Deloitte Accelerates Positive Societal Change on its 15th Annual Impact Day

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New Delhi, November 24, 2017: Deloitte today celebrated its 15th Annual Impact Day, the company’s flagship volunteering programme to accelerate positive societal impact in the country. This year, more than 37,000 Deloitte professionals volunteered 1,82,000 hours for the benefit of local communities and not-for-profit organisations through skills-based and traditional volunteering initiatives, across 13 cities in India. The projects focused on pressing issues such as education, employability and skill building, healthcare and sanitation, environment sustainability and empowerment.

India has the largest youth population in the world, accounting for a third of Indians in the 15 -29 years age group. Additionally, India is on track to become the world’s youngest population, with an average age of 29, and 64 percent belonging to the working age group, according to UN. Echoing the spurring growth of millennials, who make up the largest portion of today’s workforce in the country, Deloitte is not just making them career-ready, but life-ready through various initiatives that focus on education and employability. Last year, Deloitte mobilised over 29,000 professionals to participate in over 175 different projects and impacted the lives of 9,42,000 people on a single day.

“Impact Day is our commitment in giving back to the community. There have been significant contributions made by the millennial workforce that spearheaded this year’s Impact Day and I am proud to say that sustaining a spirit of volunteerism is motivating the best out of individual’s talent. Our Millennial 2017 survey highlighted that millennials appear to consider the charitable route an impactful method of changing the world, and we are glad that as an organisation, we have been able to do this for 15 years now,” said S.V.Nathan, Chief Talent Officer, Deloitte India.

Bruce Stewart, Principal, Deloitte LLP said, “Our 15th consecutive Impact Day stands testament to our ongoing commitment towards furthering education and employability in the communities we live in. At Deloitte, making an impact that matters is at the heart of what we do. This translates into applying the same commitment, talent, and teamwork that we use to serve our clients, to make a meaningful difference in the lives of those in need.”

Driving a significantly positive impact, Deloitte has successfully entered its third year of engagement with the Bahadurpura mandal, one of the largest divisions in Hyderabad. With a vision to develop the mandal’s schools and enhance learning abilities of its underserved children, this project truly reflects Deloitte’s Corporate Citizenship priorities of education and employability for all. Additionally, the project has bought about community transformation in about 120 schools, comprising 18,000 students who come from areas where school dropout rates are very high.

Deloitte has collaborated with Khushii, a not-for-profit organization in Delhi to initiate change at the grassroots through education and employability among children, youth and teachers. In an effort to help the overall development of the child, contemporary skill building activities, vocational activities and career counselling sessions were initiated by Deloitte. Additionally, Deloitte mentored children via tele-communications enabling them to overcome commute and geographical related challenges. Khushii’s students have benefitted from the mentoring classes, allowing them to pursue higher studies in the fields of engineering, B Pharm and home science.

Deloitte has collaborated with Samarthanam, a not-for-profit organisation in Bengaluru, that aims to create a better environment for differently-abled kids by providing developmental activities that focus on their educational, social and vocational aspects. Deloitte actively supports the running of the call centre where some of these young adults are employed, to ensure that residents of the home earn a livelihood of their own.

In Mumbai, Deloitte supports Teach for India, through strategic donations and employee giving for their fellowship programme. Through this, Deloitte aims to actualise Teach for India’s vision of, ‘One day all children will attain an excellent education’.