PR98595

MUMBAI, India, Nov. 2, 2022, /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/--

Launches Phase 2 of the 'School of Hope and Empowerment' project in

collaboration with The Better India; Expands reach to Bihar and Odisha States

Tata Communications [https://www.tatacommunications.com/] , a global digital

ecosystem enabler, today launches Phase 2 of its 'School of Hope and

Empowerment' (S.H.E) project intended to provide entrepreneurship education and

professional guidance to 5 million women by 2024 across the states of Bihar and

Odisha in India. Phase 1 of the project has motivated women to complete the

education series and be empowered with knowledge and skills to set up and

manage a business independently, ensuring access to quality education for all.

"The Phase 1 of School of Hope and Empowerment project has advanced the

well-being of women in Jharkhand and empowered them to play a pivotal role in

advancing their family and the larger community," said Aadesh Goyal, Chief

Human Resources Officer, Tata Communications. "In Phase 2, we are now scaling

up this project by 10X to help women in the States of Bihar and Odisha in

India. Through this project, we are extending access to self-empowering

learning modules, local support ecosystem and micro communities to bridge the

rural and gender development gap."

Phase 1 of the project, launched at the 2021 UNESCO World Conference has

surpassed its target and brought entrepreneurship education to over 1 million

women in the state of Jharkhand in just 1 year well before the committed 3

years.

The empowered women of this project are an embodiment of courage and

confidence, overcoming structural barriers including gender stereotypes,

household responsibilities, financial constraints, social pressures. A

multi-media, multi-stakeholder impact communications initiative, this project

is designed in collaboration between Tata Communications and The Better India

to support and educate women from rural parts of India. As reported in the Tata

Communications Sustainable Development Report 2022 [

https://www.tatacommunications.com/apps/online-sustainable-development-report-2022/TataCommsSR_2022.pdf

], sustainability is built on the premise that positive economic results are

possible when we effectively manage our environmental, social and governance

(ESG) activities and is aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development

Goals (UN SDG) in policy and practice. The School of Hope and Empowerment

Project aligns with the UN SDG number 5 (Gender Equality) and number 8

(Economic Growth). It is empowering youth and rural communities (especially

women) economically and socially through vocational, entrepreneurship and life

skills training which enhance access to resources, new technology and financial

services, there by supporting them in becoming active contributors to the

economy.

To celebrate and recognise the success of phase 1 of this project, both

partners have unveiled an education video series featuring real-life women

entrepreneurs with their stories. One such story is that of Kalawati Kumari, a

resident of village Kurumdegi in Simdega district of Jharkhand.  A beneficiary

of the project, she won a business grant to set up a flour mill which today she

manages with her own funds. She also creates and fosters relationships with her

customers and operates the flour mill. "The workshop trained on subjects like

book-keeping of accounts, managing customer relations, shop environment, the

importance of saving," said Kalawati.

For more information, please visit www.tatacommunications.com

https://www.tatacommunications.com/

About School of Hope and Empowerment (S.H.E.)

The School of Hope and Empowerment is a community initiative co-created and

supported by Tata Communications which leverages mobile technology for

equipping community members with the knowledge, skills and tools required to

engage in sustainable livelihood choices. It is a multi-media, multi-channel,

multi-stakeholder impact communication initiative that leverages the power of

digital connectivity and partnerships to extend entrepreneurship education to

women from remote geographies. Through this, our aim is to create enabling

environments in which women can establish themselves as local leaders and

entrepreneurs through inspiration, education and mentorship. It also includes

examples where private sector investment, community-based organisations, NGOs

and state livelihood missions come together to extend non-formal education

while driving progress on other inter-connected SDGs (SDG 5 and 8).

About Tata Communications

A part of the Tata Group, Tata Communications (NSE: TATACOMM; BSE: 500483) is a

global digital ecosystem enabler powering today's fast-growing digital economy

in more than 190 countries and territories. Leading with trust, it enables

digital transformation of enterprises globally with collaboration and connected

solutions, core and next gen connectivity, cloud hosting and security solutions

and media services. 300 of the Fortune 500 companies are its customers and the

company connects businesses to 80% of the world's cloud giants. For more

information, please visit www.tatacommunications.com

[https://www.tatacommunications.com/]

Forward-looking and cautionary statements

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its prospects, and other statements, including those relating to Tata

Communications' expected financial position, business strategy, the future

development of Tata Communications' operations, and the general economy in

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that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ

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acceptable margins; failure to successfully complete commercial testing of new

technology and information systems to support new products and services,

including voice transmission services; failure to stabilize or reduce the rate

of price compression on certain of the company's communications services;

failure to integrate strategic acquisitions and changes in government policies

or regulations of India and, in particular, changes relating to the

administration of Tata Communications' industry; and, in general, the economic,

business and credit conditions in India. Additional factors that could cause

actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from such

forward-looking statements, many of which are not in Tata Communications'

control, include, but are not limited to, those risk factors discussed in Tata

Communications Limited's Annual Reports.

The Annual Reports of Tata Communications Limited are available at

www.tatacommunications.com [https://www.tatacommunications.com/]. Tata

Communications is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any

obligation to, update or alter its forward-looking statements.

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SOURCE: Tata Communications