ET Now - World CSR Congress & Awards 2018

Syngenta earns top honors for Corporate Social Impact Efforts in the agriculture sector, receives two awards at the ET Now - World CSR Congress & Awards 2018

On February 18 2018, nearly 200 of the leading corporates in global responsible business gathered for the Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives at the ET Now - World CSR Congress & Awards, held in Mumbai, India.

A cross section of different sectors and industries from all over the country were represented. The diversity on display – both in terms of geographical origin and working sphere – demonstrated the growing dedication to responsible business practices.

The theme of the 2018 edition was Purposeful CSR; the judges were looking for organizations who have been “agenda-leading in corporate responsibility” in 2018, with applications backed up by verifiable evidence from third parties and the jury.

The main criterion by which the shortlist was drawn was innovation, topicality, scale of impact as well as credibility and appropriateness of the approaches used for the different accolades.

Since 2014, Syngenta has been honoured in various categories like Responsible Business, CSR Campaign of the Year and Best Social Impact. This year again, Syngenta was bestowed with two awards for “Best Corporate Responsibility Practices” and “CSR Leadership”.

Our flagship program Syngenta I-CLEAN which is aimed at empowering Rural Prosperity got the Best CSR Practice Award. This program focuses on Inculcating Cleanliness Learning, Education, Awareness and New Habits (I-CLEAN) among communities, especially in rural and remote areas and enables them to lead dignified, hygienic and healthy lives. The Syngenta I-CLEAN project is inspired by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s Social Awareness and intervention program ‘Swacch Bharat Abhiyan’.

To further expand our CSR footprint across the country we have partnered with three more NGO’s and have also added 24 more villages in Bihar.

In the CSR Global Leadership award category, Dr. KC Ravi, Head of Business Sustainability, South Asia was awarded Global CSR Leadership Award. This is the second consecutive year that Dr. KC Ravi has been honoured with the award.

The jury chose Dr. KC Ravi for his contributions in strategizing various CSR initiatives in India during his career. In Syngenta he has been instrumental in conceptualizing programmes like Syngenta I-CLEAN, Syngenta Irrigation Program, Famer Health and Safety Initiatives and Syngenta Community Engagement Initiatives.

Most recently Syngenta undertook a massive Farmer Health and Safety program in collaboration with the state governments of Maharashtra and Telangana wherein more than 15000 farmers were trained on Stewardship, Health and Safety, 25000 Personal Protective Equipment kits distributed. As part of this initiative, we have also trained rural doctors on recognition and treatment of pesticide poisoning and to further ensure health and safety, we have also started mobile health van clinics that would cater to around 25,000 patients.

Further to this, Syngenta has also embarked upon a unique and first-of-its kind irrigation project for the growers of in Bihar by installing Hose Reel Irrigation Machines. This is a joint CSR initiative of Syngenta India Limited and Syngenta Foundation India that aims to tackle a major problem of timely and sufficient availability of water to the growers in this area. This would also help growers to achieve higher productivity with optimum utilization of scarce water resources in the commonly shared land covered under the irrigation projects. The project would be replicated in other states such as Maharashtra & Andhra Pradesh.

“As we continue to expand our CSR footprint throughout the region, Syngenta is increasingly being seen and recognized as a leader in this area,” says Dr. KC Ravi.

“It is an honor and a truly humbling experience to be recognized for my contribution towards CSR. I believe in the value of sustainable CSR built into the fabric of our business as a real driver of development in the future,” he adds.

The awards were presented to us by Mr. Tim Patterson, CEO, Fuel Economy Solution, UK and Dr R L Bhatia, Founder, World CSR Congress.

The World CSR Congress, organized by the World CSR Day and now in its sixth edition, brings together organizations and leaders from around the world to explore ways and share best practices that make a difference to the community at large.