Anywhere. Everywhere. That’s the vision of Digital India. A new India which is growing up in a world where computers, internet, mobile phones, texting, social networking are an integral part of socio-economic interactions but one thing that stands in the way of technology is the accessibility and affordability of Digital Education.

In a country where digital literacy is a war cry, it will be a surprise to learn that less than 10 percent of the population is digitally literate. In this context, SAP’s CSR activities in India stems from the mission of powering opportunity through ‘Digital Inclusion’. SAP strives to achieve the mission through 3 key imperatives-

1.     Building digital skills

2.     Powering Best-Run NGO’s and Social Enterprises

3.     Connecting employees with Purpose.

To power ‘Digital Inclusion’, SAP launched ‘Code Unnati’- a learning for life initiative in June 2017. With a vision to empower citizens and youth with digital literacy to impart employable skills and foster Government vision on Digital India. It is a colossal task to achieve digital inclusion and impart digital literacy among 90% of the untapped population by a single organization however large.

^{Computer training center}

SAP partners with its customers, Government of India, NITI Aayog- the planning think tank of GOI. It’s been a year a busy one year for ‘Code Unnati’. To impart industry 4.0 skills on a huge scale, SAP partnered with Government of Karnataka, The National Skills Training Institute, Government of India and NITI Aayog.

Its three-pronged approach to democratizing digital literacy and education includes-

1.     Classroom-based training

2.     Digital literacy mobile vans

3.    Code Unnati mobile app – that enables students to take up courses from the convenience of their homes.

SAP has set up computer training centers that cater to socio-economically disadvantaged and rural and urban slums. The center in Dharavi – the second largest slum in Asia has SAP employees handholding young students on their first steps towards digital literacy. Remote areas, low connectivity all where overcome when ‘Code Unnati’ started its center at remote Talasari, serving mainly its tribal population and getting it connected to digital India.

The number of lives that ‘Code Unnati’ has touched and transformed is humbling. These numbers also serve as an inspiration to do more. To do better. With a vision to accelerate economic growth, propel employment opportunities and nurture growth-oriented social start-ups, SAP partnered with technology business incubators at CIIE at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and ISB to foster entrepreneurship ecosystem, build the capacity of enterprises and train entrepreneurial talent from tier 1 & 2 cities.

Employee engagement and volunteering are widely encouraged at SAP. The objective is to foster and reinvigorate the culture of year-long service. The first-ever summer of service from April to June was celebrated besides month of service, exemplifying purpose driven employee volunteering to create impact.

The past year has been a fulfilling journey for SAP CSR in India and has shown the magnitude of possibilities of nation-building through digital transformation.

SAP CSR in India strives to deliver quality education, empower socio-economically disadvantaged with employable skills at the last mile. That truly embodies Government of India’s vision of Digitally Inclusive India.

^{(source: Code Unnati's youtube channel)}

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Impact-Story is a series on development and CSR interventions leading to some impacts on the ground. If you have a project, innovation or intervention that has changed the lives of a few people or a community, please share a brief note at csr@ngobox.org. Our Team will get back to you after validating the information for a detailed coverage. For more information, please visit  indiacsrsummit.in