Bosch has partnered with CUPA (Compassion Unlimited Plus Action) on several projects, as part of their CSR initiatives. The first CUPA stakeholders’ meeting was held on 19^th February 2019, at the Bosch India office, Koramangala, and was facilitated by FSL-India.

The objectives of this meeting were to :

• Promote awareness and a better understanding of CUPA programmes and its centres among Bosch volunteers
• Explore opportunities for engagement of Bosch volunteers at CUPA Centres
• Allow Bosch volunteers to select their preferred area of interest and discuss opportunities for branding of Bosch CSR

A total of 20 participants were present for the meeting, i.e. Bosch RBEI CSR team – Mrs. Shilpa Deodhar, Mr. Jacob Varkey, along with 10 CSR volunteers, Bosch Heads of Departments- Mr. Ramesha, Ms. Darshini and Ms. Madhavi, Mr. Ajay, Ms. Sandhya, Dr. Sheela and Ms. Rajani from CUPA, Mr. Rohan D’Souza and Mrs. Madhumathi from FSL-India, Mrs. Lakshmi and Mrs. Christine from Adarsh Palm Retreat.

The meeting kicked off with Mrs. Shilpa Deodhar giving a brief introduction regarding the tie-up between Bosch CSR and CUPA, followed by a few icebreakers and energisers. This not only helped the participants loosen up with some fun activities, but they also got to know each other better.

The representatives of CUPA then spoke about the 5 projects that were being taken up through the CSR initiative. The CUPA representatives shared inputs with regard to each of these projects, along with their volunteer requirements.

The CUPA representatives shared inputs with regard to each of their projects, along with their volunteer requirements.

After a brief explanation about Animal Birth Control and its benefits, the different avenues for volunteer engagement were discussed with regard to CUPA’s Dog Sterilisation Project – registering the strays in their localities for sterilisation and vaccination, creating awareness in the communities, organising awareness programs at schools, reporting animal cruelty and helping with the maintenance and care of the dogs at “Second Chance” (CUPA adoption Centre at Sarjapur Road).

Next, with regard to CUPA’s Cat Sterilisation Project, the process used to sterilise cats was explained in detail, right from setting up and catching the cats in specialised cat traps, transferring them to holding cages, stacking them up for surgery, the actual surgery and post-operative care to be given to the cats. It was also mentioned that volunteers can contribute by assisting in the paper work that needs to be done for each and every cat, gender identification, making sure the cats have fasted for 12 hours before the surgery and sending them for surgery accordingly, assisting in the surgery, post op care – observations and actions as and when necessary, as well as coordinating the entire process, along with the communities.

The Large Animal Rescue and Rehab Centre at Kengeri is another of CUPA’s Animal Care projects. The history of the Centre and the way these animals come into the Centre was discussed. Next, it was mentioned that volunteers can help in maintaining the space, painting of the sheds to be set up, setting up of solar lighting facilities, caring for the animals and also in growing green fodder.

There are two elephants that are housed in the space at Malur. Bosch’s volunteers in the Elephant Enrichment Project at Malur are required to help rake the sand that is brought in and dumped at the site, build a mound to help the elephant suffering from arthritis and maintain the solar fence spread across the 2 acre area.

At the Aviary at Bannerghatta National Park, the volunteers can support CUPA’s initiative by cleaning the sheds, maintaining the space and cutting up food for the birds.

The noteworthy points that emerged from the discussion between the volunteers and CUPA were that each of the CUPA Centres can accommodate up to 20 volunteers at a time, whether these volunteering activities could be turned into a family activity, and a 1 day outing programme could be held for employees at these Centres.

Once the CUPA project was fairly well understood, Mrs. Lakshmi and Mrs. Christine shared their inputs and feedback of their experience with the Cat Sterilization Programme led by CUPA at Adarsh Palm Retreat. The key points were that there is a need for a skilled trapper who needs to be ready to work hard and be emotionally strong, the observation that the sterilised cats are less aggressive now, a recommendation to set up a common shelter within the community space, to keep all the cats post-surgery for observation and support, and to have a proper organ and medical disposal in place.

The volunteers were then asked to choose the projects in which they would be interested to work. Here, CUPA requested that the volunteers be sure of their willingness to work on the chosen projects, as sometimes a person who fears dogs, volunteers for a day at Second Chance and then is too scared to even get off the bus. While such one-off instances are acceptable, they shared experiences where most of the volunteers remained in the bus due to their fears. The volunteers were enthusiastic in selecting their projects, following which the discussion moved to the topic of Branding.

Mrs. Shilpa Deodhar spoke about how the Bosch CSR team has come up with the slogan “Be Kind, Everyone Needs Compassion”. Some of the suggestions on actions that can be taken by CUPA and Bosch volunteers towards Branding are:

• Talking about these initiatives in official team meetings
• Choosing CUPA Centres for team outings
• Putting up Bosch signage wherever possible
• Display of standees in the communities where sterilisation programs are held a few days before and after the programme
• Including it in the newsletter
• Social media to be utilised to spread awareness about the project
• going on air through Radio Mirchi
• Using the already existing blogs within Bosch to create awareness
• Branded T-shirts
• Advertising the slogan “Be Kind, Everyone Needs Compassion”

The meeting ended with a discussion on the best days (weekdays or weekends) to volunteer, and a decision was taken to finalise the calendar of activities. Lunch was organised by Bosch for the participants from CUPA and FSL-India. Bosch India, CUPA and FSL-India are looking forward to working together on CUPA’s Animal Care Projects.

If anyone is interested in volunteering for CUPA, they could contact us at: info@fsl-india.org