Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR)
At Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, we firmly believe that the success of our business lies in its positive impact created on the society. With this belief, we ensure a strong corporate culture, emphasising the integration of CSR values with business objectives. We stand by our motto, 'Build a Better Life'.
Lives Impacted*
49,45,290 +
No. of Projects Completed*
141 +
Community Development
Serving the unserved and the underserved of the country has always been at the heart of everything we do at Ujjivan Small Finance Bank. With Community Development being a key focus area and a vital part of our CSR initiatives, we specialise in Infrastructure Development, health care, education and Aid programs.
Please find below some of the projects we have done under community development initiatives:
Infrastructure Development (CHOTE KADAM)
At Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, we always aim to create a positive impact on the society. Our Promoter, Ujjivan Financial Services Ltd. started the Community Development Program, Chote Kadam back in 2017 with an objective to give back something meaningful to the communities, based on their needs.
This community development program focuses on delivering projects that are selected and then executed on the basis of requirements and decisions of the community. We give attention to broad categories of public infrastructure facilities such as
Ujjivan Small Finance Bank has a strategic partnership with Parinaam Foundation to carry out social welfare efforts. The bank volunteers worked along with Parinaam Foundation for a better and well-built India. Having successfully concluded 47 projects in 17 states & UTs which has benefited over 31,58,590+ individuals, Chote Kadam is a movement that endeavours to make lives better, every day, in every way.
Some of our high impact Chote Kadam Projects include:
Healthcare infrastructure for CMC Vellore
Lack of timely medical care and quality facilities have always been a prime concern to the country, especially during the pandemic. As part of our healthcare initiatives, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank partnered with CMC Vellore, and provided 4 ICU units to their facility, especially designed to cater to a large number of COVID-19 affected patients. The units have been procured and have become operational, slated to impact about 500 lives a year.
Food aid program through Calcutta Social Project
At Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, we understand that building a better life becomes possible when our most basic needs are met. To further that Ujjivan Small Finance Bank partnered with the Calcutta Social Project, an NGO working in the slums of Kolkata. The partnership is intended to help more than 1200 people from the weaker communities of Kolkata through dry ration support for a duration of 3 months. Through CSP, we have also supported the online education program for underprivileged children and vocational training for the Girls Craft Centre run by the Calcutta Social Project.
Reaching out to rural children through e-Vidyaloka
While the world is going digital, the benefactors have mostly been the privileged, with the unserved and the underserved of the society left in the lurch. Taking this into cognizance, we at Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, partnered with – e-Vidyaloka, where we were able to enable access to quality education to the unserved by using digital technology. 420 video modules have been created for mobile app and broadcast as of 31st March 2021. e-Vidyaloka has also enrolled 3 NGO partners in Tiruvannamalai district of TN, reaching out to 35 children who are now availing the benefit of these classes.
The classes in Tamil have also been broadcasted on television through local cable networks reaching a massive 5.01 lakhs viewership. In Karnataka, 1 NGO partner has been enrolled to cover Dharwad, Bagalkot, Gadag and Belgaum districts, with 58 children benefitting from these classes directly. The classes in Kannada were also broadcasted through local cable networks reaching over 3.09 lakh viewers.
Cheshire Disability Trust
We at Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, firmly believe that everyone has the right to ‘Build a Better Life’, regardless of one’s ability. By partnering with – Cheshire Disability Trust, we drove this philosophy forward by supporting the Livelihood Enhancement Program to persons with disabilities. The participants would be trained on computer skills and other soft skills to make them more job-ready.
Food aid for inmates of Sumanahalli Society
Ujjivan Small Finance Bank has also supported the efforts taken to ensure timely nutritious food supply to 75 inmates of the Sumanahalli Society affected with Leprosy for a duration of 6 months starting from February 2021.
Health awareness through St. John’s Hospital
Dispensing accurate and timely information can make a world of difference, especially during the pandemic. To ensure that health-related education reaches out to over a 1000 people arriving daily at the St. John’s hospital, we supported the hospital in the procurement of 5 unique digital information kiosks designed to display health-related information throughout the day.
