Hyderabad|India|December'2008:A unique Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative: Kubera—Edelweiss Social Innovation Honours (KESIH) has been launched with an aim to give seed funding of up to USD 60,000 to three non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working to improve the status of the girl child. The selected NGOs can use the funds either for their on-going projects or to start new projects. Kubera Partners, a US based private equity firm and Edelweiss Capital, one of India’s leading financial services firms, have come together for this unique CSR initiative. EdelGive Foundation, the not-for-profit subsidiary of Edelweiss is managing the entire process of the initiative.

The recipient organizations will be selected after a stringent process of review consisting of initial shortlisting by an internal jury, and final approval by an external jury of eminent panelists like Indu Shahani, Sheriff of Mumbai and Principal of HR College, eminent lawyer Zia Mody, developmental economist - Devaki Jain, Vice Principal of Nirmala Niketan and social worker, Farida Lambay, social activist and author - Harsh Mander, noted journalist and editor-in-chief of Indian Express - Shekhar Gupta, and the Managing Editor, NDTV Profit - Shivnath Thukral.

To ensure transparency and accountability in the selection process and support EdelGive Foundation, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) will work as field partners for the project, apart from being involved as internal jury. The process advisors and official tabulators are Ernst & Young Pvt. Ltd.

Ramanan Raghavendran, Managing Director of Kubera Partners, in a release issued in city today said, "The 2001 census indicated that gender ratio in the country has dropped to 927 females to 1000 males. Over 50% of girls fail to enroll into schools and a significant percentage of those that do, drop out by the age of 12. According to UNICEF, one in seven girls in rural areas is married before the age of 13 and becomes a mother by the age of 15. India also has the largest number of child workers in the world, a substantial percentage of them girls. It is because of these reasons that we decided to focus on the cause of the girl child."

Vidya Shah, Executive Director and Head, EdelGive Foundation said, "Ramanan, who is also on Edelweiss’s Board came to us with the idea a few months ago, of instituting an honour to promote the girl child cause in India. We, at EdelGive Foundation, were excited by this opportunity to provide a platform for deserving NGOs doing credible work, with seed funding to continue with their ongoing projects or start new projects. "

Reachout's News Bureau
 December' 2008