Yuva Parivartan 7th summit – Skilling Rural India – The Technology Imperative

Yuva Parivartan 7th summit – Skilling Rural India – The Technology Imperative

 

 

 

Yuva Parivartan, an initiative of Kherwadi Social Welfare Association, had its 7^th summit themed “Skilling Rural India – The Technology Imperative” on 22, August, 2017 in Mumbai. Eminent panel of experts led by Padma Vibhushan Dr. R.A. Mashelkar, Chairman of the Advisory Board of KSWA and well known Scientist and Innovator, which pressed on the need and ways of fast tracking skilling to reach larger numbers of youth especially in rural India.

 

“Technology can give wings to skilling” and the eminent speakers at the Yuva Parivartan gave wings to the summit as it was a grand success.

Dr. Mashelkar highlighted the need to create an inclusive India, an India that is able to meet the aspirations of the youth by providing those skills that would be relevant for the jobs of tomorrow. He further added that disruptive innovations is the key to pole vault not just leap frog and be ready for meeting the skilling needs of industry 4.0. How is it possible? Just four months ago we were ranked 151 in the world for mobile data transmission but now we rank 4th with 110 crores of mobile data transmission. The need to be backed by technology and policy to achieve our goals is what something Dr. Mashelkar stressed upon.

 

Mr. Kher who is the president of the Yuva Parivartan was next to speak at the summit said “we considered ourselves the champions of lost causes, as skilling was least popular subject for social sectors and making a difference.

He was quick to point out facts like 65% of the population lives in rural India and 92% of all jobs are in the informal sector and only 8% in the “Formal” sector. Talking about the skill deficit problem that country faces today and emphasizing on the theme for the summit he said, “For the first time in 20 years we see a ray of sunshine that technology imperative is something that can be an approach towards tackling this problem.”   Skilling Deprived Youth – The Technology Imperative   With the millennia’s  now comprising the main the component of our students with generations Z to follow and in the context of  all the stakeholders have failed to address the large numbers 350 million youth, in terms of skilling and livelihoods,  Technology is the only answer to salvaging the idea of the ‘Demographic Divide’. The following 2 options are: ·        One, ‘Blended Learning’ which is a combination of courseware taught through CDs followed by practical’s which require the presence of an instructor. ·        The second option to use the smart phones to enable access to content where there is connectivity   Also witness the use of the word “Jobs” instead of “Livelihood “which should be the operative nomenclature for Rural Incomes. Mr. Manish Kumar, CEO NSDC, gave several examples where technology was enabling livelihood generation for rural youth. One of them was about girls in rural Orissa, providing data for algorithms used for driverless cars in the California, USA. He also mentioned that artificial intelligence and virtual reality programs are gaining momentum and helping bridge the gap between urban and rural India. He lauded Yuva Parivartan’s effort so far and assured further collaboration with the organization. The panel discussion speakers included Mr. Amit Chandra, MD, Bain Capital, Dr. Amir Ullah Khan, Development Economist & Professor, ISB, Kumar Vivek, Education Specialist, World Bank, B. Ganesh, Founder, SkillTrain Training and Consultancy India Pvt. Ltd., Sonali Mehta Rao, CGO, Awaaz De and Mahesh Ranade, CEO, Yuva Parivartan.   Mr. Amit Chandra, said that while the impact of technology can be seen in several sectors, skill development has not witnessed the transformative power of technology. He said that entrepreneurial skills and risk taking ability should be an integral part of all skill development programs. He gave an example of a young  AI scientists who wanted to work only Panipat for his project reiterating what Dr. Mashelkar said that millenials are not looking for jobs outside India but want to build something of their own in India.   In further discussion Kumar Vivek mentioned how technology is being used in Africa and countries like Zanzibar where radio waves are used to send the messages, similarly in Pakistan text messages were used to reach out to the people in rural areas and works like magic. When asked if the technology is being used to its full potential Dr. Amir Ullah Khan said “a loud yes” He also added that to get youth a job requires us to address three handicaps, 1) literacy, 2) Social (Women are not allowed to take up jobs) and 3rd is the information gap, and the only thing that helped them fought those handicaps  was technology. Mr. Mahesh Ranade concluded the summit by talking about difficulties we faced before applying technology and how Yuva Parivartan app and tablet helps by filling the real-time data in rural areas and getting the work done faster and is a right way to reach out more people effectively. “We are still not home we are a work in progress”, he said and then mentioned Benjamin Franklin’s quote that “There are kind of people in the world, the Movable, Immovable and the Moved”. He rightly said that Yuva Parivartan has moved with digitization. He ended his speech with a beautiful hindi quote “Sochne se kaha milte hain tammanao ke shahair , chalne ki zid bhi zaroori hain manzilo ko  paane ke liye.” Which means we can’t reach the city of dreams just by thinking but we need to walk the path,  rightly enforcing the motto of this year at Yuva Parivartan “Kaho nahi Karo?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Twitter chat on population management hosted by Dainik Jagran (Janhit Jagran)

