Hindustan Unilever Limited

HUF partners with non-profit organisations in water-stressed regions across the country to support rural communities with water conservation and encourage regenerative agricultural practices amongst farmers. The initiative, along with its partners, has delivered a cumulative and collective water potential of over 3.2 trillion litres through improved supply and demand water management, over 2 million tonnes of additional agricultural and biomass production, and over 114 million person-days of employment due to project interventions.

To underscore the importance of the water potential created by HUF, 3.2 trillion litres of water can meet the drinking water needs of the total population of India for nearly 2 years. Till now, HUF’s programmes have reached more than 15,000 villages in 13 States and 2 Union Territories. Across diverse river basins and hydrogeological zones, three core pillars define HUF’s work with rural communities. The key highlights under HUF’s three strategic pillars in 2024 are:

• Know More (water numeracy): The focus of this pillar is to build water numeracy to help quantify availability, budget and allocate water use. In Dhule district, Maharashtra, where rainfall is irregular and groundwater is overexploited, HUF supports the Sanjeevani Institute for Empowerment and Development (SIED) to engage the community in understanding and addressing the groundwater situation. The programme aims to enhance irrigation access, promote self-measurement of water usage, and encourage the community to make informed decisions regarding water usage, farming practices, and crop selection through incentives and market-based interventions.

• Save More (citizen-led scientific water conservation and governance efforts): In 5 districts of Chhattisgarh, HUF, through its partner Transform Rural India Foundation (TRIF) is developing sustainable water security models by converging two flagship national programmes, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) and National Rural Livelihoods Misson (NRLM). This integration, a first-ever, will deliver better water outcomes for communities through improved water infrastructure, extensive tree plantation for soil and water conservation and promotion of water-responsible crops and practices.

• Use Less (behaviour change in water use):In Banswara, Rajasthan, HUF's programme with Vaagdhara, reaches small and marginal tribal farmers. The programme enhances water accessibility by constructing water conservation structures through Gram Sabha involvement and advocating for water-efficient agricultural practices. Implemented by local community members, the programme aims to bring transformative change within tribal communities by focusing on water literacy, conservation, and reviving their traditional multi-cropping system. During the year, HUF completed its first formal codification, led by Oxford Consulting, a firm with significant experience in developing toolkits and Do It Yourself (DIY) manuals on behaviour change and capability transition. A well-built and capable cadre of local resources will help handhold farmers through the behaviour change process.

Suvidha, our urban water, hygiene and sanitation community centre, was first set up in Ghatkopar, Mumbai in 2016. The biggest Suvidha centre is in Dharavi, Mumbai and is one of the largest community
toilet blocks in India.

This year, the Company built 4 new Suvidha centres. The Company has established 16 Suvidha centres in Mumbai in partnership with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, out of which 15 are in
partnership with HSBC India. The centres are self-sustainable and provide people with access to clean water, sanitation and laundry facilities. The Company also announced a strategic partnership with JSW to build 10 more Suvidha centres.

• The centres cumulatively save over 130 million litres of water through water-saving technologies.
• There has been a ~50% reduction in the incidences of illnesses like gastrointestinal, diarrhoea, and Urinary Tract Infection (UTIs) in Suvidha users
• Previously, there was a practice of limiting children’s meal portions due to lack of access to toilets at night in the communities. Now, 100% of children consume full evening meals
• 100% of Suvidha’s Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) users attest to the inclusivity of the centres• The estimated return on investment for time saved by using Suvidha’s services is ₹15 for every rupee
invested in the centres
• The locations in which Suvidha centres are situated, previously experienced water shortages due to the impacts of climate change. Now, 100% of Suvidha users avail purified and clean drinking water and other WASH (water, hygiene and sanitation) services at the centres at all times thereby building community resilience against climate change Suvidha’s model has been recognised by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as an example of a ‘Public-Private’ collaboration that can improve the health of cities.

