‘Today a Reader – Tomorrow a Leader’ by Just In Time Group

Just In Time Group (JIT), the leading ICT Systems and Solutions Provider, commemorated their 20 years in business by launching its 20 Reading Corners Project – ‘Today a Reader – Tomorrow a Leader’, under its CSR initiative. 

This project, which commenced late 2016, was an idea that emerged from the JIT workforce, to create this overall development initiative for children in children’s homes to commemorate the company’s 20th anniversary. The staff of JIT thought it would be fitting to do something sustainable and long lasting such as inculcating and promoting the habit of reading in children – our future generation rather than a celebration for the company’s 20th anniversary. This idea then transpired into the Reading Corner initiative - to develop and improve the current reading resources and spaces at children’s homes and schools in need across Sri Lanka. 20 Reading Corners Project became the commemoration of JIT’s 20-year anniversary. 

Today, 20 Reading Corners Later, (the 20th having been completed this April) children’s homes and under privileged rural schools across Sri Lanka who didn’t have adequate reading resources and a conducive space – will now have access to a selected and requested range of literature at their very own special “Reading Corner”. This is thanks to the Reading Corner project spearheaded by JIT and their CSR Team, with the continuous support of the JIT Staff. The sustainability of this project was aimed at creating the right reading space conducive to inspire children to read further and develop the benefits of what books have to offer. 

This is the key objective, which will create continuous value and sustainability for the project. The JIT staff gets involved from the point of selecting the homes, ascertaining their need, selecting the books, identifying the space for the reading corner to everything that goes into making that space a Reading Corner equipped with furniture, age appropriate books interior layout, stationery, etc. 

“Working to create a better future every day for our country’s children is a cause JIT is passionate about. We want to inculcate and encourage the habit of reading for children across the island, thereby playing our part in shaping well rounded individuals for the future,” shared, JIT Group Manager of PR and Corporate Communications Dhanya Gunawardana.

“Thank you so much for your contribution by arranging this special and lovely Reading Corner for the Girls at St John’s Girls Home. It was so good to see the children enjoying reading and making use of the place so much..” as testified by Sister Chandrani Peiris from St John’s Girls Home, Moratuwa which was a recipient of one of the Reading Corners. 

JIT was honoured that it’s CSR efforts were validated by Asia Pacific HRM Congress in 2017 by receiving the award for ‘Best CSR Practices’ in the ICT sector at the Asia Pacific HRM Congress Awards 2017 held in Bangalore, India. According to the Asia Pacific HRM Congress - the organisers of the event, the objective of the awards is to promote sustainable corporate responsibility and investment in the social development within the company and for their stakeholders at large. The award was conferred for JIT based on their commitment to the society and on the originality of the work. 

For JIT, this CSR award and recognition was an unexpected honour and acknowledgement of their CSR efforts and practices implemented. “This award validated JIT’s efforts in making a difference in the lives of these children and was extremely humbled by this recognition. Whether it is our commitment to diversity, our support for future generations who need to be empowered – our steadfast approach to ethics and governance, our care for the environment in which we live, the entire JIT team has embraced CSR as the transformation that is needed to be accountable as a business leader for the future,” commented Gunawardana.

At the opening of JIT’s 20th and final Reading Corner project, at to Eventide Salvation Army Girls Home, Captain Manjula, Head Matron shared that, “It is a peaceful and fun reading space where the girls now can use their free time meaningfully. We actually wanted to create a library space for the girls, so this came as a blessing in disguise. They can now choose the books to read or re-read and call it their own. We are truly grateful for this reading corner along with all the girls.” 

Furthermore JIT validated their efforts towards transformative CSR and to enter into the age of responsibility, by becoming the first corporate in Sri Lanka to be assessed with the ‘Transformative CSR 2.0 Assessment Tool’ which is an internationally recognised diagnostic tool for CSR. A team of members from CSR Sri Lanka conducted a workshop for Just In Time Group, to assess their current operations against systematic sustainability benchmarks. Just In time Group was the first corporate in Sri Lanka to use the internationally recognised diagnostic tool CSR 2.0; demonstrating their investment towards transformative CSR and to enter into the age of responsibility. 

The aim of this assessment was to evaluate JIT’s current awareness to align business strategies towards achieving a long-term value creation through systematic sustainability.