Dainik Jagran which started in 1942, has a readership of 5.59 cr and is the second-largest newspaper in India by circulation and the largest read newspaper’s for 21 years in a row. With 37 editions in 11 states, it has been voted as ‘Most credible news source” by BBC-Reuters survey. Dainik Jagran’s initiative Janhit Jagran hosted a Twitter chat on human resource management a subset of their population management domain.

Janhit  Jagran approached Mahesh Ranade to share the views about human resource management for the twitter chat session. After that a date was scheduled for the event based on availability and the event details as well as the creative’s were posted on their twitter handle as well as Dainik Jagrans’ newspaper platforms like social media as well as print media  promoting the event. The event was also promoted on Yuva Parivartan social channels as well as the website.

The stage was set between 2 experts Mr. Mahesh Ranade, (CEO, Yuva Parivartan) and Kamal Seth (Founder, Human Circle).

The 140 characters responses offered Mr. Ranade the opportunity to give short, clear answers as to population as well as human resource can be managed better by providing life-skills in schools as well as underprivileged dropouts.

As soon as the chat session was started tweet with various questions started flooding in on Janhit Jagran twitter page, and a drastic question was asked by Swapnil, “Would the world benefit from a global epidemic?” Mahesh Ranade, replied saying that it would be a prohibitively costly affair and will disable the population.

Epidemics can have prohibitive costs and may disable a population’s productive capacity. Not a good thing

— Mahesh Ranade (@maheshpranade) June 21, 2017

There were queries in Hindi too, considering most of the readers of Dainik Jagran are Hindi speaking and the reply was provided in Hindi too.

Hum ye hamare yuvaon ko rozgaar-unmukh training dekar kar sakte hain. – @maheshpranade #JanhitJagran https://t.co/7lC1A2Jl9b

— Janhit Jagran (@JanhitJagran) June 21, 2017

Another user Jai Pandit had a really interesting query saying” Illiteracy, poverty and over population goes hand-in-hand. How can we tackle this?” To which Mahesh Ranade quickly replied, “Through awareness from school level and livelihood-oriented education”, which is very much Yuva Parrivartan is all about providing livelihood skills to school dropouts and under-privileged.

Through awareness from school level and livelihood-oriented education #JanhitJagran @maheshpranade https://t.co/79ArB0l1ok

— Janhit Jagran (@JanhitJagran) June 21, 2017

Then there were queries related to blame game and Mahesh Ranade rightly mentioned that we the people (society) are equally responsible as well as the government for the current issues we are facing.

First the society, then the politicians and governments@ @maheshpranade #JanhitJagran https://t.co/3Ul8tTO2cM

— Janhit Jagran (@JanhitJagran) June 21, 2017

Overall it was fruitful 75 minutes session, where right questions were asked and satisfactory answers provided which were re-tweeted by many of the Janhit Jagrans’ followers. It also showed that people are aware of the population issue the country is facing and actively looking for the solutions.  Moreover people agreed that skilling and sex education should be provided and schools and more should be done to reach out the rural masses.

Yuva Parivartan with its mobilization camps and community meetings is doing its bit to reach out the people in rural areas and providing vocational skills so that they can earn a living for them and their family.

The event was also covered in Dainik Jagran Delhi/NCR publication.

Parivartan of Nazima from a survivor to a provider

Hell broke loose when Nazima’s husband left her and their three daughters for worse. Hence Nazima had to undertake desperate measures to survive. She worked extremely hard to make ends meet.

She worked as a house maid by day and an agarbatti maker by night, making barely RS 2000 a month. But her life took a better turn one day when she came to know about Yuva Parivartan through door to door flyers. She took a decision to join the tailoring course at YP. According to her that was the best decision of her life. As soon as her course got done Yuva Parivartan placed her in Star Garments where she earns RS 6000/month. She is extremely content now as she can afford her daughters’ education and give them the life they deserve.

