Bhubaneswar: Padma Visbhusan Azim Premzi Tuesday said the government and non- government philanthropic collaboration can enhance the community access to service delivery and set path to sustainable development.

Premzi, while delivering 15th Lecturer of Odisha Knowledge Hub lecturer series, said that there are a number of NGOs in Odisha who have commitment to serve and also have the ability to scale up their activities. Citing the example, he said that Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiative (APPI) worked with around 120 Non-profit NGOs in Odisha and their performance have been found satisfactory.

Further, Premji said that “philanthropic organizations have to build up an environment of Trust and have to exhibit their commitment through work”. The Philanthropic and Government bodies together have to institutionalize the developmental and service delivery initiatives for making those sustainable. He also opined that goverment system is the largest and permanent system.  Philanthropic initiatives need to be mainstreamed through alignment with governmental efforts.

Responding to the queries raised from the audience  Premzi recommended that youth of today need to be infused with values like honor and respect for the society. They have to inculcate the spirit of integrity, sublimity and concern for others before joining as professionals in NGO and philanthropic sector.

Chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi while introducing  Premji said APPI has been working very successfully with various state governments in India. APPI has also been supporting government of Odisha since last 2 years in the field of increasing of nutrition level among the people. A common multi sectoral nutrition plan of action have been prepared and launched. Ten departments dealing with food and nutrition security activities have introduced common result framework for implementation of the action plan with defined goals and benchmarked landmarks.