A playbook which documents the model’s best practices has also been developed. The Company is implementing an extensive behaviour change programme around its Suvidha centres to encourage people to adopt 4 simple yet important habits: washing hands with soap; eating nutrition-rich meals; drinking safe water; and using clean toilets to reduce the scope of illness and create good health outcomes for families. Through door-to-door interventions, the programme has reached over 7 lakh people across Mumbai.

Project Shakti aims to financially empower and provide livelihood opportunities to women in rural India.The Company has always believed that:

i) For the country to grow, people living in its villages must be empowered with livelihood skills and opportunities
ii) Women in villages must be empowered if households in villages have to progress. Keeping this in mind, the Company launched the Shakti programme. Shakti Entrepreneurs are given training for familiarisation with the Company’s products and basic tenets of distribution management.

In addition, the Company has a team of Rural Sales Promoters (RSPs) who coach and help Shakti Entrepreneurs in managing their business. Across 22 States, Project Shakti has over 2 lakh Shakti Entrepreneurs whom we call ‘Shakti Ammas’. This programme has helped them become self-confident, improve their self-esteem and learn communication skills. Most importantly, our interventions have helped in building and fostering an entrepreneurial mindset amongst Shakti Entrepreneurs.

The RSPs train Shakti Entrepreneurs in sales and administrative skills, including order taking, book-keeping and digital order placement and payments. With the imparted training, Shakti Entrepreneurs are using the Company’s B2B app Shikhar, to place orders regularly. The training imparted to the Shakti Ammas results in the promotion of education and employment, enhancing livelihoods and vocational skills and women empowerment. These training activities are permitted under Schedule VII of the Act and are treated as part of CSR spends by the Company.

The Company is working towards empowering Shakti Entrepreneurs with information on health and nutrition. Through this initiative, RSPs conduct sessions on nutrition awareness and enable Shakti Entrepreneurs to take the message further to beneficiaries in the villages. The initiative has achieved substantial progress reaching over 8 lakh households. These training sessions will help Shakti Entrepreneurs drive social change at a grassroot level in their communities and continue to make a positive impact on the health and nutrition of their communities.

Prabhat is the community development initiative of the Company that aims to create sustainable and inclusive communities. It contributes to a fairer, more socially and environmentally inclusive world while using HUL’s scale for good. In the past decade, Prabhat has positively benefitted nearly 10 million lives across 21 States and 2 Union Territories. A third-party impact evaluation ranked the overall impact of all programmes combined as ‘high’ and rated Social Return On Investment (SROI) as 7X4. The key pillars of Prabhat include:

Livelihoods - Through Prabhat’s 18 livelihood centres, women and youth are trained in vocational skills and entrepreneurship development. In order to make them future-fit, training is provided in areas like data entry operator, Information Technology, electrical, plumbing, tailoring, beauty, mechanics and more. Inclusivity is built by involving Persons with Disabilities (PwDs), transgenders and other vulnerable communities. Nearly 1,30,000 people have been imparted skill development and training through Prabhat’s livelihood centres and over 75,000 people have secured employment.

Through farm-based value chain initiatives, Prabhat works with rural women and small and marginal farmers to help improve their income. Farmers are organised into Self Help Groups (SHGs), Farmer Interest Groups (FIGs) or Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), so that their produce is linked to markets easily. Farmers are also provided with relevant skills to help them continue sustainable agricultural practices. More than 24,000 farmers have positively benefitted through Prabhat’s farm-based value chain initiatives.

Healthcare and nutriton - Aligning with the National Nutrition Mission, Prabhat’s nutrition programme focuses on improving the health and nutritional status of women of reproductive age, pregnant and lactating women, children, and adolescent girls.Using a life cycle approach, a cadre of outreach workers are trained to buddy rural women in their nutrition journey, thereby reducing anaemia and malnutrition. Nutrition buddies are trained on topics like diet diversity, supplements for pregnant mothers, feeding practices, the importance of hygiene, and the creation of nutri-gardens.

