As part of its corporate social responsibility, Woodland Shoes, the outdoor-adventure gear brand, plans to strengthen its ongoing partnership with Unicef India to raise funds for water and sanitation programmes.
Woodland Managing Director Harkirat Singh, who accompanied a Unicef India team to rural Rajasthan recently to assess the impact of one such scheme, said the company’s strategic alliance was a clear association of like-minded organisations. Woodland, which tied up with Unicef India in 2011, began with a pilot project in Chandrapur, Maharashtra. “Funds from the Woodland-Unicef partnership are now supporting several parts of Unicef’s WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) programme spread across the country (and) reaching out to over 50,000 children,” a company release said
The company, which raised about Rs 25 lakh in the first phase of its CSR in Maharashtra, said it had raised Rs 60 lakh this year from customer contributions and its own funds.
“To add to the fund-raising programme, we are soon launching a special ‘ProPlanet-Unicef collection’ that will be made under our sustainability theme with organic cotton, the sales revenues of which will further contribute to the programme,” the company said.
Woodland began its customer fund-raising programme in 2011 under which customers can optionally donate Rs 10 or more during billing at all Woodland stores.