Women Empowerment

ZACL seeks to equip women from the local community with important employment-generating skills. These include entrepreneurship development for women, vocational training, and creation of small scale enterprises. ZACL has organized poor women from the Zuarinagar area into twenty Self Help Groups (SHGs) and helped them register under the Societies Registration Act (1860).

With an objective to make the women self-reliant and eventually increase the income levels of the families, women SHGs have been provided number of training for group strengthening, savings and bank linkages and several income generating activities. ZACL is further strengthening these women groups in order to access finance and market linkages for the products produced by these groups collectively.

ZACL Livelihood Center (Jeevanaadhar Kendra)

Zuarinagar has a floating population of migrants’ families from neighboring states of Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra etc., primarily dependent on daily wage occupations in the nearby industrial area. The skills gap study conducted by ZACL captured youth aspirations for training and registered high demand for tailoring, electrician, commuters skills, beautician training, and spoken English.

The ZACL Livelihood Center (Jeevanaadhar Kendra) in Zuarinagar, Goa provides skills training to local youth in four marketable trades viz. Retail Sales, Domestic Electrician; Data Entry Operator; and Tailoring. The initiative is being implemented by Sambhav Foundation (A Labournet Initiative) following a 120 hrs curriculum approved by National Skills Development Corporation (NSDC). The facility aims to skill youth living around the plant, and provides post training support for placement/employment.

Educational Scholarships

ZACL extends financial support in the form of scholarships to meritorious students, one each in Agriculture and Engineering degree course annually. These scholarships are awarded based upon merit cum financial background i.e. 85% for merit and 15% for the parental income status.

The minimum eligible percentage criteria for scholarship in Engineering is 70% and in Agriculture 60% respectively. Engineering students should have secured admission for the degree course in Engineering affiliated to Goa University or BITS PILANI, Goa. Scholarship in Agriculture is restricted to admission in recognized Agriculture Universities of Maharashtra and Karnataka.

In addition, Zuari awards annual scholarships to four neighbouring high school students who excel in SSC examination. These high schools are located in the company’s neighbourhood at Zuarinagar, Sancoale, Velsao and Cansaulim.

Merit Scholarship for Meritorious Students from Local High Schools

Scholarship to Promote Higher Education in Agriculture and Engineering

Behavioral Change in Sanitation and Health

Sanitation and Solid waste management has been a major issue in Zuarinagar area in Goa. In order to improve upon the status ZACL is closely associating with the key stakeholders in community, and assists the local panchayat in improving the collection and disposal of waste on sustained basis. ZACL has also allocated 1000 sq.mt of land for disposal and segregation of waste (biodegradable & non-bio degradable) to address the problem.

In order to bring about a behavioral change among the communities, a number of school based activities engaging school children and teachers are also conducted to instill the ideas of better health, sanitation, hygiene and environment. ZACL conducts training workshops for teachers, school children, cleanliness drives, health camps in an around the community.

Drinking water supply to villages

Drinking water shortage and irregular water supply to villages Belem and Dando is being fulfilled by ZACL through piped water supplied to through a 4.5 KM long water pipeline laid between the plant to the villages. ZACL has made a provision of twenty five community taps supplying 60 m3 of drinking water and fulfills the drinking water need of 250 rural families.

Environment

Environmental sustainability is a key aspect of ZACL’s sustainable development initiatives. The company strives to educate local communities about environmentally sustainable agricultural practices, promote awareness programmes in villages in and around the plant area and implement plantation campaigns.

ZACL is promoting vermi-composting in it campus in Goa and is the first company in India to undertake a vegetative mapping exercise with in its industrial campus carried out in conjecture with Botany Department, Goa University. The green vegetative cover at Zuarinagar spreads across over a thousand acre with more than 200,000 trees pertaining to 80 species (including ground fauna, and 80 species of birds.