Launches Phase 2 of the 'School of Hope and Empowerment' project in collaboration with The Better India; Expands reach to Bihar and Odisha States

MUMBAI, India, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Tata Communications, a global digital ecosystem enabler, today launches Phase 2 of its 'School of Hope and Empowerment' (S.H.E) project intended to provide entrepreneurship education and professional guidance to 5 million women by 2024 across the states of Bihar and Odisha in India. Phase 1 of the project has motivated women to complete the education series and be empowered with knowledge and skills to set up and manage a business independently, ensuring access to quality education for all. 

"The Phase 1 of School of Hope and Empowerment project has advanced the well-being of women in Jharkhand and empowered them to play a pivotal role in advancing their family and the larger community," said Aadesh Goyal, Chief Human Resources Officer, Tata Communications. "In Phase 2, we are now scaling up this project by 10X to help women in the States of Bihar and Odisha in India. Through this project, we are extending access to self-empowering learning modules, local support ecosystem and micro communities to bridge the rural and gender development gap."

Phase 1 of the project, launched at the 2021 UNESCO World Conference has surpassed its target and brought entrepreneurship education to over 1 million women in the state of Jharkhand in just 1 year well before the committed 3 years. 

The empowered women of this project are an embodiment of courage and confidence, overcoming structural barriers including gender stereotypes, household responsibilities, financial constraints, social pressures. A multi-media, multi-stakeholder impact communications initiative, this project is designed in collaboration between Tata Communications and The Better India to support and educate women from rural parts of India. As reported in the Tata Communications Sustainable Development Report 2022, sustainability is built on the premise that positive economic results are possible when we effectively manage our environmental, social and governance (ESG) activities and is aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG) in policy and practice. The School of Hope and Empowerment Project aligns with the UN SDG number 5 (Gender Equality) and number 8 (Economic Growth). It is empowering youth and rural communities (especially women) economically and socially through vocational, entrepreneurship and life skills training which enhance access to resources, new technology and financial services, there by supporting them in becoming active contributors to the economy.

To celebrate and recognise the success of phase 1 of this project, both partners have unveiled an education video series featuring real-life women entrepreneurs with their stories. One such story is that of Kalawati Kumari, a resident of village Kurumdegi in Simdega district of Jharkhand.  A beneficiary of the project, she won a business grant to set up a flour mill which today she manages with her own funds. She also creates and fosters relationships with her customers and operates the flour mill. "The workshop trained on subjects like book-keeping of accounts, managing customer relations, shop environment, the importance of saving," said Kalawati. 

For more information, please visit www.tatacommunications.com

About School of Hope and Empowerment (S.H.E.)

The School of Hope and Empowerment is a community initiative co-created and supported by Tata Communications which leverages mobile technology for equipping community members with the knowledge, skills and tools required to engage in sustainable livelihood choices. It is a multi-media, multi-channel, multi-stakeholder impact communication initiative that leverages the power of digital connectivity and partnerships to extend entrepreneurship education to women from remote geographies. Through this, our aim is to create enabling environments in which women can establish themselves as local leaders and entrepreneurs through inspiration, education and mentorship. It also includes examples where private sector investment, community-based organisations, NGOs and state livelihood missions come together to extend non-formal education while driving progress on other inter-connected SDGs (SDG 5 and 8).

About Tata Communications

A part of the Tata Group, Tata Communications (NSE: TATACOMM; BSE: 500483) is a global digital ecosystem enabler powering today's fast-growing digital economy in more than 190 countries and territories. Leading with trust, it enables digital transformation of enterprises globally with collaboration and connected solutions, core and next gen connectivity, cloud hosting and security solutions and media services. 300 of the Fortune 500 companies are its customers and the company connects businesses to 80% of the world's cloud giants. For more information, please visit www.tatacommunications.com 

Forward-looking and cautionary statements 
Certain words and statements in this release concerning Tata Communications and its prospects, and other statements, including those relating to Tata Communications' expected financial position, business strategy, the future development of Tata Communications' operations, and the general economy in India, are forward-looking statements. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including financial, regulatory and environmental, as well as those relating to industry growth and trend projections, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements of Tata Communications, or industry results, to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from such forward-looking statements include, among others, failure to increase the volume of traffic on Tata Communications' network; failure to develop new products and services that meet customer demands and generate acceptable margins; failure to successfully complete commercial testing of new technology and information systems to support new products and services, including voice transmission services; failure to stabilize or reduce the rate of price compression on certain of the company's communications services; failure to integrate strategic acquisitions and changes in government policies or regulations of India and, in particular, changes relating to the administration of Tata Communications' industry; and, in general, the economic, business and credit conditions in India. Additional factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from such forward-looking statements, many of which are not in Tata Communications' control, include, but are not limited to, those risk factors discussed in Tata Communications Limited's Annual Reports.  

The Annual Reports of Tata Communications Limited are available at www.tatacommunications.com. Tata Communications is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or alter its forward-looking statements. 

© 2022 Tata Communications Ltd. All rights reserved. 
TATA COMMUNICATIONS and TATA are trademarks or registered trademarks of Tata Sons Private Limited in India and certain countries.