ENVIRONMENTAL SUPPORT ORGANIZATION

BANGALORE

Social Concern Project report submitted in partial fulfillment of

the requirement for the degree of
Master of Business Administration
By

BUGATA SAI SWAROOP

1828547

Under the guidance of

Prof. Suresh. A

2018-2020

Institute of Management
Christ University, Bengaluru.
 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the Social Concern Project report titled –“ Environment Support Group
(ESG)” has been undertaken by me for the award of Master of Business Administration. I have
completed this study under the guidance of Prof. Suresh. A, Institute of Management, Christ
University, Bengaluru and Environmental Support Group head Ms Bhargavi S. Rao.

I also declare that this Social Concern Project report has not been submitted for the award of any
degree, Diploma, Associate ship, Fellowship or any other title, in Christ University or in any
other University.

Place: Bengaluru

Date: 18-11-2019
CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the Social Concern Project report submitted by Bugata Sai Swaroop on the
title –“ Environmental Support Group” is a record of Social Concern Project work done by him
during the academic year 2018-2020 under my guidance and supervision in partial fulfilment of
Master of Business Administration.

Place: Bengaluru Signature of the Guide

Date: 18-1-2019 Prof. Suresh. A

Institute of Management

Christ University

Bengaluru
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to all those who have been instrumental in the
preparation of this project report. I would wish to place on records, my deep gratitude to my
mentor Prof. Suresh. A, for his expert advice and help.

I am also indebted to Environmental Support Group head Ms Bhargavi S. Rao for her

constant support and guidance throughout the course of the project and for sharing her valuable
experiences and knowledge with me. I had a great opportunity of working with him.

I thank Prof. Suresh A for giving me his time and patience for guiding me to make the
best out of this project.

Also, my sincere thanks to my family for their blessings which helped me remain
motivated to complete this project.

Bugata Sai Swaroop

1828547
Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1............................................................................................................................7
INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................7
About the Organisation:.......................................................................................................................7
Mission of Organization.......................................................................................................................7
Swot Analysis of Environment Support Organization...........................................................................8
CHAPTER 2..........................................................................................................................10
CSR IN INDIA.......................................................................................................................10
Criticisms and concerns......................................................................................................................10
CHAPTER 3..........................................................................................................................12
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY.................................................................................................................12
CHAPTER 4..........................................................................................................................13
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY.....................................................................................................13
Description of Project:.......................................................................................................................13
Leadership Team:...............................................................................................................................13
Designs and develops print media for the event:.................................................................................14
Print media:.........................................................................................................................................15
Social Media:......................................................................................................................................16
E-mail communication:.......................................................................................................................16
Direct Interactions:.............................................................................................................................16
CHAPTER 5..........................................................................................................................17
Learnings:...........................................................................................................................................17
Recommendations:............................................................................................................................17
CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

About the Organisation:

Environment Support Group works with a variety of environmental and social justice
initiatives across India and the world. They proactively address environmental and social
justice issues, collaborating across sectors and disciplines, keeping the interests of local
project-affected communities and voiceless ecosystems. The spirit of the NGO is to be
sensitive to contextual complexities so that solutions are environmentally and socially, and
deeply democratic. The interdisciplinary and versatile nature of ESG is the strength in
addressing a variety of issues and complex challenges.

Environment Support Group (ESG) is an independent not-for-profit, non-governmental

organization, founded in 1996 and registered as a Public Charitable Trust in 1998. Its main
functions involve research, training, campaign support, and advocacy on a variety of
environmental and social justice issues. They are amongst the foremost proponents in India
for the reform of environmental decision-making processes, working to make them pro-
people and pro-environment.Environment Support Group support local communities have
had significant regional and national impacts in the areas of the power sector, mining,
environmental decision making, decentralization, infrastructure, etc. Besides, they engage
with local governments and regional agencies in progressive efforts to secure environmental
and social justice, the thrust of which is in capacity building and sensitization.

The main focus of the organization was to bring in a change in society through organizing
events and influence people to adopt sustainable and greener practices.

Mission of Organization

To promote the cause of environmental and social justice through research, documentation,
advocacy, training, and campaign support and to support the rights of local communities and
voiceless ecosystems in a responsible, progressive manner that keeps contextual
complexities in mind.
Swot Analysis of Environment Support Organization

Strengths

1. Strong RDC(Research Documentation and Communication) center – The RDC

team is highly efficient, working closely to maintain the records. Researching different
projects and following ups with leads.

2. Serving the people from slums – always, the focus is to serve the needs of people,
working towards the upbringing of people from slums and creating vibrant
neighborhoods.

Weakness

1. No Visibility of organization – The website does not list on the first page of the Google
search. The people looking for NGOs on the Internet are not aware of the organization.
It is essential to boost visibility by listing the website on the first page.

2. Running Short of funds – The NGOs is looking out for funds to fund the existing and
upcoming projects and need to tie up with corporates for CSR activities.

Opportunities

1. Website Exists – The website of the NGO was in place, and there was an opportunity to
highlight it to the right audience. The specific pages existed for different projects.

