It was the first symposium held in Bangalore since the pandemic.
Bengaluru: As part of its CSR program, HCL Technologies hosted the eighth edition of the HCL Grant Symposium at the Christ University campus in Bannerghatta Road on Wednesday.
The event aimed to provide training and capacity building to non-government organizations in Bangalore.
After the pandemic, this was the first of a series of symposiums that the HCL Foundation plans to organize across India.
Foundation Director, Nidhi Pundhir said that with a grant of Rs. 16.5 crore, HCL plans to create development projects in the domains of education, health and, the environment.
The HCL Grant has been given to nine NGOs, with three main winners implementing five-year projects worth Rs.five crore in the fields of education, healthcare, and the environment. Other NGOs will receive a Rs 25 lakh grant she said.
She said the foundation not only assists NGOs with executing creative projects, but it also compiles lists of good NGOs and introduces them to corporations hiring NGOs for their projects.
The symposiums are designed to raise awareness of sustainable development goals among the NGOs. Attendees will have the opportunity to interact with NGOs that received HCL grants the last year. It provides a forum for them to share their experiences while also assisting them in obtaining CSR funding, Nidhi explained.
Emphasizing on climate action she said, “The climate action has found a lot of space in our agendas. This year 13 per cent of our CSR fund is for the environmental sector.”
Panel discussions with local NGOs and civil experts were held as a part of the CSR for Nation Building Symposium on various evolving topics.
The symposiums will be further held in other locations such as Pune, Shimla, Agartala, Patna, Bhopal, Udaipur, Bhubaneswar, and Delhi.
