With the ongoing pandemic causing public restrictions & health concern, Ford India shared a series of initiatives undertaken by the company to help the customer as well as communities impacted by COVID-19. Starting with announcing Work From Home (WFH) for the entire workforce followed by manufacturing face shields for frontline workers, Ford showcased empathy towards employees & communities during COVID-19 crisis. For customers under lockdown, Ford announced a series of initiatives to minimize the inconvenience, including Price Protection, Warranty Extension, Service Benefits and many more such initiatives. Ford India also rolled Dial-A-Ford - a manifestation of the Feels Like Family promise which promises to deliver safe and hygiene standards of sales and service experience to customers without compromising on convenience. Real-time information about community & customer measures evoked confidence at the times of crisis. Ford India also supported Tamil Nadu Government’s COVID-19 relief effort by deploying 25 vehicles for health workers.

Ford’s commitment to India is not just business-centric. At the heart of the company’s business plans are people and communities. With an unwavering commitment to the country and its people, Ford’s CSR initiatives are also a reflection of the company’s ‘Go Further’ journey in India.

Ford’s involvement with communities started in 1998 and took a defining shape with Operation Better World in 2012 when issues related to Community Life, Education, Sustainability, and Driving Safety were outlined as the core priorities. Our work in these core areas continues to be rooted in Ford’s long-standing commitment to making a positive impact on society and Henry Ford’s legacy of building strong communities wherever Ford does business.

Ford’s commitment to India is not just business-centric. At the heart of the company’s business plans are people and communities. With an unwavering commitment to the country and its people, Ford’s CSR initiatives are also a reflection of the company’s ‘Go Further’ journey in India.

Ford’s involvement with communities started in 1998 and took a defining shape with Operation Better World in 2012 when issues related to Community Life, Education, Sustainability, and Driving Safety were outlined as the core priorities. Our work in these core areas continues to be rooted in Ford’s long-standing commitment to making a positive impact on society and Henry Ford’s legacy of building strong communities wherever Ford does business.

A critical component of Ford’s Happy Schools intervention is engagement with key stakeholders, including the management of schools, the teachers, and parents, to create a sustained support system for the child. With its implementation in Chennai, Coimbatore, Sanand and Gurgaon/NCR, this program is impacting the lives of children across 50 government schools.

Over the years, Happy Schools has created sustainable changes in the schools’ learning systems, improved basic infrastructure facilities and provided educational & counselling support for special children, those with learning difficulties and their parents. Ford’s Rural Empowerment Program (ROPE) also extends support to schools in rural areas in Cuddalore and Tenkasi districts.

Focusing on Girl Education, Ford’s Light House Program looks to nurture their talent with knowledge, skills and scholarships. The program supports their families, and encourages schools, to provide a more nurturing environment for girls. Parents and single mothers are also provided livelihood support encouraging them to enhance their family income and support their daughter’s education. The program is currently running in Chennai and Tenkasi (TN).

In addition, the sustained contribution of both hardware and the software under Ford-Rotary Digital Literacy program has helped 5 lakh people secure digital literacy since its inception in 2007. Over 10,000 desktops and laptops are now being used to deliver basic computer knowledge and advanced training at government schools, colleges, NGOs and hospitals.

To help strengthen the communities in which we operate has always been a core priority for Ford. Around the world, the company’s efforts to improve community life include hunger relief, poverty alleviation, and environmental initiatives like water conservation.

Involved with a multiplicity of projects in India, Ford supports Women Empowerment Program(s) in villages close to the Chennai plant. More than 1300 women have been trained in this skill over the last four years, of whom a significant number have started leveraging this as an additional source of income.

Ford’s Project Valam (empowerment) under the Livelihood Programs, equips women in rural and semi-rural communities with skills for better employment and empowerment. The program provides women at Kumzhli village access to tailoring and computer education that is helping them get better employment and income generation for themselves and their families.

Continuing its efforts towards empowering women and their role in the society, Ford India also donated a New Ford Figo and New Ford Aspire to help Neeva Foundation in their efforts to provide training and employment to women as drivers.

Ford has been supporting a primary health care centre – “Sanjeevi” in Chennai for 19 years, which has provided medical care to more than 510,000 people in surrounding villages.

The Primary Healthcare Center also organizes various awareness camps, to reach out to the community and volunteers from Ford participate in these camps. Seeing the success and impact it creates, Ford has also been closely involved with similar healthcare infrastructure projects in Sanand, Gujarat.

Another key program supported by Ford over the years has been The Maternal & Child Healthcare intervention in Kalvarayan Hills in Villupuram district, 300 Km from the Chennai facility. The program has enabled access to quality healthcare for expectant mothers in the region while including community awareness initiatives that address issues here like child marriage and dropout rate amongst girls.

