Cognizant Technology Solutions India Private Limited

Living in the outskirts of the Indian village of Irumbai were 22 impoverished families. Referred by a social worker family member, a Cognizant employee and his friends visited the area and were appalled by what they found—rudimentary huts lacking basic facilities and few jobs for many community members. This motivated the Outreach volunteers to act.

Volunteers soon realized that the greatest need was a sustainable livelihood for the villagers. Because the community had little exposure to ways of earning a living, many continued to rely on charity.

On their weekly visits, volunteers began to address the issue. They guided the men of the community to begin their own small businesses or find employment at the construction sites nearby. The women were taught by skilled volunteers to make handicrafts like flowers and bouquets using paper and nylon, and earrings and key chains from quilled paper.

It wasn’t long before the women were making beautiful and intricate handicrafts on their own. These crafts are now sold in the market, and many are presented as corporate gifts to Cognizant customers who visit our software development centers.

Cognizant Foundation India promotes societal inclusion by bringing quality healthcare within reach of the underserved across India. The Foundation has taken up three focus areas under this program theme to ensure that its activities reach those in need, quickly and effectively.

* Sight4All - Cognizant Foundation has chosen to focus on preventing avoidable blindness under its flagship healthcare program with the objective of making quality eye care services accessible and affordable to underserved communities. The program aims to nip degenerative vision conditions in the bud and help children and adults lead better lives.
* Care4All - Cognizant Foundation India supports initiatives that provide quality and timely healthcare to underserved women and children. These initiatives focus on reducing infant mortality, infant disability, and maternal mortality.
* Support4All - Cognizant Foundation India supports initiatives aimed at supporting persons with disabilities and children with special needs ranging from addressing barriers to mental health to early intervention and rehabilitation services.

Enabling access to quality education and skilling for underserved communities and facilitating inclusion have been one of the cornerstones of Cognizant Foundation’s activities. The Foundation has taken up three focus areas under this program theme to help beneficiaries acquire knowledge and skills that are relevant in the modern world.

* STEAM4ALL - Cognizant Foundation is leveraging its expertise in technology to make STEAM experiences more accessible while building capacity within and for the school system. The Foundation is also leveraging the use of modern technologies to build teacher capacity and catalyze the creation of an inclusive school system.

* Excellence4All - This flagship program in education is closely aligned with two key recommendations made by the National Education Policy 2020 to support access to higher education through scholarships and providing for meaningful ways of inclusion for people with disabilities through appropriate learning materials and reimagining vocational and technical education.

* Tech4All - The Foundation collaborates with credible organizations in identifying, training, and supporting job placements in various sectors such as IT/ITeS, BPO, Finance/Banking, Healthcare, Hospitality, Retail, thereby helping the candidates to become more independent and self-reliant.

Cognizant Outreach volunteers who focus on the environment place a high priority on local restoration efforts. The results of their work are evident:

From barren hill to biodiversity: Quadron Hill is located behind the Cognizant office in Pune, India. Every weekend, a group of Outreach volunteers treks the hill slopes with shovels and watering cans to nurture the saplings they have planted there. Today, the first traces of greenery are beginning to appear against the dusty, urban backdrop.

On-campus herbal gardens: Volunteers working in the Cognizant campus at Coimbatore, India, have crafted herbal oases amid the concrete walls of their workplace. Using rainwater harvested at the facility, plastic bottles and organic manure sourced from farmers, they have created a unique ecosystem that attracts many species of butterflies and birds.

Tree banks in our offices: Associates dedicate time to building and nurturing plant nurseries in our offices. Volunteering on these tree banks enables them to take part in planting opportunities that provide an in-house nursery experience. Over 12,000 saplings have been nurtured in six cities across India.

Hunt and plant: Associates survey barren places that show promise for promoting greenery, and then plant saplings there. They periodically revisit these places to nurture and maintain the planted trees, often collaborating with various agencies and institutions to amplify the impact. In one such partnership in 2019, volunteers collaborated with the Indian Air Force Base and Police Training Academy near Chennai, India, to plant over 10,000 saplings, including natural herbs known for their pesticidal and insecticidal properties.

