Helping Hands Organisation (H2O) is a not-for-profit organisation centred in Menamkulam, Thiruvananthapuram, that focuses on supporting underprivileged children with Autism. H2O also lends its support to the holistic development of underprivileged children, the palliative care of the underprivileged elderly, and inculcating civic awareness among children. Now operating in the newly inaugurated, accessible, Barrier-Free Carbon-Neutral Zone (BFCNZ), powered by Finastra CSR, The BFCNZ is a zone to raise awareness of the adverse effects a climate crisis can have on people, especially underprivileged children with disabilities. Acting as an economic, as well as sensory zone for our beneficiaries with a functional nursery and agriculture activities. As a next step to raise awareness and starting conversations over disability, H2O is launching its Disability Conclave, with this year’s topic as ‘Inclusion In A Sustainable Future’ on November 12th and 13th.
H2O’s Disability Conclave
H2O, with the partnership of Finastra ESG team, is organising a two-day conclave on the topic ‘Inclusion In A Sustainable Future’ on November 12th and 13th, at the Technopark and H2O
campuses. The event scheduled for two days will include talks by experts in the different fields on the aspect of sustainability and inclusivity, idea presentations by students’ teams on an ideathon, and panel discussions with a holistic idea to understand the need and potential of being sustainable and inclusive.
When it comes to attention of the public, the problems of disabled community are often overlooked with an assumption that those are problems of the disabled only. However, when understanding the concept of disability in the modern world, which covers a lot more than just physical disability something that comes first to the mind of the public, the volume and depth of the problems are much more severe. In this year’s conclave powered by Finastra CSR, H2O iterates the importance of the idea of being sustainable while being inclusive – after all, true sustainability stems from when all intersections are taken into consideration.
Inclusivity and sustainability are two topics that demands the public’s attention, considering the social, political, economic and ecologic climate of the 21st century. In this globalized society, where people are divided than ever before, and climate crisis is a real threat to humanity, starting conversations over such topics are of utmost importance. This year, H2O’s conclave is targeting an audience of corporates, professionals, thought leaders, entrepreneurs, academics, and students who are/will be in the frontline of society executing the major functions in the realm of business, finance, and innovation. In effect, this event is the first attempt of the long-term plans of H2O to interact with various communities, encouraging conversations around a accessible and sustainable future.
Flow of events:
Day-1
Ideathon
Green Finance as a functioning financial ideology is older and more popular than we give it credit for. After all, the big-wigs in the financial market like The World Bank and The London Stock Exchange Group identified the need for green financial investments and instruments as early as 2005. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has been vocalising the need for a green financial market for over a decade now. With HSBC’s active advocacy for green banking, and the more younger organisations like STRIPE and Trine getting on board, the future of fintech is going green!
But where do we stand in neglecting a market that has global ecomic influence of $13 trillion as annual disposable income? The Disability market remains surprisingly untapped by the most forward financial institutions – more so in the dialogue of making future financial instruments sustainable. The green economy saw assets totalled at $3.6 trillion as of 2020 according to the IMF. With a growing and visible disabled consumer base, it makes good sense to make green investment opportunities accessible to people with disabilities.
The goal of the ideathon during H2O’s Disability Carnival is to do exactly that – find solutions for the accessibility mismatch for those with disabilities in this profitable and developing market of green and sustainable finance. In the ideathon, students across backgrounds will be grouped together and asked to look at economic and financial processes through the lens of sustainability, and further bridge the gap of its access to people with disabilities.
Students from participating colleges will be distributed into six teams to form a heterogeneous pool with students from different academic backgrounds (B. Tech., MBA, MSW). As a part of the soft launch, all six teams will be expected to do an initial presentation of their ideas, based on which three teams will be selected to present on the 12th of November, at Technopark, in front of immenent guests. The event will be a great networking opportunity, and the winning team will be rewarded and will have a possible opportunity of Finastra taking up the implementation of the presented idea, provided it has the credit. All six teams will be given an orientation prior to the soft launch, and the three teams proceeding to the final round will be given dedicated mentorship, prior to their presentations during the main Ideathon event.
Panel Discussions:
Day-2
Talks By Experts:
Panel Discussions: