TRANSFORMING TRANSFORMING TRANSFORMING SUSTAINABILITY REPORT FY 2023 COMMUNITIES THE PLANET THE WORKPLACE Aim 2 Aim 3 Empowering over 2.5 million families Uplifting over 100 million women and children through with enhanced skillsets education, nutrition, healthcare and welfare Key Material Issues Community Engagement & Development Women Empowerment Project Nayi Kiran - Menstrual Health Management In the four years since its launch, BALCO has spent At Vedanta, we believe that the well-being of the close to INR 170 million and the project has now communities where we do business is crucial for the reached over 48,000 individuals, including women, long-term prosperity of our company. Communities give us men, adolescent girls, and boys. The project has indeed proven to be a ray of hope, as its name the social licence to operate and are therefore a top Menstrual health and hygiene play a significant role in priority in our efforts to strengthen our bonds and gain womens’ health and wellbeing and in safeguarding promises, spreading awareness and dispelling myths trust and support. Building and maintaining a social license their dignity, privacy and self-worth. However, about menstruation and truly ‘Transforming Together’ menstrual health has often been a subject of social as it has been overwhelmingly embraced by the to operate is essential for the long-term sustainability of stigma, particularly in rural India, leading to low community across 45 neighboring communities at our operations; which, in turn, provide employment awareness, poor access to menstrual hygiene BALCO, covering all the 5 blocks of Korba district viz. opportunities, stimulate local economies, and contribute to products and lack of support and understanding from Korba, Podi Uproda, Kartala, Pali and Katghora. The local development through various community other family members. success of the project lies in its multi-level outreach development initiatives at the site level. and its use of powerful local influencers like SHG BALCO realized the gravity of this issue, and its ability women, health workers and adolescent youth leaders to limit the potential of young women. To address this to drive the message home. problem, the company partnered with Sarthak Jan The project’s success has been driven by certain key Vikas Sansthan (SJVS) to launch Project Nayi Kiran in 2019. The project objectives were developed on the levers: recommendations of the need assessment study conducted by TARU Leading Edge and sought to: Use of multiple modes of communication • Raise awareness about menstruation, hygienic The primary project objective was to demystify all the practices and product choices among women and misinformation around menstruation and highlight its In FY 2023, we young adolescents and important stakeholders biological and health-related role for women, so that it allocated `4,460 and community members would be viewed as a natural bodily process requiring million to various appropriate attention. The change which was sought community • Build capacity, so that awareness initiatives could required both attitudinal and behavioural change, and programmes, multiply and penetrate deeper to reach the means of outreach were thus diverse, with the positively impacting marginalized and less accessible groups like intent of communicating strongly and repeatedly. the lives of 44 differently abled girls and women From door-to-door campaigns to nukkad nataks; million people. Over the past five years, • Foster leadership among women, adolescent girls school awareness sessions to gram sabhas – the we have spent and even young men to spread the message far message was communicated to people across `17.5 billion for this and wide. genders and age. same purpose. 49