UWBe agenda: Save the lakes, feed the kids

Bangalore: After 2013's plentiful rain, citizens aroud Kaikondrahalli Lake in Sarjapur, awoke one morning to a sight they had not seen in over ten years. Pelicans had landed once more. For the community, which had worked tirelessly for years to rejuvenate and preserve the lake, this was the ultimate validation.

Kaikondrahalli Lake is the flagship project of United Way of Bangalore, the local chapter of the world's largest not-for-profit organisation. Run almost entirely on CSR efforts, UWBe has been in existence in the city for five years now, focussing itself on issues that have been badly neglected.

"Since we have been acting as a point of contact between corporates and social issues, we have been able to focus on issues like these and actually get things done," said Suresh Nair, Director, UWBe. Suresh, who has been with the organisation for about a year now, was Global Head and MD for MModal Inc. "I decided it was time to give back," he said.

UWBe is in many ways, a highly corporatised organisation in itself. "We're very process driven and all our systems are well in place," said Nair. Although they seek very little support from the government, the organisation does want act as a bridge between corporates, the government and its many bodies and the community itself. "We have only two projects in Bangalore, which we want to explore in a big way," said Nair.

Malnutrition is a problem in India, that much is well known. What we don't understand is just how serious it is. 47% of children under the age of six are malnutritioned, said Suresh, quoting the UNICEF report of 2013. That's one in every two kids! "Very few people understand the gravity of this," he said. UWBE, for its part, has a pretty intensive nutrition programme, which currently works with children of quarry workers.

"We want to give them nutrition through food that is locally available, not through vitamin capsules or processed food," he said. When I ask him whether or not hunger is a more pressing problem than nutrition, he sayd, "Actually, the government has done a rather good job tackling hunger. It's nutrition that's the problem. At the rate we're going, India will soon have a large number of young people who are physically or mentally handicapped, maybe even both."

The organisation works with Dr KC Raghu, an eminent nutritionist, to plan out a programme for these kids. Nine daycare centres across the city provide the children, all of whom are below the age of six, with an informal education and a well-supplemented nutritional programme. "It's as simple as making pongal with kari patta," he said.

"We give them food that is easily available to them, but we make sure it is completely nutritious. We add things like pomegranate, eggs and drumstics to their diet." They are hoping to expand to about 500 centres in Bangalore, to actually make an impact in the fight against malnutrition and then merge it with the government-run ICBS programme.

Their second programme in the city, however, is one that has already drawn them a lot of attention. Kaikondrahalli Lake is the flagship programme of the Wake the Lake campaign, which, as the name clearly suggests, deals with rejuvenating and preserving the city's lakes. 1000 corporate volunteers from acrosst he city participated in tree plantation drives at Sheelavanthakere and Agara Lake, apart from a 1000 saplings being planted at Yelahanka lake, which is currently being restored.

"Water is something that affects the rich and the poor in equal measure," said Suresh. "We have been working with the BBMP over the past couple of years, to revive the dying lakes." Bangalore, which was once home to a thousand lakes, has seen the number dwindle to about a hundred, which now contain the city's sewage.

"Borewells are goign deeper and deeper, they're drying up too," said Suresh, quoting a report by the expert Dr V Balasubramanyam. "Dr Bala says we will have to evacuate the city by 2023, which might be somewhat alarmist, of course, but it is correct, in essence."

UWBe stays well away from pointing fingers, Suresh said. "The aim instead, is to work with the government, Resident Welfare Associations, corporates and environmental groups to actually make a change." The cornerstone of the programme is to use communities that live around these lakes and fully understand the ground realities of the situation." We have several parameters based on which we have a scoring system. It helps us understand what needs to be done."

Rejuvenating a lake is all very well, but maintenance, he believes, is the key. While the BBMP has neither the funding nor the personnel to do this, the people themselves have both. "The community help sthe BBMP understand where their money should be spent," explained Suresh.

UWBe doesn't want to involve itself in anymore issues, saying it would rather concentrate on the ones it has running. "We want to make a real impact," said Suresh. Funding, of course, has never been a problem, for the United Way was founded 127 years ago and has its structures well in place. While the organisation has definitely done its bit for social causes, its biggest achievement has been its ability to bring in the people, the real makers of change.