2. Use of Google Ad Grant –Google AdWords is Google's advertising system, which

allows users to advertise and bid on specific keywords so that the clickable ads appear in
Google’s search results.

3. Existing leads for corporates – There exist specific leads of corporates that can be
approached over call to support the projects, campaign, and events.

Threats

1. Limited resources to carry out the tasks – The NGO faces stiff challenges in
carrying out multiple tasks due to lack of resources. The resources are handling
multiple projects and have to entertain multiple requests catering to different sectors.

2. Corporates already involved with other NGOs – While following up leads for
corporates, many of the corporates have already tie-ups with other NGOs, and some
of those have their own non- profit institutions to which they channelize their CSR
activities. The other companies are willing to fund specific projects such as funds
related to children or women etc.
CHAPTER 2

CSR IN INDIA

CSR in India has traditionally been seen as a philanthropic activity. And in keeping with the
Indian tradition, it was an activity that was performed but not deliberated. As a result, there is
limited documentation on specific activities related to this concept. However, what was clearly
evident that much of this had a national character encapsulated within it, whether it was endowing
institutions to actively participating in India’s freedom movement, and embedded in the idea of
trusteeship.

As some observers have pointed out, the practice of CSR in India still remains within the
philanthropic space, but has moved from institutional building (educational, research and cultural)
to community development through various projects. Also, with global influences and with
communities becoming more active and demanding, there appears to be a discernible trend, that
while CSR remains largely restricted to community development, it is getting more strategic in
nature (that is, getting linked with business) than philanthropic, and a large number of companies
are reporting the activities they are undertaking in this space in their official websites, annual
reports, sustainability reports and even publishing CSR reports.

The Companies Act, 2013 has introduced the idea of CSR to the forefront and through its
disclose-or-explain mandate, is promoting greater transparency and disclosure. Schedule VII of
the Act, which lists out the CSR activities, suggests communities be the focal point.

Criticisms and concerns

Some critics believe that CSR programs are undertaken by companies to distract the public from
ethical questions posed by their core operations. They argue that the reputational benefits that
CSR companies receive (cited above as a benefit to the corporation) demonstrate the hypocrisy of
the approach. Moreover, some studies find that CSR programs are motivated by corporate
managers' interests at the cost of the shareholders, so they are a type of agency problem in
corporations. Others have argued that the primary purpose of CSR is to provide legitimacy to the
power of businesses.
Student Social Responsibility

Student responsibility occurs when students take an active role in their learning by recognizing
that they are accountable for their academic success. Responsible students take ownership of their
actions by exhibiting the following behaviors. They demonstrate academic integrity and honesty.
It is a commitment everyone should have towards society – contributing towards social, cultural
and ecological causes. SSR is based on an individual's ethics. It forms the base for CSR or
Corporate Social Responsibility because if everyone in a business organization does his/her bit,
the bigger things automatically fall into place. Student social responsibility is the responsibility of
every student for his/her actions. It is morally binding and suggests that each person acts in such a
way that minimizes the adverse effect on those immediately around them.
CHAPTER 3
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

Project Objectives:

 Identifying strategies for digital promotions of the Campaign.

 Build awareness and encourage participation in various categories- volunteers or as

participants of the Campaign.

 Analyzing and developing various committees for organizing the Campaign.

The main focus of the organization was to bring in a change in society through the campaign, event and
influence people to adopt sustainable and greener practices.

The project involved working on coordination of the campaign where we had to work to assign the
tasks to get participants, especially the college students, and also to communicate with different
influencers and organizations to get sponsorships for the events.

In order to target the students, we suggested e-mail marketing, print ad, and social media as a medium
to get more registrations. We also spoke to people directly about the organization.

Target audience:

The major focus would be students as they are the driving force for change. Therefore, we were
assigned the task of getting more participation from the students of colleges, universities, and schools..

Marketing goals:

Facilitate information and registration facilities for all the target audience. Encourage participation
through different media.
CHAPTER 4

Description of Project:

About Campaign
ESG has developed a framework to help any citizen or citizen group to survey the state of his/her/their
ward.  Such crowdsourced citizen-generated information can be collated and analyzed at a city scale to
gain an enriched understanding of the state of the Bengaluru metropolis.

The Campaign involves the planning stage, where the theme of the event was discussed and
decided as “to gain an enriched understanding of the state of the Bengaluru metropolis” Then, the
organization started recruiting volunteers to carry out the implementation process. The
organization was looking for volunteers who could connect with people and influence them easily.
Volunteers were selected based on their interests and skill set.

Initially, a briefing was done to explain the organization, its initiatives and about the campaign.
Then promotional strategies were developed to get more participation.the program focuses on
bringing a change to Bangalore Metropolis. The selected target group was students of the
University.

The first step was the division of tasks.