Livelihood Programs:
Training & Placement of PWDs with Cheshire Disability Trust:
Ujjivan recognises the challenges faced by the PWDs, especially the youth community in finding employment due to various reasons like poverty, lack of exposure to education & opportunities, stigma & discrimination etc.
While the employment opportunities are growing within the city, PWDs fail in meeting the demands of industry in terms of required skill sets, especially, without a professional skill background, basic English and computer skills, they find it extremely difficult to get employed on equal terms.
Towards enabling PWDs which equal opportunity employment, Ujjivan, in partnership with Cheshire Disability Trust has been identifying, counselling, training and placing them in appropriate companies and industries in line with their choice of interest.
In 2020-21, we trained 100 beneficiaries in Karnataka and placed 59 of them in the retail & hospitality sectors with an average salary of Rs. 12,500/- per month. These were placed with Amazon, Fernster, TVS, R Process and Leepra Technologies.
We continued our partnership with Cheshire Disability Trust in 2021-22 to empower 200 more PWDs in Jamshedpur & Mumbai locations. Out of the 200 trained candidates, we could place 124 of them with Square Meal foods, Quess Corp, Bellona Hospitality Services, DHL Logistics etc.
Livelihood Training to Youth with Divya Nur Foundation:
Through our association with Divya Nur Foundation in Bhubaneshwar, we offered livelihood training to 100 unemployed youth affected by Fani & Yass cyclone in 2021-22 and successfully placed 59 of them in the retail sector like Khadims, HDB Finance, Hunger Box, Monginis, Veggiekart, etc. The training aimed at imparting basic computer knowledge, English language skills and retail industry domain knowledge.
Sustainable Livelihood for Women:
Our partnership with Savera society in Purnea, Bihar, we have installed 16 machines to make significant change in the lives of rural women on techniques for manufacturing jute and banana fibre products including jute bags. This empowerment serves another noble social cause. By training more people in the making and use of such biodegradable products, we are also helping to build an alternate ecosystem for sustainable products.
Though the initial batch consisted of 50 women, this initiative has continued to add more and more beneficiaries.
Health Care
While Ujjivan has contributed towards renovation of several PHCs / hospitals under Chote kadam, the bank has been contributing significantly in the health care domain making the health care facilities available and affordable to the challenged sector of the society.
Healthcare support in partnership with St. John’s Hospital (CBCI Society)
Ujjivan contributed for 6 High Dependency Unit (HDU) Beds at St. John’s hospital when it was critical when several patients were rushed to HDU during the second wave of Covid benefitting hundreds of patients.
NICU at Marwari Hospitals:
Ujjivan partnered with Marwari hospitals in Guwahati to provide Pediatric and Neonatal Setup to help children’s treatment.
Covid Relief Work:
The Covid-19 pandemic has upended the world, disrupting the health and economy making things worse for those struggling to make ends meet. However, the primary threat was to people’s health. At the onset of Covid, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank partnered with the non-profit organization – Give India Foundation to supply 5500 PPE kits to hospitals in Mumbai, to support doctors, nurses and hospital support staff members in addressing the issues faced by the end beneficiaries across India.
Medical support:
In 2020-21, we extensively worked towards supporting communities during the pandemic with over 26 projects across India being executed, also benefiting the frontline workers (doctors and paramedical staff, police personnel, corporation and municipality workers and transport workers). We dedicated 52% of the CSR expenditure towards the cause and reached ~7,74,000+ public, 49,000+ police personnel, 10,500+ hospital staff, 12,100+ corporation/municipal/panchayat workers and 200 transport workers. We distributed materials such as masks, sanitisers, dry ration, sprayers and PPE kits, among many.
In 2021-22, as part of Covid relief measures, the Bank had initiated activities such as distribution of beds, bedspreads, oximeters, oxygen concentrators, oxygen cylinders, ITU beds, Ventilator beds, PPE kits, gloves, mask, thermal scanners, COVID safety gears for frontline workers, etc. which includes funding for 6 ITU beds to St John’s Hospital, Bengaluru and 40 D Type oxygen cylinders to CMC Vellore.
