Meenu Bhambani on Corporate Social Responsibility
This film takes a dive into the world of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and disability inclusion, featuring an insightful interview with Dr. Meenu Bhambhani, an international Ford Foundation scholar with extensive experience leading CSR initiatives. Through her reflections, we explore the intersection of business and social impact.
Dr. Bhambhani’s work in creating innovative programs, such as the Office of Disability Services at IIM Bangalore and the Uber Access initiative in Bangalore, offers a blueprint for how CSR efforts can be leveraged to foster real change. The film also sheds light on the current state of disability advocacy in India, addressing both the progress made and the challenges that remain in creating a truly inclusive society.
Dr Meenu Bhambani is an international Ford Foundation scholar and has led Corporate Social Responsibility at Mphasis for many years, focusing on engaging with the development sector, particularly in the areas of education, disability inclusion and livelihoods.
Dr Bhambani has published extensively on CSR and disability inclusion too.
How did you feel about leading your company’s CSR initiatives?
In my current role I’m not uh leading CSR, but in my previous avatar, in my previous role, I was heading CSR for more than 12 years.
Um it was a conscious decision to move into that space, uh after having worked with a non-profit, especially working on advocacy.
I wanted to be in a space where uh I saw the struggles of the non-profit sector in getting funding for advocacy, in getting funding for real change, and I was looking for opportunities where, a). I could change the narrative from the other side, uh be an insider and understand that side to be able to bridge the gap that exist between a non-profit world and the CSR world and how do these come together, um, with a clear focus on mind that I am committed to disability, uh, and how everyone is funding education, employment, uh livelihoods, primary uh areas, but within that, who is looking at disability?
Whether from education perspective, whether from uh employment or livelihood or skilling perspective, no one.
And so I wanted to bring in that perspective in the grant giving space in India.
It was being done by foreign funders but not by Indian CSR.
How much freedom did you have to decide what projects to take up?
I was very fortunate, uh, that I had lot of freedom.
Um and I was, I was blessed to have a committed leadership around me, and I think I was blessed because I also came empowered with data.
I came with lived experience.
I came with a professional degree which also made me very articulate about the whole issue of disability, of disability rights, where the gaps are, where, you know, most people were not able to articulate it.
Do you think more people with disabilities should lead CSR projects focused on disability issues?
More than that, uh, yes, having the lived experience really helps, but I think most importantly it’s also important that people who are leading it are also aware of not just their own lived experience but also about the sector, about the, the real life uh experiences of all other kinds of disabilities, because you are in a situation, or you are in a position to represent an entire sector, and not just your own lived experience.
What are some things you’ve done that make you feel elated?
There are three things that stand out for me, the first one was opening of Office of Disability Services at IIM Bangalore, which empowered students with disabilities to ask for reasonable accommodation in a dignified way, where they were not rejected on the basis of disability and they were provided the right kind of support.
Till today, that center continues to remain a beacon of hope for a lot of students with disabilities, that center gives, so there are so many students who uh clear CAT, uh students with disabilities, but majority of them opt for IIM Bangalore because there is an Office of Disability Services that exist there, so I’m very proud of that.
Working with uh uh…NCPEDP to support advocacy through Mphasis Universal Design Awards and converting that into a program where we advocated with five ministries, uh, to change from an accessibility perspective and also look at the big picture of passage of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016.
Third one was experimenting. I mean, I was so fortunate to be given a blank slate to experiment, to fail, to restart, and I think that is um, that is something that I’ll always be grateful for.
So, because of that, UberACCESS and UberASSIST happened in the city of Bangalore, which became the first city in Asia to have UberACCESS and UberASSIST.
Um and fourth one is Museum of Art and Photography, which is India’s first museum which is inclusive and accessible for all kinds of disabilities.
And I think those are the things that really stand out uh in my that journey.
What are your thoughts on the current situation? How does it compare to how things were before?
I think there is uh a positive change.
Today there are uh lot many companies, and their CSR that have opened to experimenting with funding disability uh related causes.
Although I still feel it remains in the domain of special education.
It remains in the domain of employment.
Um, to some extent, uh addressing the barriers from an infrastructure point of view or providing of infrastructure hardware or software support, uh those who need it, but I still feel there’s so much more to be done, uh and I think the CSR law is quite liberal in that sense because it allows you to experiment and there still is lot of need to experiment, uh for path-breaking changes, for long-term changes and, which are not happening.
Where do you think this movement is headed?
You know, there was a point uh in this movement where entire sector was united behind certain causes.
Um and behind a one, behind one leader.
So, and that leader would give that direction that elections are coming and we need to focus on making sure that voting is accessible and inclusive of people with disabilities.
Census, we are not counted.
Uh, RPwD Act, whole sector coming together to put pressure of the government to make sure that this goes through, because this was impacting the entire sector.
Today I see lot many advocates, uh and young advocates with disabilities, I think that is really positive.
So many young people who earlier used to remain very shy about coming out and talking about disability, their own lived experience, um, I think that is a positive trend that I am seeing, but I’m also seeing that we’re more disintegrated now and not really unified, uh, so each, each disability is having it’s own voice.
Uh but somewhere it needs to again come together.
So I think that is what uh is a direction that I am seeing this movement going into.
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