Prestigious award presented for comprehensive efforts to transform rural communities through education and social development
Trivandrum, December 21, 2022 – UST, a leading digital transformation solutions company, announced that it has been presented with 2022 Project Management Institute (PMI) South Asia Award for Project of the Year in the ‘Contribution to Community’ category. Judges recognized UST for its strong corporate social responsibility initiatives dedicated to improving communities and increasing well-being in the areas where it is active. Organized by PMI – one of the world’s largest not-for-profit membership associations – these prestigious awards are the highest recognition for project management in the region.
The wide-ranging CSR campaigns overseen by UST aligned with Sustainable Development Goals 2030 and included a variety of projects aimed at improving education and community across India. In order to maximize benefits, several initiatives were adopted including ‘Adopt-a-School’ program, student scholarships, infrastructure development, digitalization campaigns and the establishment of rural libraries as well as community-based digital learning centers in rural and tribal areas. Complimentary efforts worked to provide increased education and opportunities for people with disabilities and others that face social difficulties.
UST won praise for its bold life-cycle approach to education as implemented in the ‘Transforming Lives Through Education’ program. Built upon successful Adopt-a-School initiatives, UST works to increase integration so that the program can serve as a springboard for community development. This allows for investment in education to yield tremendous benefits while bridging achievement gaps at every level for students coming from lower socio-economic backgrounds. The program has reached to more than 30,000 students in the last five years covering all major UST India locations including Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Coimbatore and Noida.
UST representatives – Smita Sharma, Global Program Manager, Sofi Janet, CSR Ambassador, Thiruvananthapuram and Prasanth Subramanian, CSR Ambassador, Kochi – received the award at the PMI South Asia Conference in Mumbai on December 9, 2022.
“I am proud of UST’s efforts to transform lives, and providing quality education to the less privileged is key to our vision of increasing opportunities for the next generation. This recognition from PMI is a testimonial to the great work our team is doing and will further motivate us to continue our efforts and work to make a difference. On behalf of everyone at UST, I want to thank all our CSR ambassadors, leads and volunteers for everything they did to earn us this award and for making 2022 an impactful year,” said Sunil Balakrishnan, Chief Values Officer and Global Head of Center Operations, UST.
“Being presented with this prestigious award makes our team proud of the work that we have done while also stepping up our community initiatives as UST works to develop more scalable and sustainable community development models,” said Smita Sharma, Global Program Manager, CSR, UST.
For more details on UST’s Education and CSR programs, please visit: https://www.ust.com/en/who-we-are/ust-social-commitment