To make a difference, Cognizant Outreach volunteers have launched water conservation and restoration efforts in many parts of the world where we have a presence, including:

Neknampur lake: Bearing the brunt of urbanization, this 400-year-old lake in Hyderabad, India, was badly polluted and choked with weeds. To restore this heritage water body, Cognizant volunteers collaborated with an environmental organization to clean it up. In 2019, 320 volunteers devoted 1,871 hours toward the lake’s restoration. The efforts are ongoing, with the lake now providing the perfect ambience for a variety of recreational activities.

Jakkur lake: A similar story can be told about the banks of Jakkur Lake in Bengaluru, India. A bird watcher’s haven, Jakkur Lake had become a dumping ground following years of exploitation. “When we started working there were only a handful of birds,” recalls Cognizant volunteer Krishna Teja Mangalampalli. “Now different species of birds and butterflies visit the lake, and medicinal plants and rare trees trace its boundaries.” In 2019, 176 volunteers devoted 780 hours to the initiative.

Sembakkam lake: Cognizant contributed more than US$373,700 to enable wastewater treatment and landscaping to rejuvenate the 100-acre Sembakkam Lake that flows into the Pallikaranai wetland, one of southern India’s last remaining natural marshlands. The project will help clear the lake of solid wastes, aid groundwater recharge, and improve the lake’s storage capacity and water quality. This initiative will benefit over 10,000 nearby households and conserve local biodiversity, including 189 plant species and 41 bird species.

Beach cleanups: Cognizant volunteers undertake regular beach cleanup drives around the world. The labor involved in keeping beaches litter-free has been intensive, requiring resourcefulness and commitment. Volunteers also meet with subject-matter experts to educate themselves on how plastic pollutants threaten the marine habitat of species. In 2019, approximately 100 tons of trash were collected by our volunteers in more than 17 beach cleanups.

Cognizant Outreach launched a similar effort under the “Project 25 Schools” initiative to rehabilitate 25 schools affected by the 2018 floods in Kerala. These floods left several cities with a staggering loss of life and infrastructure, severely impacting the availability of necessities such as clean water and sanitation.

As the floods wreaked havoc, 2,750 Outreach volunteers collected, sorted and packed 44 tons of relief materials for distribution to those affected. After the water receded, Cognizant Outreach joined hands with Round Table India Trust to help some of the worst-affected schools in the flood-hit districts, restoring and rebuilding critical infrastructure such as classrooms, toilets, and compound walls.

Cognizant associates across India contributed through a one-time payroll deduction program for the rehabilitation efforts in both the states.

The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted access to education for millions of students across the globe. With technology aids increasingly available to help children continue learning remotely, we recognized the need to equip teachers to effectively handle online tools. That’s why our volunteers launched the “Digital Enrichment of Teachers” initiative in April 2020 in Outreach-supported schools across India.

The program’s intent is to help teachers get hands-on experience in the use of technology. It has three levels of skilling initiatives:

* Level 1, Digital mastery: Equip teachers to use a smartphone or computer effectively and strengthen their English communication.

* Level 2, Digital teaching: Equip teachers with tools and techniques to teach and interact with students using technology.

* Level 3, Digital Disha by Adobe: Equip teachers with the latest tools for creating learning resources and ensuring high student engagement in online classes.

To ensure individual attention, volunteers maintain a 1:10 trainer-to-teacher ratio. In addition to training teachers, our associates help resolve the technical issues teachers face. The hands-on training is followed by an assignment segment, which helps teachers implement their learnings seamlessly.

As of August 2020, Cognizant volunteers have trained more than 8,000 grade school and college teachers across eight cities in India.

In 2019, Outreach collaborated with “eVidyaloka,” a nonprofit specializing in helping remote classrooms use technology with the support of volunteers. Volunteers from across the globe now connect to schools in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal and NCR. They are making a difference. Students are better able to converse in English and understand the basics of computer science, and they are developing an interest in extra-curricular activities such as chess.