The programme is live in 13 locations, benefitting nearly 26 lakh women and children. Prabhat’s Healthcare Service runs a mobile medical unit across villages. The mobile medical unit provides routine health check-ups with qualified doctors for on-site consultation and diagnosis, internet-enabled video conferencing for consultation with specialised doctors, free medicines, routine health check-ups, follow-up consultations and bi-monthly health camps. The programme is live in 3 locations and over 1,40,000 people have been treated under
this programme.

Environmental sustainability - Through Prabhat, the Company is making a positive impact on the environment and building resilience in communities. Village level door-to-door waste collection mechanisms are implemented to help households segregate wet and dry waste. Collected waste is then processed and recycled or upcycled into value-added products such as handwashing stations and benches. Wet waste collected is converted into biogas as a source of renewable energy for the community.

Asha Daan is a home for sick and destitute people in Mumbai. It is run by the Missionaries of Charities (MoC) which was founded by Mother Teresa. Since the inception of Asha Daan in 1976, the Company has been looking after the maintenance and upkeep of the premises. At any time, there are around 350 inmates at Asha Daan.

The Company aims to build an integrated waste management ecosystem by connecting 3 critical levers essential to accelerate circularity:

Decentralised Waste Management Eco-System - The Company has set up sustainable end-to-end waste management projects enabling waste collection, segregation, processing, and recycling.The projects have been set up in partnership with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), State Bank of India, Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Xynteo. UNDP and Xynteo are the Company’s design, monitoring and evaluation partners. There are 7 operational Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs): 5 in Mumbai and 2 in Aurangabad, that collectively recycle over 5,000 metric tonnes of waste annually.

Driving Behaviour Change The Company has designed a strategic behaviour change intervention to address the critical issue of waste segregation at source. ‘Start A Little Good’ is a door-to-door campaign which encourages citizens to segregate waste into dry, wet and hazardous categories. The programme enrolls college students as ambassadors of change to demonstrate how a simple act of segregation can create a big impact.

Currently, the programme has reached over 2 lakh citizens in Mumbai and Aurangabad. To instil the habits of segregation and recycling at a young age, the Company developed an interactive curriculum called ‘Waste No More’ in partnership with Xynteo. This is deployed in partnership with the state’s Education Department by leveraging the government’s e-learning platforms such as Diksha in Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Haryana.Improving Lives of Waste Workers (Safai Saathis)

Through Project Utthaan, the Company aims to improve the lives of waste workers (Safai Saathis) by enabling their access to government social protection schemes covering food, health, safety, security and financial inclusion. Through partnerships, the Company has successfully linked over 5,000 Safai Saathis and their families to Government schemes, including Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana,
E-SHRAM card, and Jan Dhan account.

The Company has partnered with leading cricket academy, Coaching Beyond to help reduce barriers that come in the way of budding women cricketers and support them to excel in the game.

In the pilot phase, following a robust selection process, women cricketers across 20 districts in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana will be chosen and inducted into Coaching Beyond’s Junior Athlete Development Program. They will be given access to world-class infrastructure and multi-year holistic cricket coaching to unleash their full potential under the guidance of renowned cricket professionals. The selected young women cricketers will be hosted to play a tournament in Chennai and Hyderabad respectively. After the tournament, 50 young women cricketers will be shortlisted for the HUL scholarship programme. In the last phase, training will begin as a part of the HUL scholarship, spanning 3 years.


This year, 6 players have been selected to represent the Senior State Women’s Team, 7 players have been chosen for the State U-23 Team, and 15 players have been selected for the State U-19 Team. From this programme, 2 cricketers went on to play for the Women's Premier League (WPL) and 1 cricketer played for the National Team.