Yuva Parivartan and ABC Consultants come together to impact many lives

Yuva Parivartan and ABC Consultants have been partners for 1 year now. ABC Consultants sponsors the training of underprivileged youth in various parts of India. Their partnership with ABC consultants has strengthen over the year with regular participation from the ABC management and employees.

Taking this alliance to the next level, Yuva Parivartan was provided the opportunity to showcase the products, made by youth from tribal Rajasthan, at the ABC Annual Meeting held at the Fairmount Hotel in Jaipur.

Citing this opportunity, the Yuva Parivartan Rajasthan team worked tirelessly to organise the event and arrange the product stalls. The YP West Bengal team was also invited to exhibit the products made by the students at Alipore Correctional home, a women’s prison in West Bengal.

The exhibition proved to be a success as most of the exhibited products were bought by the ABC employees, raising more than Rs. 13,000. 

This has encouraged the Rajasthani and the Bengali women to produce more products. The Yuva Parivartan is also motivated and excited by this opportunity and will be organizing a similar exhibition at the next ABC Annual Meeting scheduled in June.

Perseverance pays off and how!

They say – “The true purpose of education is to make minds and not only careers” and Yuva Parivartan (YP) stands by this adage. We at YP believe in providing holistic knowledge to our students in order to make them better individuals in society. We are proud that we have transformed lives of many such individuals and one such example is Mrs. Sunita Singh.

Sunita is a homemaker survived by her husband and two kids. Her husband, a labourer was the sole earning member of her family before she joined YP. Sunita always had the urge to stand on her own feet but wasn’t confident as she hadn’t completed her education. She stumbled upon YP’s banner at a local market in Khopoli and got in touch with the local Yuva Parivartan Centre. With proper guidance under facilitator Mrs Padma Joshi, she learnt the basic tailoring course. Soon after completing this course, Sunita decided to test her skills. According to Mrs. Padma, Sunita had been extremely dedicated towards the course and had the right aptitude to start on her own. She started getting orders to stitch clothes at home soon enough. She now earns around 5000 per month. Not only is her husband very happy but also extremely proud of her. Sunita loves her job so much that now wishes to advance it by joining the Fashion Designing course at YP. We wish her all the best in her future endeavors!

A proud wife, mother and an entrepreneur!

“Now my husband doesn’t need to borrow money from others!” exclaimed Vandana, once a homemaker. Her husband often fell short of cash to provide for her as well as their two sons. In order to pay their school fees he would need to borrow money from friends and relatives. Vandana accepted this arrangement reluctantly as she knew her kids deserved an education.

In November 2013, her life took a better turn when Yuva Parivartan’s social workers visited her village – Hiwarkhed. She was extremely impressed by the courses offered at Yuva Parivartan and enrolled herself in the beautician’s course. Since, Vandana had to take care of her sons; she decided to work from home after completing her course in February 2014.

Soon, her neighbors and other friends started admiring her skills and started receiving a lot of wedding make up orders. It is been more than a year since she started and she now earns about Rs. 5000/- month. She says – “I can’t complain now. Life is beautiful and perfect! My husband respects me as we both have become the bread winners of the house, my kids love me as I am not only giving them the basic necessities but also am able to fulfill their desires!”

Her 10 year old son loves to help her around the chores while she is tending to her in-house parlor. Her younger son wants to become an Engineer while the older one, a doctor. Vandana is an extremely determined woman and will make sure she won’t leave any stone unturned to fulfill her sons’ aspirations!

An account of Krishna Koshti’s tryst with Yuva Parivartan

A lack of accomplishment in a child’s life can be disheartening for any dad. Krishna was merely a 10th pass and earned a paltry wage working at a local garment factory. His father wished that he helped support the family but Krishna was not qualified enough.

During one of the mobilization programmes by Yuvaparivartan, Krishna came to know about the courses offered at –Yuva Parivartan’s Ahmedabad center. He joined the Tally course in Feb 2014, completed it in June 2014 and immediately got a job at Parle Elizabeth Tools Pvt. Ltd.(Ahmedabad). His employers felt that, he was a quick learner and could capture the company’s work quicker than others. In a span of 3 months, his income increased from 2000 to 7000. He is so inspired by Yuva Parivartan that he has decided to go back and pursue his studies. Next year, he would be appearing for his 12th board exams, followed by commerce.