In 2019/2020, 5,000 students have benefitted across 69 schools in India, with nearly 2,000 volunteer hours invested. Besides bringing global knowledge to rural schools, the technology has enabled better access, improved the quality of learning and provided effective channels for volunteers to share their wisdom and experiences with these children.

We believe that education is the most critical sustainability issue of our time, and Cognizant’s diverse workforce can make a huge difference in students’ lives. Boosting STEM knowledge and interest among youths globally is a major component of our employee’s volunteer efforts.

Major initiatives

* Be a teacher (BAT): Outreach volunteers in India act as adjunct faculty in government/NGO-run schools catering to children from low-income communities. They complement classroom lessons with hands-on activities to make learning interactive and engaging.

* Promoting STEM: Volunteers encourage and mentor young learners taking part in STEM activities. Classes are designed to spark a passion for digital and technology by keeping it fun, engaging and relevant to everyday life.

* Virtu(e)al teacher: Cognizant volunteers from India and the U.S. interact with students over Skype, leveraging technology to make global learning available to students in rural areas. More than 100 volunteers regularly teach over 5,000 students in 69 schools across India.

* Project 100 schools: Our flagship program rehabilitated 100+ government schools impacted by the 2015 floods in the Chennai, Kanchipuram and Tiruvallur districts in Tamil Nadu, India. This initiative helped restore critical infrastructure, enabling nearly 50,000 students to fulfill their educational and extra-curricular objectives.

* Scholarship program: Volunteers who spent years coaching and mentoring children realized their efforts would be in vain if these students did not pursue their studies due to financial hardship. The Outreach Scholarship program addresses this gap. Between 2012 and 2020, more than 32,420 associates—contributing through a payroll deduction program—have funded scholarships for over 2,100 meritorious students. Over 90% of the recipients are first-generation graduates and 72% of them are girls.

* Cognizant® e-teacher: Volunteers started this digital enrichment program to upskill teachers across India following the outbreak of COVID-19 as they recognized the need to equip teachers to use online tools effectively.

When studies go uninterrupted: Children across Outreach-supported schools continued their studies despite school shutdowns caused by COVID-19. For example, volunteers in Pune, India, conducted coaching sessions and mock tests remotely through WebEx to train children for state scholarship exams.

Our involvement with parasports began in 2013, when Cognizant employees volunteered to support a state-level cricket tournament for the visually challenged held in Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu, India. Since then, Outreach volunteers have extended their support to seven parasports—wheelchair basketball, wheelchair tennis, Paralympic swimming, boccia, cricket, football and chess for the visually challenged.

Partnering with different NGOs, associates have helped organize large-scale parasport tournaments, including the T20 Blind Cricket World Cup, state-level swimming and volleyball tournaments for the visually challenged, and athletic meets for thousands of children.

Wheelchair basketball: One of our most significant partnerships is with the Wheelchair Basketball Federation of India (WBFI). Working with the group, our volunteers have helped organize six editions of the National Championships as well as several training camps and regional tournaments across India. Four volunteers have gone on to train in the tough wheelchair variant of the sport. Their roles today include coach of the Indian national team, player in the state team, manager of the state team and city coordinator.

Boccia: In partnership with a Chennai-based NGO, volunteers reach out to people with developmental disabilities to coach them in the game of boccia. Volunteers undergo a certified training program to prepare to serve as coaches at four special schools in Chennai.

Grooming para-athletes in soft skills: Recognizing the need to groom para-athletes for opportunities apart from sport, our volunteers conduct soft-skill training. Volunteers recently trained male and female cricketers from the Blind Cricket Association of Tamil Nadu, India, on teamwork, decision-making, adaptability and leadership, among other skills. Every week, volunteers in Mumbai, India, conduct spoken English sessions for players on the state wheelchair basketball team. These sessions have been immensely beneficial for the players in their personal, professional and sports careers.

Our Synapse initiative ushers in a new tier of employees, trained to leap forward with cutting-edge technologies like generative AI, Cognizant’s premier tech services and skills needed to fill jobs of the future.

With a goal of training more than one million individuals by 2026, we are working with governments, academic institutions, businesses and strategic partners to create pathways to success that may otherwise be unreachable for many.