FOCUS AREAS OF SIG
The SIG has three focus areas:
• Early Child Health
• Elementary Education
• Micro Financial Services
Health: Early Child Health
This focus seems to have the potential for maximum long and short-term impact and appears achievable in the most cost-effective and therefore scaleable manner.ICICI Bank aims to improve individual capacity by impacting two important indicators of chronic undernutrition in the first three years at the national level:
Proportion of babies born with a birth weight of less than 2.5 kg at or beyond 37 weeks of gestation (Intra-Uterine Growth retardation, IUGR)
Proportion of children under three years who are stunted.
Education: Elementary Education
Education (and not just literacy) up to the elementary level seems to be almost a necessary condition for any individual (rich or poor) to be able to participate in any manner in the larger economy Here the goal is to work towards the universalisation of elementary education all across India, rural and urban, with a substantial difference being made by 2010. The goal focuses on retention in school and learning achieved.
Money: Micro Financial ServicesThese services would include basic banking (savings and cash management), finance (debt and equity), insurance (life and health) and derivatives. The goal here is to facilitate universal access to these four services by the year 2010.
In addition to its core areas of focus, the SIG, in a limited manner, supports some other initiatives:
1. Non-governmental Organization (NGO) Capacity Building
This is supported through the GIVE (Giving Impetus to Voluntary Effort) Foundation. It seeks to provide a variety of services to NGOs listed including facilitating the receipt of donations online (Give Online), sale of NGO products (Shop Online), volunteering of time and skills (Volunteer Online) and news (News Online).
2. Modernization of the Indian Financial System
This involves encouraging appropriate research and institution building efforts on a national basis. It is a virtual non-profit research centre that acts as a platform to address and encourage debate, and develop a non-partisan opinion on various issues of concern and interest in financial economics relating to emerging markets.
ICICI Bank has supported the development of various financial institutions such as the National Stock Exchange and the Bombay Stock Exchange. It has also supported the Institute for Financial Management and Research, Chennai.
The changed economic climate in India, with a growing emphasis on the market, has hastened the need for an informed and participatory socio-economic order. As one of the largest players in the economic landscape of the country, ICICI Bank believes that its involvement in the commercial sector must be backed by a simultaneous commitment in the social sector.
This is particularly so if any of the larger goals of economic liberalisation in India, and of its players, is to be brought to fruition. ICICI Bank seeks to perform its role in the social sector through a dedicated not-for-profit group, the Social Initiatives Group (SIG).
The SIG has three focus areas:
• Early Child Health
• Elementary Education
• Micro Financial Services
Health: Early Child Health
This focus seems to have the potential for maximum long and short-term impact and appears achievable in the most cost-effective and therefore scaleable manner.ICICI Bank aims to improve individual capacity by impacting two important indicators of chronic undernutrition in the first three years at the national level:
Proportion of babies born with a birth weight of less than 2.5 kg at or beyond 37 weeks of gestation (Intra-Uterine Growth retardation, IUGR)
Proportion of children under three years who are stunted.
Education: Elementary Education
Education (and not just literacy) up to the elementary level seems to be almost a necessary condition for any individual (rich or poor) to be able to participate in any manner in the larger economy Here the goal is to work towards the universalisation of elementary education all across India, rural and urban, with a substantial difference being made by 2010. The goal focuses on retention in school and learning achieved.
Money: Micro Financial ServicesThese services would include basic banking (savings and cash management), finance (debt and equity), insurance (life and health) and derivatives. The goal here is to facilitate universal access to these four services by the year 2010.
In addition to its core areas of focus, the SIG, in a limited manner, supports some other initiatives:
1. Non-governmental Organization (NGO) Capacity Building
This is supported through the GIVE (Giving Impetus to Voluntary Effort) Foundation. It seeks to provide a variety of services to NGOs listed including facilitating the receipt of donations online (Give Online), sale of NGO products (Shop Online), volunteering of time and skills (Volunteer Online) and news (News Online).
2. Modernization of the Indian Financial System
This involves encouraging appropriate research and institution building efforts on a national basis. It is a virtual non-profit research centre that acts as a platform to address and encourage debate, and develop a non-partisan opinion on various issues of concern and interest in financial economics relating to emerging markets.
ICICI Bank has supported the development of various financial institutions such as the National Stock Exchange and the Bombay Stock Exchange. It has also supported the Institute for Financial Management and Research, Chennai.
The changed economic climate in India, with a growing emphasis on the market, has hastened the need for an informed and participatory socio-economic order. As one of the largest players in the economic landscape of the country, ICICI Bank believes that its involvement in the commercial sector must be backed by a simultaneous commitment in the social sector.
This is particularly so if any of the larger goals of economic liberalisation in India, and of its players, is to be brought to fruition. ICICI Bank seeks to perform its role in the social sector through a dedicated not-for-profit group, the Social Initiatives Group (SIG).