Sanjeevani Kavach (Covid Vaccination Drive):
We created a program with the help of our internal team and launched the Ujjivan Sanjeevani Kavach Program to vaccinate the public in our operational areas. The program was successfully executed at 478 operational areas and we were able to inoculate over 80,000 vaccines through PHCs, UPHCs, Government Hospitals & privately set-up camps.
Awareness camps:
We also started a COVID-19 education programme, primarily designed to create awareness about the pandemic. It provided information on how to remain safe, RT-PCR testing and relevant government insurance schemes and clarified misconceptions. More than 3,57,000+ beneficiaries were trained across the country.
Education
Several initiatives have been undertaken to improve educational access for disadvantaged groups. These were:
Partnered with Maithree Society, and adopted an education centre in Chennai, which works with children, who are categorised as persons with intellectual and developmental disability (PwIDD). The centre has 45 children with special needs, and they have purchased two smart boards with grants given to them.
Helped the Maria Nivas School in Harihara, Karnataka, to set up an IT laboratory. We have donated 18 computers to the school, and this initiative will benefit the school’s 1,100 students.
Ujjivan Small Finance bank has reoriented its CSR strategy, making the response to pandemic a priority goal for the FY 2020-21. We collaborated with Indian Association for the Blind (IAB) which is a non-profit organization that provides livelihood support to the visually challenged community. IAB partnered with several corporates for creating livelihood opportunities for the visually disabled community. However, the nationwide lockdown due to the Coronavirus outbreak obstructed the cash flow of the visually disabled community.
Ujjivan Small Finance Bank contributed Rs.10 lakhs under its CSR program, and the direct cash transfer helped 200 visually challenged families. Through this aid, families were able to arrange their daily needs such as food, medicine and other essentials.
Further to our efforts in extending better healthcare, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank has directly carried out support activities across 19 states in the country. We mobilized the regional executive committees of the bank to execute COVID-19 relief activities through the branch network. Through this network, we supported the front-line workers from healthcare, the police, municipality/panchayat workers, including bus drivers. Various relief material was distributed to the unserved and underserved public, such as PPE kits, dry rations, masks, gloves, sanitizers, sprayers, spraying vehicles, etc. The result was tremendous, impacting over 8,39,500 lives.
As part of the COVID-19 Education Initiative, over 3,57,000 people, including customers were trained on basic protocols to prevent the spread of COVID-19, with a host of benefits made available to them. The program also saw over 2,60,000 masks distributed and resulted in the enabling of 55,000 Arogya Setu App downloads.
Environment
Project Swachh Neighborhood
Ujjivan Small Finance Bank believes that charity begins at home. In adherence to our belief, we initiated our activities towards the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, where we took the initiative to clean our neighbourhoods.
The Project started as a cleanliness pilot campaign covering areas near our Koramangala branch in Bengaluru. The initiative was later scaled to many more locations during the FY19-20, actively involving employees and communities in The Swachh Neighbourhood project.
Our objective was to build a sustainable model by educating the local community members on maintaining a clean neighbourhood.
As the first step towards cleanliness, we identified the dirtiest streets and areas in the locality. After that, we cleared the debris, garbage dumping areas, and littering spots. To further ensure that these clean spots don’t turn into a sorry state again, we painted the walls. We went hand-in-hand with the local community and the municipal bodies to monitor the clean areas and assure that it doesn’t turn into a garbage dumping spot again.
In addition to that our bank's employees reached out to local schools and involved little children in our cleanliness campaign. Involving children in this social cause raised awareness in the little ones, and they realised the importance of maintaining a clean environment. Many schools supported the drive and even organised awareness marches with placards designed by their students.
The Swachh Neighborhood projects have witnessed overwhelming participation - volunteers, including Ujjivan employees, students, members from the local community and municipal authorities. We also carried out our Project Swachh Neighborhood in Pune Municipal Corporation areas. Later, Pune Municipal Corporation organized ‘Swachh Puraskar 2019-20’ and Ujjivan Small Finance Bank bagged the consolation prize in the Best Swachh Private Organization category.
Other Community Development Initiatives
Wheel Chairs through ProVision Asia:
As a part of our partnership with ProVision Asia, we distributed specially designed 40 wheel chairs amongst the differently-abled community in Bengaluru. Our partner helped to identify needy persons who would be greatly empowered by the mobility they gained through wheel chair use and could better support their families & themselves.
