IT is Shantanu Narayen's first visit to India after being crowned the top boss at Adobe Systems. The president and CEO of Adobe Systems Inc, an assignment that came after a decade of loyalty, technological insight and operational expertise at the global major, Narayen's recent trip to India with other key managers remained largely closed door. He had just a few minutes to spare after he interacted with a gathering of some bright young minds at a rundown school near Adobe's plush corporate office in Noida. On this occasion he was also slated to see some documentaries made by the students that highlight key issues concerning urban Indian society. Funded by Adobe's global philanthropic signature campaign, Adobe Youth Voice (AYV), the documentaries were an eyeopener for the man about the country he left behind decades ago. Jyoti Verma puts the pieces together about his company's mission regarding AYV and philanthropy in general. Excerpts: What is Adobe's strategy on community relations? Adobe has a history of commitment towards community relations. Our role here has taken the company and its people towards regular donations, employee matching gift and volunteer programmes, philanthropy, et al. At the company level, we follow the 1% rule towards our monetary commitment to philanthropy. Showing a year-on-year growth, the budget allocated for social good is growing every year and making us get innovative and smarter. The attitude is helping us with a good flow of new ideas and suggestions and value additions on our running programmes.

Tell us about the Adobe Youth Voices programme.

Adobe has committed $10 million to funding the Adobe Youth Voices programme worldwide over the next five years, as well as donating Adobe software and encouraging employee volunteerism. We are working closely with students from marginalised communities, who discuss their world using multimedia. Besides, we also provide training and financial assistance to aid them in the production, distribution and exhibition of youth media products.

The programme has reached out to 75 school sites in six locations around the world. Beginning 2006, the Indian chapter has partnered with American India Foundation to jointly take the mission to 12 schools in Noida and Bangalore.

How has been the response in India and globally? The programme is doing well with the children projecting the challenges their society faces. This has given us the encouragement to extend the programme to more than 25 schools in the country by the end of this year.

We are basically trying to capitalise on young people's innate optimism and sense of justice, helping them pick topics closer to their immediate society.

The works and videos done by the students are exhibited in the community, and are also broadcast in online fora. There is a lot one can expect here.

What are the other plans for the programme? AYV is in its second year. We see great advancement in its reach and response every passing year. Right from the number of sites, children, partners or employees dedicated to the cause, sky is the limit here. We expect it to grow further and reach more children - at the schools we currently are working, new schools, new cities, etc.

The programme has taken several digital literacy initiatives in the past. How is the programme different? AYV is based on interesting research work, which proves that motivation and engagement are prerequisite for learning. The programme took into notice interesting studies like the one on high school dropouts done in association with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in the US. It proved that almost half of the students dropped out because their classes were boring.

From here comes the thought of using the power of technology to make a classroom interesting. Today, when we see children picking issues like waste management, traffic control, and packaging them with solutions, we know the problems are nearly solved.

You are suggesting research work on the programme. Do you think this is the way to go for philanthropy? Indeed. Talking about AYV, Adobe has organised a unique collaborative of leading non-profit organisations for the youth in media across the globe.

Media experts with strong track records, global experience and a common vision have helped us look at issues which one usually misses out on.

Lately, the way social agendas are changing and giving us (corporates) a voice in the society at large, every company needs to say something meaningful. In the initial stages still, I believe the spirit tends to grow stronger with corporates looking at social issues and working on their solutions. This surely applies to philanthropy too.

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