Even as it makes education a priority vista for its growth, Amazon India is directly providing 20,000 digital devices to underprivileged young people, in partnership with over 150 large and small non-profit organisations, impacting over 100,000 students across India.
This is as a part of its 'Delivering Smiles' campaign that it has launched to increase accessibility of digital devices for students from impoverished communities.
Of these 150 organisations, 100 non-profit partners will be selected based on internal employee nominations as part of Amazon’s volunteering program.
Additionally, Amazon is also encouraging its customers to either contribute in cash on Amazon Pay or give their old mobile phones that will be refurbished and distributed to provide digital learning devices for young people.
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Amazon customers too can chip in
“Together with our customers, employees and partners, we aim to bridge the (digital) gap by enabling young people with digital devices for continued access to online education and essential services for their families. This is also our way to bring more smiles and add to the festive cheer of Amazon’s Great Indian Festival across the length and breadth of the country,” said Manish Tiwary, Vice President, Amazon India.
“Amazon is committed to invest in the future of our country. We are aware that while talent and passion is spread across all young people, opportunity is not. This also led us to recently launch our global signature computer science education initiative, Amazon Future Engineer, in India that aims to enable access to quality computer science education and career opportunities for underprivileged students,” he added.
Amazon said that cash contribution from customers is enabled by a partnership between Amazon Pay and GiveIndia, India’s largest and most trusted giving platform. Proceeds from the contribution will be used for purchasing new devices, data cards and digital accessories for students.
Customers will also be enabled to contribute their old mobile phones online, whereby Cashify, Amazon’s partner in this initiative will enable the pick-up of old mobiles that will be refurbished and given to Goonj, India’s leading nonprofit organization working in the field of sustainable material giving, to benefit thousands of young people.
