Jamshedpur : Like past four years, the preparations for the forthcoming 5th edition of the �Jamshedpur JoyFest: Joy of Giving Week� are in full-swing, with XLRI playing a facilitating role to promote this �Festival of Philanthropy� across different segments of Jamshedpur society.
The Week, which is part of nation-wide Joy of Giving Week celebrations, will be celebrated during October 2-8, 2013.
The meeting was attended by representatives of local NGOs, industries, DrAjoy Kumar Fan Club and XLRI. The highlight of the meeting was the participation in this year�s Joy of Giving Week by the local trade unions.
The meeting was attended by the well-known trade union leader, MrRakeshwarPandey (National Secretary, INTUC and President of trade unions of many Jamshedpur-based companies), along with the General Secretaries and senior office-bearers of more than 15 trade unions, which represent various industries of Jamshedpur such as Tinplate, Tata Power, TRF, Tayo, Lafarge, etc.
The trade unions promised their support to reach the message of �giving� to their members, and actively participate in the event by identifying and meeting the needs of the under-privileged of the society.
The meeting started with a small presentation by Prof MadhukarShukla, XLRI to share the history of this yearly event, and the various initiatives which have been planned for this year. He also invited the participants to share their suggestions about how to involve larger number of people in the Joy of Giving Week, and make it more impactful.
A number of suggestions were discussed and added to the list of already planned events (please see the list below). Some of the significant initiatives which came out of the meeting were:
Entitlement Awareness and Medical Camps for Unorganized Sector Workers: An initiative is planned to make the unorganized workforce aware about job market information, opportunities for skill upgradation, their entitlements, etc. The efforts will also be to provide medical check-up camps for them.
Maternal Health Check-Ups and Personal Hygiene Awareness for Rural Women: A drive to make rural women aware about the personal and menstrual health will be launched during this week. A commitment was made by girl student from XLRI to partner with local NGOs to anchor this initiative.
Donation of Discarded Computers to NGO-run Schools and Rural Youth Centers: Every year many organisations replace their computers which are otherwise in working conditions. This year, an effort will be made to access these computers and reach them to NGO-run schools and Youth Centers in the villages
Sanitation and Cleanliness initiative in Slums and Villages: Another initiative being planned is to promote sanitation and cleanliness, especially near water-sources by distributing bleaching powder, phenyl, etc.