Digital transformation solutions company UST has won the 2022 Project Management Institute (PMI) South Asia Award for ‘Project of the Year’ in the ‘Contribution to community’ category. It was recognised for ‘strong corporate social responsibility initiatives dedicated to improving communities and increasing well-being in the areas where it is active,’ a spokesperson said.
UST representatives Smita Sharma, Global Programme Manager, CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) ; Sofi Janet, CSR Ambassador, Thiruvananthapuram; and Prasanth Subramanian, CSR Ambassador, Kochi, received the award at the PMI South Asia Conference in Mumbai on December 9 . Earlier, the judges had concluded UST’s CSR campaign aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 and included a variety of projects aimed at improving education and community across India.
Lifecycle approach to education
Among these are initiatives such as ‘Adopt-a-School’, student scholarships, infrastructure development, digitalisation campaigns and setting up rural libraries as well as community-based digital learning centres in rural and tribal areas. Complimentary efforts had aimed to provide better education and opportunities for people with disabilities or others who faced social difficulties.
UST also won praise for its bold lifecycle approach to education as implemented in the ‘Transforming Lives Through Education’ programme. Built upon Adopt-a-School initiatives, it works to increase integration so the programme serve as a springboard for community development. This allows for investment in education while bridging achievement gaps for students coming from lower socio-economic backgrounds. The programme has reached to more than 30,000 students in the last five years covering all major UST India locations including Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Coimbatore and Noida.
Scalable development models
Sunil Balakrishnan, Chief Values Officer and Global Head of Center Operations, UST, said the company’s efforts to transform lives and provide quality education to the less privileged are key to its vision of increasing opportunities for the next generation. The PMI award will further motivate it to work to make a difference. Smita Sharma, Global Programme Manager, said the award makes the team proud of the work while stepping up community initiatives to develop scalable and sustainable community development models.