HCL Foundation’s Urban Flagship Programme – HCL Uday, Celebrates Achievements Under Education and Health Vertical in Gautam Buddh Nagar

Noida: HCL Foundation, in collaboration with its implementation partner NGO, Rasta, inaugurated a model bridge education center and distributed certificates to children who successfully cleared their Open Basic Examination for classes 3^rd, 5^th, and 8^th. Apart from this, HCL Foundation also felicitated ‘Depot Holders’, who are community volunteers trained under the programme as family planning advocates, in association with its implementation partner NGO, Agragami India,

 

• The model demonstration bridge and remedial education inaugurated in collaboration with Rasta at Sarfabad, Sector 73, Noida, Uttar Pradesh is equipped with a computer center and a library which is open to all children who are part of HCL Foundation’s ‘Gurukul’ project in Gautam Buddha Nagar in the state.

 

• Initiated in 2016, these ‘Gurukul’ centers have been reaching out to children from underserved slum communities and living in difficult circumstances. These centers not only provide bridging, mainstreaming and after-school coaching support, but also focus on life skills development as well as socio-emotional and nutritional needs.

 

• HCL Foundation defines children in difficult circumstances as those who are deprived of developmental opportunities due to their socio-economic-cultural conditions, such as living on the streets, slum-like habitats, working in hazardous conditions like laborers, children of sex workers, prisoners and other similar categories

 

• Gurukul centers provide regular follow-up and remedial support to ensure the smooth integration of these children into the regular school program. The centers cater to children belonging to age groups three to 18 years.

 

• In FY 2019-20, 18% of the 15,150 children covered through the HCL Foundation supported ‘Gurukuls’ across HCL Uday locations were mainstreamed into schools.

 

• This model center will not only work toward further improving the quality of education and nutrition services but also serve as a demonstration model that can be scaled in order to reach out to many more children from vulnerable backgrounds.

 

• During the inauguration, HCL Foundation along with RASTA also felicitated the achievement of 22 students from Classes 3^rd, 5^th, and 8^th. The students were presented certificates and applauded for their achievements.

 

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• HCL Foundation along with another NGO partner Agragami India felicitated ‘Depot Holders’ who not only adopted safe family planning choices themselves, but also worked as advocates for their communities after receiving trainings under HCL Uday. The efforts of these ‘Depot Holders’ helped us reach out to more than 7,000 eligible couples and helped them to adopt safe family planning choices despite pandemic related access challenges.

 

• HCL Foundation, along with its partner NGO Agragami India identified, and trained 109 family planning advocates known as ‘Depot Holders’ from the identified communities to facilitate distribution of contraceptives and creating awareness regarding usage of available contraceptives to eligible couples during lockdown.

 

• These depot holders were people from local communities whose main responsibility was not only providing contraceptives to the beneficiaries but also teaching them about the importance of family planning

 

• Agragami India, who are the implementation partner for the project, procured contraceptives and other reproductive health services that were further delivered to the homes of eligible couples and women of reproductive age. The aim was to prioritize the needs of women and girls of reproductive age.

 

 

Quote of Ms. Nidhi Pundhir, Director, HCL Foundation

 

“HCL Foundation, under its flagship programme HCL Uday, prioritizes convergence, uniting all key stakeholders to develop an integrated solution to break the vicious cycle of urban poverty. It takes a holistic approach addressing critical areas of a person’s well-being – health, education, care, nutrition, skilling & livelihoods. In the past year, the pandemic has had unprecedented impact on the education and health needs of the disadvantaged communities.

 

The model ‘Gurukul’ center in partnership with Rasta and the felicitation of community family planning advocates in partnership with Agragami India are few examples of how HCL Foundation is attempting to reboot its project in the aftermath of the pandemic and strengthening support to communities such that they are able to access quality education and healthcare services and reach their full potential.”