Krishna’s father, a humbled man is extremely proud of his son. He encourages others in the community to enroll for a Yuva Parivartan course.

When asked about how he feels about this, he says- “It’s life changing”

Plan India’s report on Yuva Parivartan’s association with their Umeed Project.

Approach:

Umeed, under the thematic area, has focused on increasing individual household security through building the vocational capacities of youth and women in the community.

Providing Marketable Skills Based Trainings: Securing their Present and Future

Umeed started providing marketable skill based vocational trainings for the community youth with the aim of ‘giving them a second chance’ at leading a constructive and productive life. High school dropout rates among children and inadequate vocational training among youth had led to decreased career and employment options. Thus, several batches of 2 to 4 month long courses such as Basic Computers, Tailoring, Fashion Designing, Beauty Care, Nursing Assistant, Motor Mechanic, Mobile Repairing, Tally, etc. were started for the community youth for a nominal fee of Rupees 100 per course. Supplementary inputs like free English classes were also provided for all trainees. Entrepreneurship development training, life skills education, and psycho-social & vocational counseling form an essential part of all training programs. Exposure visits to factories, offices, and industries were conducted to encourage the trainees to learn through observation and exploration.

Gearing them up for the future…

Sessions on Life Skills Education (LSE) titled ‘Soch ka Parivartan’ take place across training batches on Saturdays. Topics such as Attitude, Work Ethics, Self Presentation and Confidence, Conflict Management, Work Readiness, Career Planning, Motivation, etc. are covered in these sessions so as to prepare and groom the youth for a career environment. A full time Counselor has been appointed to train the trainers on conducting LSE sessions as well as providing individual and group counseling sessions for youth and their families. Counseling sessions prior to enrolment ensure that students take up only those courses for which they have an inclination. A recreation room has also been made available for students to unwind giving them options such as sports and reading.

A Livelihood Exchange Program was introduced focusing on assisting skilled youth get a job and encouraging unskilled youth to enroll for market oriented vocational courses. Youth referred to the livelihood exchange cell post completion of training go through mock interviews and subsequently linked to companies offering relevant vacancies. The team guides youth through the entire process – from editing resumes to helping them prepare for interviews. The livelihood exchange cell also conducts general and need based industrial surveys which in turn feed into structuring of all vocational programs.

Giving them roots and wings…

21 year old Radhika has spent all of her childhood in a boarding school before she returned to the community while in standard XI on the insistence of her brother and sister-in-law. She would travel to the boarding school everyday but was not keeping well and soon dropped out. Once recuperated, she wanted to study further but her family did not support her. Orphaned at age 8, the spirited young girl wanted to do something with her life. ‘Then Umeed happened.’ She learnt of the nursing course through flyers distributed in the community and enrolled for the course against all odds. After completing the course, Radhika was placed as an intern by Umeed in one of the city hospitals where she later got absorbed into a full time residential job. Today, Radhika earns Rupees 6000 a month and has been able to enroll her younger sister in a boarding school. Her family continues to remain unsupportive. However, she has dreams of a better future – for her and her sister. She is saving up to take a room on rent where she can stay with her sister. ‘I could get quality training here for such a low fee. Umeed has supported me through the toughest phase of my life. For me, it was like a light at the end of a dark tunnel for it is because of Umeed that today I can stand up on my own feet.’

While youth, mostly male, were accessing vocational trainings at the Umeed centres, low levels of women’s mobility and involvement in paid employment resulted in a lack of participation in vocational training by women and young girls in the community. Short term community based trainings such as Masala[1] Making, Aroma Therapy, Juice Making, Phenyl Making, Henna Application, etc. had initially been introduced to create community leadership and mobilize women to step out of their houses and enroll for skills based trainings. However, low turnout of women at the Umeed vocational programs resulted in introduction of full fledged community based training centres so that women and girls could gain access to vocational courses such as Fashion Designing, Tailoring, and Beauty Care.

Entrepreneur of Hope…

30 years old and mother of 5 children, this young entrepreneur has been living in the project area for the past 15 years. She heard from the Umeed staff about a 10 day Entrepreneurship Development Program (EDP) workshop which was going to be organized in the community for women. She had the thirst to learn something new and immediately enrolled herself. Four days into the workshop, the young entrepreneur was struck with a business idea. ‘I am from South India and am very good at preparing idlis and dosas. I thought, now that I am learning how to manage a business, why not start a business in something I am good .So I started the business immediately. I even prepared a sample meal for my trainers and other women participants. My idlis were a hit!’ The young entrepreneur now runs a breakfast business in her community which is picking up well. ‘I am glad that I decided to attend the EDP. My life has taken a new turn’, beams the entrepreneur of hope.

