On 9th February, the AmCham CSR Committee had a session with ChildFund International’s global leadership, hosted at the Fluor Daniel office in Gurgaon. Mr. Arun Kumar Jain, Managing Director, Fluor Daniel India Pvt. Ltd. and National Executive Board Member of AmCham, made opening remarks about Fluor’s CSR activities and emphasis on employee volunteerism. Everyone present gave a brief introduction to their company’s CSR initiatives. Anne Lynam Goddard, Global President and CEO, ChildFund International spoke about the commitment that ChildFund has to children and their efforts in more than 50 countries worldwide. Geoffrey Petkovich, Regional Director – Asia, ChildFund International, spoke on monitoring the balance between the financial bottom line of a CSR project and the social impact.

Neelam Makhijani, CEO, ChildFund India, spoke passionately about the work that ChildFund has in India from skill development to WASH to training tribal women to adolescent education and advocacy to end child labor. She explained that ChildFund India is a child development organization representing the voice of deprived, excluded and vulnerable children in India regardless of their race, creed and gender, since 1951. Presently, they are assisting more than 1.73 million children and families across the country with unique child-centric intervention programs.

The session included a lively Q&A to discuss best practices in CSR activities, ways of monitoring long-term impact for a project, employee volunteerism, and the debate over where a company should invest their SCR spend — close to their headquarters or in an area with the highest need. Valerie Swope, Program Coordinator, AmCham, thanked the speakers for their time and expressed gratitude to the host.