Shelter for the Leprosy & HIV patients:
We collaborated with Sumanahalli Society, an organisation that provides shelter and care for people affected with leprosy and HIV aids. We sponsored food and daily needs for 75 inmates for six months.
Disaster Relief :
Under disaster management, the Bank supported lives affected by Yass cyclone in Jaynagar and heavy floods at Tamluk and Panskura by providing affected communities with adequate relief material during their time of need.
During the Yass cyclone, the Jaynagar region of West Bengal was severely affected. Teams from Ujjivan SFB’s Jaynagar branch reached out to affected families, assessed needs and provided help in the form of dry rations, plastic buckets, mosquito nets, etc.
In August 2021, there were heavy floods in the Tamluk and Panskura areas in West Bengal. While the state government provided relief in the most severely affected areas, we worked with government agencies to provide help in the form of dry rations, tarpaulin, phenyl liquid and mosquito nets, and thereby helped to check the spread of disease in the prevailing flood ridden unhygienic conditions. We were collectively able to help more than 8,000 beneficiaries.
In 2022, Ujjivan undertook relief activities in the East region by organising health camps in Kamrup, Nagaon Mirza, Baihata locations which were badly affected by floods in the month of September and impacted about 700+ beneficiaries.
Disaster Relief :
In response to the devastating impact of the recent Michaung cyclone in Chennai, Ujjivan initiated a comprehensive disaster relief program. Our primary focus was on delivering assistance to the worst-affected communities in Mogappair, Tambaram, Porur, and Velachery aiming to alleviate the immediate challenges faced by the affected families.
The core objective of our initiative was to provide essential grocery kits to 5000 families, addressing their urgent needs in the aftermath of the natural disaster.
We collaborated closely with local authorities, community leaders, and volunteers to ensure a coordinated and efficient response. A thorough assessment of the affected areas guided our efforts, allowing us to identify and prioritize families in urgent need of assistance. Essential grocery items were procured and thoughtfully packaged into kits to facilitate seamless distribution. Our dedicated team ensured the direct distribution of grocery kits to 5000 families in Mogappair, Porur, and Velachery. Priority was given to the most vulnerable households, ensuring equitable assistance to those in need.
Impact:
The relief program made a significant impact by providing immediate assistance to families grappling with the aftermath of the cyclone. The timely distribution of essential items aimed to restore a sense of normalcy and resilience in the affected communities.
Project Swachh Neighborhood:
Ujjivan Small Finance Bank believes that charity begins at home. In adherence to our belief, we initiated our activities towards the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, where we took the initiative to clean our neighbourhoods.
The Project started as a cleanliness pilot campaign covering areas near our Koramangala branch in Bengaluru. The initiative was later scaled to many more locations during the FY19-20, actively involving employees and communities in The Swachh Neighbourhood project.
Our objective was to build a sustainable model by educating the local community members on maintaining a clean neighbourhood.
As the first step towards cleanliness, we identified the dirtiest streets and areas in the locality. After that, we cleared the debris, garbage dumping areas, and littering spots. To further ensure that these clean spots don’t turn into a sorry state again, we painted the walls. We went hand-in-hand with the local community and the municipal bodies to monitor the clean areas and assure that it doesn’t turn into a garbage dumping spot again.
In addition to that our bank's employees reached out to local schools and involved little children in our cleanliness campaign. Involving children in this social cause raised awareness in the little ones, and they realised the importance of maintaining a clean environment. Many schools supported the drive and even organised awareness marches with placards designed by their students.
The Swachh Neighborhood projects have witnessed overwhelming participation - volunteers, including Ujjivan employees, students, members from the local community and municipal authorities. We also carried out our Project Swachh Neighborhood in Pune Municipal Corporation areas. Later, Pune Municipal Corporation organized ‘Swachh Puraskar 2019-20’ and Ujjivan Small Finance Bank bagged the consolation prize in the Best Swachh Private Organization category.
Disaster Relief Activities
Disaster Relief Program in Michaung Cyclone-hit Areas of Chennai: In response to the devastating impact of the recent Michaung cyclone in Chennai, Ujjivan initiated a comprehensive disaster relief program. Our primary focus was on delivering assistance to the worst-affected communities in Mogappair, Tambaram, Porur, and Velachery aiming to alleviate the immediate challenges faced by the affected families.