Giving back…

20 year old Amir had failed his standard X board exams and would loiter about the community when he learnt about Umeed’s vocational courses through flyers distributed in the community and joined the three month long mobile repairing course. Through interaction with Umeed, Amir learnt about the open school system and has recently appeared for his standard XII board exams. After finishing his course, he decided to take on the basic computer course at Umeed as he felt it would better his job prospects. While undertaking the two courses, little did Amir know that one day he would be teaching his community youth similar courses. Today, Amir is a mobile repairing trainer at one of KSWA’s training centres. ‘Umeed has changed my life. It made me realize that I too can do something with my life; it gave me a second chance and the opportunity to dream.’ ‘The first time I took a class, I was very nervous. Today I can easily conduct a course for around 12 – 15 boys and currently I am training my second batch.’ Amir has gained a lot of experience to be able to start his own mobile repairing business. However, he chooses to work as a trainer at KSWA as he wants to motivate other boys from the community by helping them see how a youth from the community can learn and progress in life.

The change…

• A total of 703 youth and women have received skills based vocational training through Umeed’s training centres
• 184 of the total youth and women trainees have either procured a job or have started small scale business ventures.
• A number of women have taken up self employment opportunities working out of their homes
• Attitudinal change in parents has led to more and more youth; especially girls, enroll for vocational courses
• Umeed’s interventions have helped women and youth build confidence, in turn impacting their self esteems and self concepts.

Mastek talks about how it built Yuva Parivartan a sturdy IT solution in order to help them achieve their goal of empowering as many youth as possible.

Giving the Second Chance!

So you are having a hard day? Another day of teachers and homework or bosses and deadlines? Most of us crib about how bad the day was almost every evening. What we fail to really see is that we are actually fortunate to get the chance to learn or earn something respectfully, every day. For someone like Leena Balu Thakre, who was forced to give up studies after completing her SSC due to harsh financial conditions, a day like yours would have meant happiness!

A house helper since the age of 16, Leena, like many underprivileged youth in India, always dreamt of better days. All she needed was a second chance. And opportunity did knock at her door when a coordinator from the Yuva Parivartan team got in touch with her. After several counselling sessions, Leena signed up for the Tailoring Course at the organisation and learnt the art of stitching. She also got introduced to computers through the enabler Basic Computers course there.

Today, not only is Leena armed with a skill for life, but also has a respectable desk job in a local company, thanks to her basic computer knowledge. “I am more confident today, and can talk to people easily. I am more aware of what is happening around in society and feel good that I am able to contribute to my family by earning a living,” says Leena when asked about the change.  Better days are indeed ahead!

This is just one inspiring story of the innumerable young lives that Yuva Parivartan has enhanced. As the name suggests, the initiative aims to bring about a positive change for underprivileged youth of the country.  Yuva Parivartan is looking to re-direct the lives of that young India which might not have the ideal life now, but has the dream & will to turnaround their futures.

The Yuva Parivartan Movement was started by Kherwadi Social Welfare Association (KSWA) in 1998. The intention was to provide counselling & vocational training in different skills to unmotivated school dropouts so that they do not go astray and become economically independent.

As the organisation says – ‘it is estimated that by 2020 around 500 million people in India will reach working age, which will be the largest in the world. At the same time, looking at the current scenario where more than 80% of youth in the country have not completed school, it can be inferred that these youth, unless given vocational skills, will neither have enough competency to work as skilled labour to meet the growing needs of various industries, nor will they work for long as casual labour before falling prey to an addiction leading to battered minds & bodies.’ Therefore it is crucial that such an effort reaches maximum young dropouts.

However, lack of an appropriate IT system created many hurdles. “With our growth objective of reaching 100,000 school dropouts across the country in a year, we needed more support. However, the government and donors were becoming cautious about the numbers and needed detailed reports. Therefore we realised we needed IT to sustain and grow,” explains Shivani Mehta, Senior Director, KSWA.  “In 2010, we got a vendor to develop a software for us, but it turned out to be a disaster,” she adds.