Guided by the commitment to enhance livelihoods, the Company has initiated pilots on skilling, entrepreneurship and empowering Persons with Disabilities (PwDs). Encouraged by the promising results of the pilots, the programme was renamed as SAFAL (Skills Academy For Advancement of Livelihoods) and the partnership with National Institute of Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development (NIESBUD) was scaled up to cover 1 lakh youth through an Entrepreneurship Awareness Programme (EAP). The other partners include LabourNet which imparts youth skilling using UNICEF’s YuWaah’s Passport 2 Earning (P2E) programme, Sarthak Educational Trust and Cheshire Disability Trust.Under the SAFAL programme, 2 new projects were introduced.

The SAFAL Sales Pro Academy aims to create a pool of trained youth in frontline sales jobs. In the first year, 5,000 youth and women will be trained in frontline sales roles across Chennai, Hyderabad, and Mumbai. SAFAL’s Retailer Strengthening Project will help strengthen the retail ecosystem by training young retailers on various government schemes which can help them expand their business. Every year, 20,000 youth will be trained and handheld to avail of formalisation and credit linkage services.

HUL has partnered with the Tea Research Association (TRA) Tocklai, one of the oldest and largest tea research associations globally. The partnership aims to address the challenges posed by climate change in the tea industry and improve its resilience and sustainability by promoting regenerative agricultural practices. HUL along with TRA will conduct a detailed Lifecycle Analysis for Indian tea and work on strategies that can help reduce carbon impact cross
the value chain.

The Company has partnered with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) to launch the Centre for Sustainability Leadership (CSL). The ambition of CSL is to help accelerate the Indian corporate sector’s climate action by institutionalising sustainability leadership across FICCI members.

The centre focuses on decarbonisation, green entrepreneurship, and nature-based solutions. It is helping sustainability startups in India showcase their innovations and bring forward technological solutions to combat climate change. It aims to reach out to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Micro Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) with climate-tech courses and events to help ease the sustainability transition at an industry scale

Globally 8 out of 10 girls opt out of key life activities when they do not feel good about the way they look. In India, 6 out of 10 girls say they do not have high body esteem. Dove’s mission is to ensure that, the next generation grows up to enjoy a positive relationship with the way they look to reach their full potential.

We are helping young people build positive body confidence and self-esteem. Being the largest provider of self-esteem education, this project strives to create a world where young people grow up feeling confident and empowered to love themselves, no matter what. The partnership funding is being directed to UNICEF6 India’s Life Skills Education programming and their contributions to the Government of India’s Samagrha Shiksha Abhiyan (SMSA) programme. Under the SMSA programme, the Ministry of Education has a clear mandate to deliver a comprehensive life skills education curriculum.

Our partnership is supporting teachers with specific training on self-esteem and body confidence through educational material, under the agreement with the Government of India.

Glow & Lovely Careers is a programme designed to help women create an identity for themselves by providing them with career guidance, skill-based courses and information on job opportunities. The platform addresses multiple skilling barriers that girls and women in India face including limited access to transportation, lack of parental permission, high cost of courses and very few quality local institutes.

The Glow & Lovely Careers website offers skill-based courses in partnership with well-known EdTech companies like edX, English Edge, Hello English, start-ups such as www.testbook.com and www.idreamcareer.com, and internship opportunities through online training partner Internshala.

In 2023, Glow & Lovely Careers partnered with TimesJobs, a top job provider in India to help women get access to job opportunities across various fields. The Glow & Lovely Careers community on the ‘Sheroes’ application provides the opportunity to share and learn from like-minded women, interact with experts and discover career growth opportunities. Over 1.9 million users have registered under the programme till the end of 2023.

Till now, the programme has facilitated over 5 lakh course enrollments and supported over 4.3 lakh users in accessing relevant career guidance

The Company’s Kwality Wall’s mobile vending initiative, ‘I am Wall’s’, has provided entrepreneurship opportunities to nearly 12,600 people and 250 differently-abled persons across India . This programme has helped vendors become self-sufficient micro-entrepreneurs selling ice cream on the move, helping the Company reach more consumers on the street. It equips people with skills such as sales, customer service and problem-solving, and provides many young people with work experience as they step into the job market

Swasthya Ki Baat - The Company is driving an on-ground programme on diet diversity that focuses on spreading awareness about iron and protein deficiencies in mothers. A strategic intervention to include mother-in laws
and spouses is integrated to create an enabling environment at home that can support the right nutrition practices. The programme has been successfully rolled out in 2 districts of West Bengal and Bihar and will improve the awareness and knowledge of over 3 lakh mothers.