Ford has been named as the largest Voluntary Blood Donor successively for 19 consecutive years across its manufacturing and IT operations. Our employees team up with NGOs like the Red Cross for conducting blood donation camps and safety campaigns.

Recognized with the prestigious Highest Voluntary Blood Donor in the Industrial Segment for 20 consecutive years by Indian Red Cross Society of Tamil Nadu State.

The inaugural camp held in the year 2000 at the Chennai plant, had 123 units of blood donated by the employees. The turnout increased steadily over years and so far CVAEP has donated 14414 units of blood and conducted 85 voluntary blood donation camps.

The Ford Driving Skills for Life (Ford DSFL) program is the centrepiece of our efforts to improve driver safety. Launched in 2009 in India, the program is in keeping with Ford’s objective of creating Safe Roads and a Better World.

The program focuses on safe driving while emphasizing on maximizing the driving experience through economic and eco-friendly driving behaviour (including anticipation of road conditions, applying fuel-efficient driving techniques, avoiding over-speeding and having a well-maintained vehicle). Our trainers have been a part of an intensive training conducted by global experts, who have pioneered this program for Ford Motor Company in many countries.

Year after year, the DSFL program is working towards reducing the number of traffic fatalities and injuries by reinforcing safe and economical driving skills and has trained close to 25,000 people in India since its launch.

In 2017, Ford India launched a unique and insights-driven campaign called “Cartesy” to encourage drivers to be courteous behind the wheels while highlighting behavioural issues that impact safe driving in India.

In line with the World Health Organization 5-pillar approach, Ford in 2018 conducted a road safety survey - covering 10 cities – to unravel the behaviour and attitude of average Indian road user. Following the framework of Compliance, Caution and Compassion, the survey themed under #Cartesy, formed part of the company’s ongoing efforts to highlight behavioural issues stopping Indian roads to become safer & saner. Read more about the survey here.

The Ford Cartesy Survey 2020 is an attempt to understand behaviour and attitudes among India’s road users with the hope that it will contribute to safer and saner roads in our country. Executed in the format of extensive public opinion surveys, Cartesy 2020 incorporated inputs from 1561 people over 4 months in our biggest, busiest cities —Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, and Hyderabad — with each city being divided into five zones. The respondents were passenger car drivers/ owners and valid license holders between 22 and 50 years of age and spanned from people who were single to those married with children. 78% of the respondents were male. The survey and consequent cluster analysis created psychographic profiles which revealed four unique personalities commuting on roads in India – the Oblivious, the Assured, the Pretentious and the Idealist. Read more about the survey here.

Ford India lays particular importance on the environment as part of its CSR goals. The organization believes in growing sustainably and working towards bettering the ecological balance. These objectives are achieved by several programs designed to tackle deforestation, erosion and pollution of water bodies.

Ford is supporting the protection and restoration of Pallikarni marshland that homes hundreds of migratory birds. The company aims to create a birding deck there for the enthusiastic bird watchers and nature lovers.

Ford has also led the scientific restoration of the Thirukachur lake, which is located close to its Chennai facility. As part of the effort, the lake has been de-silted and the water-holding capacity has been enhanced to benefit the local community. Last de-silted in 1976, the water from this lake benefits communities across 4 villages. De-silting the lake has helped improve the quality of groundwater while improving the biodiversity of surrounding areas with the survival of both flora and fauna in this region.

Ford also launched a cohesive community outreach initiative in Sanand, Gujarat to improve access to safe drinking water for children from neighbouring communities. Spanning across 3 phases, water filters were installed in anganwadis and primary schools, across 50 villages. The installation of the water filters was combined with strong community awareness initiatives, to ensure ownership at the local level and also make the initiative sustainable. The anganwadis-staff and parents of the children were also given information regarding issues related to child health, which ranges from a balanced diet for children, immunization and vaccination schedules, and the importance of health check-ups.

The organization regularly hosts Green Club that introduces an array of campaigns for the employees and local communities to spread environmental awareness.

Ford’s volunteering program is an ongoing activity that extends throughout the year, supported by the enthusiasm of the volunteers and the company’s community leave policy.

And the biggest volunteer effort comes each September during the annual Global Month of Caring when close to 14000 volunteers across Ford in India across Chennai, Coimbatore, Sanand and Delhi get involved in various community outreach initiatives addressing education, health, environment, women’s empowerment & humanitarian support.

The rest of the year, Ford employees continuously works for the benefits of the marginalized sections that may include orphans, malnourished and underprivileged communities. It is done through collaboration with NGOs at several levels.

Our employees are encouraged to volunteer for the old age homes, orphanages and critical care centres and always come forward to mobilize support during the time of natural calamity be it for the victims of the Uttarakhand flood disaster or Kerala Floods.