Vodafone India staff raise Rs 1 crore to send girls back-to-school

NEW DELHI: Vodafone India said that its more than 12,000 workforce together with their relatives have raised over Rs 1 crore to fund the education of 47,000 out-of-school girls.

The campaign “Giving Championships” run by Vodafone Foundation—a community service arm of India’s No. 2 telco- is being run in Rajasthan’s Ajmer, Bundi and Rajsamand districts. The initiative was a part of ‘World of Difference’ (WOD), a flagship program run by the Vodafone Foundation globally, the company said in a statement.

“Our collective efforts have helped in substantially surpassing the target of supporting 30,000 girls that we had set for ourselves and we will be sending thousands of more young girls back to school,” Vodafone India Chief Executive Marten Pieters said.

In this endeavor, Vodafone’s network of more than 450 exclusive retail stores also raised funds and created awareness about girl child education through the sale of special school-themed ZooZoo and Zumi merchandise.

Through its foundation, the company focuses primarily on women empowerment, while the Giving Championships, it said, will enable girls (6-14 years) to access education for one year.