The Company’s partnership with ‘Power of Nutrition’, an independent charitable foundation and innovative platform, is scaling up the ‘Swasthya Ki Baat’ programme in rural Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat. With a mix of community and digital interventions, the partnership works with pregnant and new mothers to shape life-saving behaviours such as complementary feeding, breastfeeding, and knowledge on diet diversity to address both macro and micro nutrition at a household level. The programme has reached nearly 7 lakh mothers in the intervention states.

Swasthya Curriculum - The Company created the Swasthya Curriculum that teaches children in classes 1-5 the importance of adopting 4 key habits: eating nutrition-rich meals; washing hands with soap; drinking safe water; and
using clean toilets, over a 24-day period. Over the years, the textbook version of the curriculum has been rolled out in Government schools in Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

Previously, in the absence of in-school learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company launched a digital curriculum that was piloted in Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Delhi, teaching primary school students the importance of hygiene in a fun and interesting manner. Since 2018, 5 million children have been educated through the curriculum

Ankur was set up in 1993 as a centre for special education for children with disabilities at Doom Dooma in Assam. Ankur has provided free special educational, vocational and rehabilitative training to over 350 physically and mentally challenged children from underprivileged backgrounds.

The Company runs a free mobile medical service facility ‘Sanjeevani’ for the local community near its Doom Dooma factory in Assam. There are 2 mobile vans dedicated to the project. Each vehicle has a male and female doctor, a nurse, a medical attendant and a driver. The vans are equipped with basic kits such as a diagnostic kit, blood pressure measuring unit, medicines and a mobile stretcher.

Over 7,000 camps have been organised in villages so far. More than 3.8 lakh patients have been treated through these service camps since its inception.

The Company’s Suprabhat Industrial Training Institute in Doom Dooma promotes vocational education to the economically backward communities of the area. It is equipped with a modern lab, smart classroom and competent teaching staff. The institute has curriculums that are approved by the National Council for Vocational Training for 4 trades - Fitter, Electrician, Welder, Computer Operator and Programming Assistant. LabourNet Livelihood Foundation (LLF) is the academic partner for the programmes. Over 150 students are studying at the institute

The Company’s ‘Positive Nutrition’ ambition demonstrates our commitment to being a force for good. Our Company is continuously working to improve its products to help people transition towards healthier diets. In 2023, the Company continued its partnership with the Zilla Parishad of Pune and supported the district government’s mid-day meal programme under which Horlicks’ ready mix was added to take-home rations. These were served to over 1.4 lakh children (aged 3 to 6) across 4,600 anganwadi centres in the district.

The Company’s Lifebuoy handwashing behaviour change initiative helps in promoting the benefits of handwashing with soap at key times during the day and encouraging people to adopt and sustain good handwashing behaviour.

In 2023, Lifebuoy collaborated with Imagimake, a toy design company, to launch the ‘H for Handwashing’ Games. Guided by Lifebuoy’s behaviour change model these games are designed to engage and educate young Indian minds by blending the joy of play with the essential practice of hand hygiene. The initiative received significant endorsement from the state governments of Delhi, Punjab, and Haryana.

The games are in government schools across these states, encouraging over 75,000 children to cultivate the habit of handwashing with soap and lead a healthier life. From 2010 to 2022, the Company has reached out to over 75 million people in India through its handwashing behaviour change initiatives. The Company has been driving handwashing behaviour change programmes in partnership with Global Alliance for Vaccine Initiative (GAVI) and NGO partners.