Leadership Team:
The leadership team was formed, and each individual was assigned different responsibilities.
The team comprised of individuals with diverse skills and talents that share a common
interest in the organization’s success. The team included people from different organizations
and sectors with vast experience. Our team was assigned to the branding of the Campaign.
Following were the responsibilities of Public Relations & Marketing:
 Build a brand for the Campaign
 Work on all the promotion materials
 Establish promotional strategies
 Bring in sponsors and participants.
Some of the other committees included:

 Legal/Logistics
 Corporate Sponsorships and Donations
 After the allocation of teams, each team was asked to come up with objectives.
The marketing team plays a major role in making the program as this team has the
responsibility of bringing in more participants, ensuring people come to know about the
event, etc.
Some of the primary objectives for the marketing team included:

 Get registrations for participation.

 Work with Corporate Sponsorship and Donation group to develop a sponsorship and
donation information packet
 Designs and develop print media for the Campaign
 Design and develop research survey
 Utilize social networking, email campaigns, blogs, and online marketing tactics to
spread the word online

Designs and develops print media for the campaign

Print materials provide essential exposure. It was essential to design brochures and posters as
these could be used to promote the campaign, build awareness about the Campaign and to get
sponsorships. Therefore, with the help of volunteers, Tee-shirts, flyers, brochures, posters,
signage, stickers were designed and printed.

It was decided that all the walkers would be given a cap and a tee-shirt on paying rs.250
during the registration. This would help build revenue and also work as a major marketing
tool.

Develop Survey Questions

I had the opportunity to work and develop the survey question, The survey question were
based on schools, road, footpath, society,BBMP ward office, buses, safety, public toilet, etc.

Promotions:

Promotion channels play important role in targeting the right audience and to spread the word
effectively and get participants. The major promotion channels chose were:

 Social media sites

  Print ads
 E-mail communication

Print media:

Printed brochures and booklets with information regarding the event were distributed to all
the volunteers. We had the responsibility to ensure these brochures were placed in the
location, which would get more attention and get to the notice of the people.

We took the printouts and ensured they were placed on various campuses, and also we placed
these printouts on the noticeboards of Universities and institutions. Usually, all the essential
information regarding the academics are placed on the notice boards of all classrooms and the
common noticeboards. Due to this reason, students visited the notice boards and read all the
information available. Therefore, this was the best location to get into the notice of the
students. This ensured that students know about the campaign. In order to grab attention, It
was ensured that information regarding the provision of certificates was visible as most
would like to receive participation certificates.

We had the online registration forms with us, and with the help of mobile devices, we
requested the students to take part in the campaign. We explained to them about the greener
initiative and how important it is for us to work on our routines to build a better society.

Social Media:

One of the most cost-effective ways to promote any event is through online channels,
especially all the social media websites. The most popular among them is Facebook. A page
was created for the event, and people started sharing the posts. This got massive visibility
towards the event. It also helped in getting more registrations.

E-mail communication:

It is one of the important medium to address a large group of audience. Also, email gets to the
notice of everyone, as usual, people do not ignore any e-mail. Therefore we started sending
out mail with the details for the campaign and a hyperlink for the registration, which would
direct the interested people to the website where they could enroll themselves for the
campaign either as a participant or as a volunteer. All the volunteers started sending emails to
their connections and groups.

Thus with the help of e-mails, we were able to bring into the notice of most people regarding
 the organization and about the event. After the emails were sent, the number of registrations
increased at a faster pace.

Direct Interactions:

We also decided to meet people directly and get registrations. We ensured we meet up with
students during breaks in classrooms or standard meeting areas and speak with them
regarding the event. This ensures participation as people were convinced, and we cleared all
their inhibitions and doubt.
CHAPTER 5
Learning and Recommendation

Learnings:

Working with Environmental Support System for 15 hours was an amazing and a
wonderful experience as i learned many things, came across many new people,
and came to know about the various issues. The significant learnings are-

 Importance of events like Walkathon in creating a brand image of an

organization. Such an event would give exposure to the organization and
also a chance to bring people of different sectors together.
 Designing and print promotion materials for the event. This would help in
building awareness and imparting information to the target audience.
 Importance of E-mail marketing and techniques.
 Learned about how an NGO as an organization works. It also works under
the same circumstances as a profit orient organization but with an aim for a
better society.
 Strategy planning and execution. For an event where huge participants are
expected, a lot goes into planning and implementation.
 Learned about different approaches required to communicate with a
different target audience.
 Provide opportunities for NGOs to promote their cause and raise vital resources.
 Connect Individuals, Companies, and NGOs for each to benefit.
 Advise NGOs on Strategy and Planning about Fundraising,
Communications, and Donor Relations.

Recommendations:

 The link for registration had technical issues and was not opening correctly
for a few. Therefore, all the registration link should be adequately tested.
 The event required each participant to pay Rs.250, and in return, they would
get a cap and Tee-shirt. Many would want to participate, but due to the fee,
 they would be discouraged from participation. Therefore, there should be an
option to participate without any fee, and anyone interested in purchasing a
souvenir can pay for the same.
 Communication could be maintained better through emails and calls in
order to avoid any confusion.
 Separate registration links, if provided for different institutions, would help
in avoiding confusion in the registration process and will also help to a
great in getting the exact number of participants accurately.
 Environment Support Engine should promote its name as the first keyword
appearing in the internet search engines.