Accenture grants Rs 4.8 crore to support people with disabilities

To increase job readiness and opportunity for persons with disabilities, Accenture has awarded grants worth Rs 4.8 crore to its nonprofit partners Dr Reddy's Foundation, Anudip Foundation and EnAble India.

The grants a part of Accenture's Skills to Succeed global corporate citizenship initiative which aims to equip 3 million with job skills by 2020 will enhance programmes that provide job skills to persons with disabilities in India and connect them to open positions, Accenture said in a press release.

"I am proud to share that we expect to have equipped approximately 20,000 persons with disabilities in India with job skills by the end of fiscal 2017," said Rekha M Menon, chairman and senior managing director, Accenture in India.

The grants will support, Dr Reddy's Foundation's GROW skilling programme for persons across India with locomotor disabilities and hearing impairment. The program also helps connect disabled persons with suitable jobs.

The Anudip Foundation's Specially Abled Vocational Education (SAVE) programme in West Bengal and Odisha, tailored to the physically and visually challenged. The three-month program provides IT and BPO-specific training informed by employer requirements and available positions.

EnAble India in scaling its innovative Namma Vaani system which, through interactive voice response, uses mobile phones to create an interactive, inclusive social platform to create a network for persons with disabilities.

"No inclusion agenda in India can be complete without a focus on the more than 20 million persons with disabilities in India," Menon said.