This case study comes from the ABB Sustainability Report 2022.
ABB strives to support communities according to their local needs. We often support a portfolio of programs at the country level, so that we can positively impact communities around our facilities while also providing volunteer opportunities for ABB employees. For example, ABB’s country-level organization in India has a long, rich history of community engagement, ranging from educational programs for students of all ages to diversity and inclusion initiatives and from healthcare to local environmental projects.
ABB India’s flagship educational initiative is its scholarship program with the Lila Poonawalla Foundation. Launched in 2019, the program provides 200 scholarships per year to economically challenged young women. These scholarships help them pursue degrees in the disciplines of their choice at engineering colleges in several regions of India and is supplemented with mentoring activities provided by ABB volunteers.
ABB India also runs educational programs to assist local communities, including a skill development initiative for unemployed youth in Kolar, Karnataka. Under a partnership with the Sambhav Foundation, a total of 120 candidates – one-third of them female – have received IT skills training, and 240 candidates have completed training as domestic assistant electricians. All of these candidates have been successfully placed with employers following course completion.
Three more projects have been carried out with the Association of People with Disability. The first of these, at the Shradhanjali Integrated School, aims to mainstream 200 children with disabilities. The project helps develop curricula, formulate individual support plans, including occupational therapy and physical therapy, and provide training for parents. A second project aims to provide early intervention services, screening 2000 children to identify needs and provide support for rehabilitation and capacity-building. A third project provides appropriate interventions for children with developmental delays. This first-of-a-kind initiative offers holistic rehabilitation services for communities via a mobile rehabilitation van equipped with assistive and adaptive devices.
ABB India also supports water management projects in drought-prone tribal villages in the Nashik district. ABB India has worked in partnership with a local organization to construct seven check dams, with three completed in 2022. The check dams have improved water table levels and water availability during the summer for people and livestock in the region.
Combining ABB’s interest in education and the environment, ABB partnered with Paryavaran Mitra (“Friends of the Environment”) to develop an environmental education program for students at 98 government schools in Nelamangala. The program – which covers water and sanitation, energy, waste management, biodiversity and climate change – also provides teacher training activities and customized manuals for teachers and students.
The breadth and depth of the programs provided by ABB’s country-level programs is notable, and we are proud of the efforts of our people to give back to the communities where they live and work.
