We are committed to meaningfully engage with bottom of the pyramid communities and usher in inclusive development. We commit to carefully design this through innovative solutions, development of measurable outcomes and sustainable practices embedded in the psyche of our Social Responsibility programmes. We acknowledge that in a nation’s progress, equitable contribution by every cross-section of the society is critical. By paving way for Sustainable livelihoods, LTFS empowers communities at the bottom of the pyramid to bring in change.

Water-wise and Money-wise has so far touched over 400 employees from 4 office locations at Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi as enthusiastic contributors and we continue to receive their endorsement as well as affection towards making a difference. Our volunteering efforts benefitted about 2,000 beneficiaries so far during the year.