Extending our support to keep the nation moving
'Serving Society with Superior Quality' being Bridgestone India's heritage and mission, we are dedicated to the development and well-being of all communities. Under our CSR program - 'Our Way to Serve', we focus on three priority areas – mobility, people, and environment. Our CSR programs are designed to reduce social exclusion of the marginalized, underprivileged, poor populations and explore initiatives that can increase economic and social capabilities for increased inclusion.
Bridgestone engages in credible partnerships with various organisations including UNICEF, The Indian Red Cross, Mission for Vision, RSDC, Rotary and other NGOs, and the local community and local administration that work in collaboration to benefit the stakeholders. Through strategically designed and diligently executed projects, we also try to contribute towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals and make significant progress in the below focus areas.
Mobility
Mobility being a Priority Area for Bridgestone, we work towards offering safer, smarter and accessible mobility solutions for all sections of the society. Our commercial HMV Drivers training initiative, Sarthi, ensures Safe Mobility, Enhanced Employability and self-reliance for this important segment of the transport sector. So far the project has trained and engaged more than 450 people in gainful employment. Timely healthcare services especially vision screening and rectification of over 6250 drivers, under project Drishti, has helped them ascertain safety on the road. This has also helped them ensure better employment and long term employability by decreasing road fatalities and thus improving quality of life of their families. Similarly, road safety education initiative, through various awareness and behavioural change focused projects, helped promote safety practices not only amongst drivers but also amongst other groups of the society and thus inculcating responsible behaviour on roads. Providing accessible and smart mobility solutions to people with physical disability and building their capacity towards financial independence and self-reliance is an effort through Samarthya, our initiative in the mobility space.
People's Health
Providing access to quality health care services through promotive, curative and preventive health initiatives especially for the underserved rural population is another area we are trying to cater. Establishing Histopathology Lab in a cancer Institute, Vision Care Centres, providing healthcare equipment to rural Health Centres, supporting ambulance for a Non-Profit Organisation working for distressed women etc. are just a few examples of our effort. We are also initiating Mobile Health services for early detection and timely curative measures, which will be further strengthened by strong referral networks in the rural areas surrounding our manufacturing plants.
Education
Promoting quality education for all and advocating equal opportunities are always important to us and we are continuously trying to improve existing conditions through various initiatives like upgradation of infrastructure, providing learning kits, establishment of 6 science learning centres for promoting scientific temperament among middle school students etc. We are also financially supporting young women pursuing various technical courses.
Skill Development, Self-reliance and Empowerment Initiatives:
Upgrading skills and knowledge as well as accessing latest and modern technology, are essential for people to have better livelihood opportunities and increased wage as well. Skill upgradation and certification of the tyre fitters through our project 'Swavalamban' and 'Tyre Care Wala' across India is not only introducing modern-day tyre fitting requirements but also improving their earnings and vocational status as trained fitters.
We are also working with women; training and helping them get gainful employment as retail and hospitality personnel, and also in not so conventional professions like cab drivers, last mile delivery personnel, and also as mechanics for two wheelers and thus mainstreaming them and opening up new opportunities for them.
We are supporting Rubber Farmers in the flood affected areas in Kerala, helping them restore their livelihood.
Chase Your Dream - Promoting Olympic sports in India
Striving towards development through Sports, we have used the concept 'Sports for Development' to bring in a change with 25 girls, selected from underrepresented areas of Pune. Apart from the football coaching sessions taken by an eminent footballer, these girls are also provided with nutritious diet, English language classes and life skills to achieve their life goals in coming days.
We are also promoting Athletics by supporting a world class training centre and high performance facilities through Inspire Institute of Sports wherein these athletes are preparing for the Olympics.
Environment
We have always worked towards promoting nature-friendly activities through various means and mediums. With UNICEF, our initiative "Drops of Hope" helped restoration of ground water and made clean drinking water available through scientific interventions and people participation in 111 drought prone areas.
We have made focused efforts towards tree plantation and pond deepening.
We are committed to promote Biodiversity and environment conservation. In phase 1, under Project Green Goal, we are developing two butterfly gardens and imparting awareness sessions in nearby communities and schools on biodiversity education and role of masses in conservation and promotion.
Employee Volunteering Initiative 'I Serve' was launched on the occasion of United Nation's International Volunteer Day on 5th of December, 2019, in view of providing an opportunity for employees and their families who wished to volunteer in social responsibility initiatives. Social sensitization, orientation, active engagement and recognition of voluntary work and contribution are key components of this initiative. I-Serve platform is helping the organisation achieve its inclusive goal of 'Our Way To Serve'.
Extending support during the Coronavirus Pandemic
When the pandemic hit India, daily wage earners, migrant workers, and truckers were left stranded in various parts of the country. Bridgestone India provided survival kits (with groceries and rations) and hygiene kits to stranded truckers across India. This support was extended to women cab drivers in and around Indore, who happened to be the sole bread earners in their families. We also supplied over 10,000 full PPE kits to several COVID-19 management hospitals, mortuaries, municipality staff and rural health centres; provided a range of other PPEs for frontline workers and contributed Rs. 55 lakh to the Pune Platform COVID-19 response team to set up ventilators and organising blood donation camps. We supported COVID-19 Care centres with logistical support and supported testing of police personnel for safeguarding them.
We helped supply 1, 65,000 meals and food grains for 20,000 migrant families
We are conducting awareness sessions on safety norms and the promotion of masks by providing over 35,000 masks, as well as organizing social distancing and hand wash demonstrations amongst frontline workers. Our CSR team has also created awareness videos and posters about COVID-19, especially for truck drivers and tyre fitters, disseminating to over 10,000 truckers and tyre fitters.
We also sanitised trucks and public spaces to ensure safety.
These are a few steps that we, as an organization, took up to extend our help to our stakeholders, community and especially our frontline warriors!
