IKEA's gesture for vulnerable groups

Hyderabad: Ikea working towards initiatives for vulnerable groups of construction workers, daily wage earners, stranded children, slum dwellers impacted due to Covid-19 pandemic, has recently announced the collaborations with partners Collective Good Foundation, Railway Children India, LabourNet and SELCO Foundation and Habitat for Humanity under its social relief project called Emergency Community Support (ECS).

With a budget of €5,00,000 for these projects from the €26 million relief fund set up last year, it aims to provide a place called home. Through this theme, the company has introduced four social welfare programmes - two of which will be in Mumbai, and the other two in Hyderabad and Bengaluru respectively.

In Hyderabad, IKEA and Habitat for Humanity instituted project Basti to help eradicate extreme poverty, and make human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable for daily wage earners in Basti, Jagathgiri Gutta, Hyderabad. Under this project, 75 homes, impacting over 350 individuals, will be repaired over a period of six months. Basic sanitation facilities will be built and provided for the daily wage earners.

Mumbai's first intervention is in collaboration with Collective Good Foundation and Shelter Associates and is aimed at providing access to safe sanitation to the many inhabitants of Turbhe slums (Indiranagar, Ganpati pada I and II and Hanuman Nagar), Navi Mumbai.

IKEA is also supporting Railway Children India to prevent displaced children impacted by the Covid-19 from succumbing to begging and homelessness. The initiative is being coordinated at Dadar Railway station, where at risk children are being provided hygiene safety kits, psychological support by certified counsellors, and re-integrated into society through community-based child activity learning centers.

Nirmala Singh, Sustainability Manager, IKEA India, said, "IKEA is always with the many people. A better home leads to a better everyday life. Housing is a fundamental human right and home is the most important place in the world. Now more than ever, many families are in crisis as the pandemic has worsened issues for families with lower-income, and already homeless populations. Everyone deserves a place called home, and this initiative aims to further IKEA's Covid-19 relief efforts in local communities by supporting the many people across the country."