The core objective of our initiative was to provide essential grocery kits to 5000 families, addressing their urgent needs in the aftermath of the natural disaster. We collaborated closely with local authorities, community leaders, and volunteers to ensure a coordinated and efficient response. A thorough assessment of the affected areas guided our efforts, allowing us to identify and prioritize families in urgent need of assistance.
Essential grocery items were procured and thoughtfully packaged into kits to facilitate seamless distribution. Our dedicated team ensured the direct distribution of grocery kits to 5000 families in Mogappair, Porur, and Velachery. Priority was given to the most vulnerable households, ensuring equitable assistance to those in need.
Impact: The relief program made a significant impact by providing immediate assistance to families grappling with the aftermath of the cyclone. The timely distribution of essential items aimed to restore a sense of normalcy and resilience in the affected communities.
When a natural calamity occurs, people in that region become helpless, lose their belongings, and suffer terribly. In 2019, one such unfortunate calamity occurred, where an exceeding amount of rainfall caused floods in many parts of India and ruined people’s lives. To help our fellow countrymen, the Ujjivan leadership team and the branches stepped into the field. In 2019, due to incessant rainfall, the central and northern part of Karnataka witnessed a devastating flood. Thousands of houses were damaged, making living difficult for the inhabitants. Ujjivan Small Finance Bank reached out to 6,000 families in the affected regions, distributing food-grain kits to households and providing essentials like clothes, bedsheets and groceries to relief centers.
Similarly, in the Mysore district of Karnataka, we assisted 144 families with groceries and other daily essentials. In Tamil Nadu, all Ujjivan Small Finance Bank employees' collective effort helped around 200 relief centers in Nilgiri area. We donated sleeping mats, tarpaulin sheets and blankets, directly benefitting 1900 people who took refuge in those relief centers.
The floods didn’t spare Maharashtra either. Areas of Kolhapur, Sangli and Icchalkaranji suffered most, and the livelihood of the residents were disrupted. To help the homeless, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank distributed sets of utensils to 3,000 affected families. Additionally, we distributed 775 blankets as an immediate relief activity. We continued to help out the distressed in Gujarat and Assam, aiding more than 600 families.
In the year 2020, a raging cyclone, Amphan, lashed furiously on India's coastal areas. It damaged small houses and buildings, livestock, crops and crushed the subsistence of more than 6,500 families. Ujjivan Small Finance Bank distributed relief materials like blankets, masks, dry ration, and tarpaulins to help the people in cyclone-hit regions of West Bengal.
We also helped 7,800 families in Tamil Nadu (Pondicherry, Cuddalore, Tambaram, Vadalur, Ambur, Mayiladuthurai, Kumbakonam, and Thiruvarur) who were affected by cyclone Burevi. Similarly, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank distributed more than 3,000 blankets to people and families suffering from severe cold in the country's Northern and Eastern parts. In the event of a fire breakout, families who lost belongings were provided with immediate materials like cooking vessels and blankets. About 55 families were supported under such initiatives in West Bengal.
Awards and Outreach
Partners
Voice Of World
Voice of World is an NGO providing philanthropic services for the underprivileged especially the differently abled. The NGO caters to 300+ residential and 2000+ non-residential beneficiaries. Ujjivan partnered with Voice of world to make difference in the lives of the differently abled.
Savera Society
Our partnership with Savera society in Purnea, Bihar, hopes to make significant change in the lives of the rural women by training around 50 women on techniques for manufacturing jute and fibre productsincluding jute bags. By training more people in the making and use of such biodegradable products, we are also helping to build an alternate ecosystem for sustainable products.
ProVISION Asia
As part of our partnership with ProVISION Asia, we distributed 40 specially designed wheel chairs amongst the differently abled community in Bengaluru. Our partner helped to identify needy persons who would be greatly empowered by the mobility they gained through wheelchair use and could better support themselves and their families.
Maithree Society
Partnered with Maithree society, we adopted an education center in Chennai which works with the children categorised as Persons will intellectual and developmental disability(PwIDD). The center has 45 children with special needs and they have purchased two smart boards with the grants given to them.
Ujjivan Small Finance Bank collaborated with ‘Calcutta Social Project’, a non-profit organisation based out of Kolkata. Together, we distributed food relief kits to over 11,000 people in the slum areas of Kolkata. We carried out the programs in October, November and December 2020.
We supported Calcutta Social Project’s efforts in providing online education for street children. Moreover, we were with Calcutta Social Project in their solemn initiative to give vocational training to more than 100 women in the community. The women were trained in the craft of mask making and stitching.
Know more about calcutta social project:
The Covid-19 outbreak adversely affected India’s education system. For the underprivileged communities, the light of education had almost vanished. Through our partner organization, “e-Vidyaloka”, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank adopted one district in Tamil Nadu and one district in Karnataka for providing education through mass view channels and digital classrooms for children.
Know more about e-vidyaloka:
Ujjivan Small Finance Bank partnered with GiveIndia Foundation for its ‘India-Covid-Response-Fund’ and granted Rs. 45,00,000/- for the program. GiveIndia Foundation used this grant to supply more than 5,000 PPE kits to major Covid Hospitals in Mumbai during the early stages of the Coronavirus outbreak. Our collaboration worked towards spreading pandemic awareness among 2,50,000 people.
Know more about give India:
Parinaam Foundation is a not-for-profit that works with urban low-income communities to bring them out of poverty through financial literacy and social inclusion programs. Their mission is to empower communities to live healthy, safe, sustainable, and better lives.
The collaboration of Parinaam Foundation and Ujjivan Small Finance Bank has successfully completed many Community Development Projects in India. It materialized the vision of helping the unmet and underprivileged. Parinaam Foundation, as a non-profit organization, has been an integral part of our Chotte Kadam Initiative.
Know more about Parinaam Foundation:
Sumanahalli Society
Sumanahalli Society was started in 1978 for the treatment and rehabilitation of those affected by leprosy. Presently, we are also working for the care of the HIV/AIDS affected, and those with various disabilities. It is managed by a governing body of individuals drawn from different walks of life. Thus, the target group of our work consists of the leprosy affected, the People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWH), the visually challenged, speech and hearing impaired, and people with loco-motor disabilities. As part of our support to the organisation, we have provided food aid for 75 inmates for a period of 6 months.
St. John's Hospital, Bangalore
St. John’s National Academy of Health Sciences (SJNAHS) is a state-of-the-art hospital with 1,350 beds that cater to all sections of the society. St. John’s Medical College, Bengaluru was established in 1963 by the CBCI with the aim of training healthcare personnel committed to serving the poor and the marginalized. It was dedicated as a memorial of the XXXVIII International Eucharistic Congress held in Bombay in 1964 and named after St. John the Baptist. A renowned Patron of Pope John XXIII, he was an ardent supporter of this initiative of the Catholic Church in India. Spread over 132 acres in a verdant campus in the salubrious climate of the Garden City of Bengaluru, this institution stands testimony to the purpose of serving the poor for which it was solely established. Ujjivan Small Finance Bank has supported them by providing 5 information kiosks, specially designed to display health related information and create awareness.
Cheshire Disability Trust
Cheshire Disability Trust (CDT) is a member of the Leonard Cheshire Disability Global Alliance, a worldwide organization striving to better the lives of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) through economic independence and self-reliance. From the time of its inception, CDT has impacted the lives of over 3,807 people by helping them earn a living and re-integrating them into the society. To achieve this, CDT focuses on employability-training and placement for PWDs aged 19 to 35. We have extended our support by helping them train over 100 PWDs with job-oriented skills.
Marwari Hospital
Marwari hospitals have been offering high quality care according to the health needs of the patients. Ujjivan partnered with Marwari hospitals in Guwahati to provide Pediatric and neonatal setup to help children’s treatment.
Divya Nur Foundation
Our association with Divya Nur Foundation in Bhubaneshwar aims at empowering 100 unemployed youth by training them in basic computers, English language skills and retail industry domain knowledge, so that they can get placed with reputed retail firms. Together, we could place 60 of them.
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