Godrej Sustainability Report

Women empowerment through health and sanitation Godrej & Boyce has always been a firm follower of gender equality. The Company along with its NGO partners lays significant emphasis on equal opportunities for women and men. Improving social capital, building management capabilities and organizing women into solidarity groups are some of the focus areas for G&B. Key elements of the programme are as follows: • Building women centric institutions like Sanyukta Mahila Samiti, creation and capacity building of women who are the change agents voicing concerns and actively participate in village developmental projects • Project includes initiatives targeted towards improving awareness regarding maternal and child health parameters. Under this project, the team monitors child Enhancing health and sanitation levels G&B has actively championed the nationwide mission of Swacch Bharat in the communities, in and around its areas of operations. Several projects have been implemented to create awareness regarding the importance of sanitation and advocating the need for community waste segregation and waste water management. All the projects have been executed with active support from local governance bodies, community households and experts in sanitation field. growth to track instances of malnourishment and stunting • Capacity building of women to champion projects related to access to water, drinking water and improving sanitation in villages • Constitution of SHGs to enable a collective voice for women in villages, impart financial literacy, enable micro savings and capacity building for various range of income generation activities • Support for micro enterprise development for SHGs or other progressive women groups. Godrej is working on women empowerment projects at 6 locations (Khalapur, Bhiwandi, Shirwal, Dahej, Vadodara and Bhagwanpur). Through these projects the Company has created 75 women change agents, 93 SHGs, and 11 micro enterprises. In the last three years, the Company has been successful in: • Creating WASH clubs in our schools (Mandawar & Chauli) • Building 40 individual toilets and a good drainage system at village Mandawar (Bhagwanpur) • Creating a waste water diversion and treatment system at Shirwal, which daily treats about 3 lakh liters of water. Wash awareness session at Badi Chauli Village near Bhagwanpur. 72