IMT Nagpur
I’M The Change – An Initiative on Sustainability & Social Responsibility (SSR)
Tracing back to October 1, 2016, when the entire country was awaiting to observe the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi ji, the Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad (IMTG), translated his eternal teaching of “Be the change you want to see in the world” into a three-credit course on Sustainability & Social Responsibility (SSR) for the first year students of IMTG’s flagship two-year PGDM Programme.
The learning objectives of the course, launched under the aegis of the I’M The Change-An Initiative on Sustainability & Social Responsibility of IMTG, are to expose students to situations that enable them to observe how people live, especially the underprivileged and enable students to experience the ‘joy of contribution’.
I’M The Change within a year of its commencement has not only brought laurels to IMTG by winning myriads accolades and awards at platforms across levels; the social initiative has created the first ripple so as to say in the community. In the first year itself, a total of 74 social projects undertaken across Delhi-NCR in partnership with 12 NGOs and district-level government agencies in Ghaziabad have touched an estimated 5231 lives.
The uniqueness of the projects lies in the fact that each of them contributed to one or more Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations and covered a whole range of areas including Education, Women empowerment, Skill development, Sustainable Livelihood, and Market linkage development, among others. A few projects were also aligned to some of the flagship initiatives of the Government of India such as, Swachh Bharat Mission; Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY); Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana; Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana; and, Skill India, etc.
Dr Atish Chattopadhyay, Director, IMTG, ceremonially releasing the book ‘I’M The Change…Parables from a Developing World’ Compiled, Narrated and Edited by Kasturi Das, Faculty-in-Charge, Sustainability & Social Responsibility in July 2017.
Dr Kasturi Das, Faculty-in-Charge, Sustainability & Social Responsibility and Dr Ravikesh Srivastava, Dean-Academics receiving the Gold Award on behalf of IMTG from Dr Anil D Sahasrabudhe, AICTE Chairman, and Mr R Sukumar, Editor, MINT newspaper and Mr Amit Agnihotri, Convener, IMC on August 5, 2017 at IIM Lucknow, Noida Campus
IMTG bagged the ‘Gold Award’ for I’M The Change at the at the prestigious IMC Awards 2017 held at the 8th edition of Indian Management Conclave (IMC), hosted by IIM Lucknow on August 4 and 5, 2017, under the theme: ‘Developing a Future-ready Curriculum’.
The AACSB International’s recognition for I’M The Change received in the context of their “Innovation that Inspires Survey 2017”, during April 2017, is a testimony to the distinctive curricular and pedagogical innovation that underlies the SSR course.
I’M The Change received accolades from some of the front-runners of responsible management education when Dr Kasturi Das, Faculty-in-Charge, SSR was invited to make a presentation at the 2017 Global Forum for Responsible Management Education that was held in conjunction with the United Nations Political Forum on Sustainable Development, at the UN Headquarters and Fordham University in New York City, USA from July 18-19 2017. The UN Global Forum also featured a brief video on I’M The Change. The initiative was also featured by UN’s PRME (Principles for Responsible Management Education) during January 2017. In February 2017, I’M The Change initiative was featured on GreenBiz, one of the leading media portals in the area of sustainability.
Dr Kasturi Das, Faculty-in-Charge, Sustainability & Social Responsibility presenting the SSR Course at the UN Global Forum in New York in July 2017.
Dr Kasturi Das, Faculty-in-Charge, SSR represented IMTG at the 1st meeting of the PRME Champions Cohort of 2018-19 held at Audencia Business School in Nantes, France in February 2018.
In what may be considered as a rare feat, within merely a year of joining the UN-PRME as an ‘Advanced Signatory’, IMTG got selected as one of the ‘PRME-Champions’ – a league of 38 leading B-schools from all across the globe. Tasked with contributing to thought and action leadership in responsible management education, the goal of the PRME Champions group is to work collaboratively to develop and promote activities that address the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and to deliver value for business and society at large.
With the aim of taking the experience to a wider audience, IMTG has published an edited Book:
‘I’M The Change…Parables from a Developing World’ (ISBN No. 978-81-933981-1-1) Compiled, Narrated and Edited by Kasturi Das, IMTG, May 2017. Available at: https://www.imt.edu/pdf/ssr-web-book.pdf
The book presents short narratives on a total of ten impactful social projects undertaken by student groups, as part of the SSR course in its maiden year. The book bears testimony as to how IMTG through its academic curriculum provides its students with opportunities to gain valuable exposure not only to the emerging trends of the industry but also to the lesser trodden areas of our existence.
This year, the batch of 540 students is working on 91 social projects in association with 13 NGO partners and the District Magistrate’s Office in Ghaziabad. Some new NGO partners have been added as also some new categories of projects including child sexual abuse; disaster risk reduction; developing women entrepreneurs, etc. NGO partners include Action for Autism, Agewell Foundation, Anchal Charitable Trust; AROH Foundation; Empowering Minds; KUSHII; Love Care Foundation; Project KHEL; SADRAG; Sahyog Care for You; Samriddh Foundation; Smile Foundation; and Teach for India.
Launched on October 1, 2016, as an integral part of the SSR course, the objective of the ‘I’M the Change Talk’ Series is to allow students to interact with the real ‘change-makers’ who have made exemplary contribution towards bringing in positive social change, so that students get to learn from their lives and experiences and also feel motivated to do their bit for society.
The 1st I’M The Change Talk was delivered on October 1, 2016 by Shri Ramesh Bhaiya, an eminent Gandhian and founder of the Vinoba Sewa Ashram, Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, and recipient of the 2011 Jamnalal Bajaj Award for the Outstanding Contribution in the Field of Constructive Work.
The 2nd I’M The Change Talk was delivered on February 7, 2017 by Shri Anshu Gupta, Founder of ‘Goonj’ and Ramon Magsaysay Awardee of 2015.
The 3rd I’M The Change Talk – first of 2017-18 Academic year- was delivered on October 3, 2017 by Shri Sonam Wangchuk, Founder, Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh and recipient of the Rolex Award for Enterprise 2016.
The 4th Talk was delivered on December 23, 2017 by Ms Geeta Dharmarajan, founder of ‘Katha’, an inspirational storyteller, writer, publisher, educationalist, and community organizer, and Padma Shri awardee of 2012.
The 5th edition of the I’M The Change Talk was delivered by Dr. Harish Hande, Founder, SELCO Solar Light Pvt Ltd on January 31, 2018.
