HANSRAJ COLLEGE

University of Delhi

NAAC Grade A++ with CGPA 3.71 NIRF Rank # 12 (Amongst Colleges)

Nurturing Social Entrepreneurship

Nurturing Social Entrepreneurship

The Context

Engaging students in solving the socio-economic problems of marginalised communities inculcates critical analysis, collaboration, and leadership abilities in them while contributing to society through establishing sustainable ventures for the underprivileged.

Objectives

The primary objective is to promote social entrepreneurship in students to create a more sustainable and equitable world, with emphasis on issues like education, socio-economic inequity, women's employment, inclusivity, environment etc.

Practice

  • Stubble burning is understood to be a major contributor to pollution and associated health risks. Project Vriddhi aims to provide a solution by creating commercially viable uses of stubble. A chosen farmer community was trained to use it for organic mushroom cultivation, as primary raw material for products like diaries, hats and mugs, and compressing it into high-density boards for constructing durable and cost-effective toilets.
  • Project Mehr strives to promote inclusivity by training the trans-gender community to undertake commercially viable ventures that utilise flower waste for making potpourri and organic compost besides manufacturing flower-based natural dyes.
  • Other environment sustainability projects include Jugnu and Kalam which support slum women to produce candles from waste wax.
  • Literacy drives for slum children are conducted under the NSS project Padhaku, while project Parvarish has adopted an urban slum Yamuna Khadar to spread awareness on topics like education, health and environment.
  • Other social outreach initiatives Ahsaas, Arman, and Silai focus on training and financially rehabilitating the differently-abled, recovered drug addicts and marginalised women, respectively.

Evidence of Success

  • Project Vriddhi helped 200+ farmers, 50+ marginalised women and 100+ slum families augment their incomes.
  • Many class 12th pass-outs from Padhaku are fulfilling their dreams of studying and excelling in various Delhi colleges. This year, 4 Padhaku students got admitted to reputed colleges of University of Delhi through C.U.E.T.
  • Projects Ahsaas, Arman, Jugnu and Mehr drove impressive financial growth for 120+ differently- abled, 60+ recovered drug addicts, 10 women and 84 transgender people respectively.
  • Students have derived invaluable learnings and skills from these engagements. Their efforts have been recognised through mentions in over 17 national and regional newspapers like the Indian Express and media mentions, with a combined reach of 15.9 million impressions.
  • Hansraj Enactus emerged as the National Champion amongst 80+ participating teams in the
  • Enactus National Symposium in 2020.
  • The team then represented India at the Enactus World Cup organised by KPMG and Unilever and was amongst the Top 4 Teams at the World Cup.

Problems Encountered and Resources Required

  • Outreach programmes require funding, procurement of which requires teamwork and creative solutions. The inadequacy of resources is a formidable challenge.
  • Mandatory permissions from government authorities contribute to delays in efficient and effective delivery.
  • At its peak, Covid-19 posed unprecedented challenges in organising awareness programmes, community projects and assisting sales and marketing of the finished products.

The most valuable resource has been the commitment of time and effort from the student volunteers. Irrespective of the magnitude of the problems and hindrances, the college team has always come together to deal with all kinds of limitations.

References:

https://www.hansrajcollege.ac.in/NSS/events2021-22.php
https://www.hansrajcollege.ac.in/studentcorner/socities/societiesdetails/55
https://instagram.com/silai_empowering_women
×