The KSWA management team was losing confidence in its ability to implement an MIS system due to the failed initiative. The handling of vast data (Students & parents details, daily attendance, fees payments, exam marks) of around 80,000 students generated on year-to-year basis was getting difficult. Other problems included:

–         Gauging the exact financial position in terms of fees collected

–         Inability to handle new formats and initiative, which was hampering organic growth

–         Difficulty in generating MIS reports

–         Managing students’ information on partners’ behalf with around 400-500 students registered per annum with each of the 200-odd large partners and around 100 students registered per annum with each of the 2000-odd small partners

–         Unavailability of an examination database (Question bank system) resulting in difficulty in launching exams and generating question papers with answer keys

–         Managing recruitments after vocational training

Yuva Parivartan had come into existence to make a significant difference in the young lives of those who needed a second chance. However, going ahead to make a larger impact needed an accurate path and the confidence to walk on it.

The organisation was then directed to Mastek by a board member who had earlier interacted with the IT company. “Anil D’sa was given the responsibility to help us identify the right solution based on our requirements.  He sat down with the senior team of KSWA, came up with a MIS solution and put together a project team for it,” says Mehta.

Through the initiative ‘Transforming NGOs through IT’ Mastek, along with KSWA management, decided that it would evaluate a ready-to-use School Management system and help the organisation to implement it as well. The solution would meet at least 80% of KSWA’s needs.

“Mastek did not develop any software for KSWA. However, KSWA is the first NGO where Mastek has implemented a solution and trained individuals from the NGO itself to manage operations,” says Anil D’sa, Project Manager.

“For an NGO like KSWA, an IT company cannot hire capability. It has to build capability within the system; who understands the business. We had to figure out the key people and groom them for the responsibility. There was a team of 8 people from within the NGO, who were trained to lead four different projects – two each,” D’sa explains about the process. “Initial engagement was school management system that began in 2011 and went live in 2013.”

The program was divided into four projects – Customisation, Testing, Training & IT setup. A major part of the program was training individuals from even the most remote parts of India. Interns from IT colleges were hired to train to the end users, ensuring complete coverage of training before the system could go live. Three days of training were carried out to ensure proper understanding of the system by the end users. “Mastek has trained, guided and moulded the end-users into software developers,” says D’sa.

This way the IT company not only offered support to the NGO in its proven capability area, but also provided guidance in managing the complete program to ensure smooth implementation.

The training not only taught a new skill & developed confidence in the individuals handling the system, but also in the NGO. “When started, we had no IT capabilities and were unsure about how we would be able to make this work, especially after the failure we experienced last time. But now, we are comfortable with managing the system with Anil’s guidance,” says Mehta.

D’sa too points out the significant change he saw– “Initially, due to the demons of failed implementation earlier, the NGO had a little lethargic and uninterested attitude. However, by the end of the project, they were excited and energetic. Their confidence has increased, as has their exposure and technical skills.” Mastek is now handholding Yuva Parivartan, by monitoring and reviewing operations on a bi-monthly basis and looking at enhancement of the process implemented.

As an IT professional with an experience of 15 years, D’sa found working on the project extremely satisfying. “We created a large impact. We helped KSWA in their goal to reach 1 million dropouts a year across India. These dropouts could have turned into criminals or lived a meagre life if KSWA was not able to reach them and we can proudly say Mastek contributed in an indirect, but big way,” says the Project Manager.

Mastek’s suggested IT solution not only put Yuva Parivartan back on track to achieve more, but gave them the pace to do so. It brought total transperancy in the system, got the organisation to a better financial position, built confidence for NGO to manage the IT operations among other positive changes and the ease of working.

“The IT solutions have made it easier to pull out detailed reports and track historical data and students’ progress. Besides this, we not also have a social impact mechanism, where we can track what the students are doing after a few months after completing the course. It has certainly added value,” explains KSWA’s Mehta.

However, there were a few challenges as well that Mastek’ s Anil D’sa faced while implementing the system. “Initially, there was not much clarity on key stakeholders; there were many operation heads and everyone had their own issues with the implementation until top management stepped in.”

Nevertheless, Yuva Parivartan and Mastek worked together to give hope and better days to many. When one young life changes for the good, it makes a difference to the individual’s family and surroundings as well.

Yuva Parivartan does not give up on the young school dropouts and gives them a second chance; and Mastek ensured that the NGO does not give up on its goals either. If there’s a will to make a difference, there’s always a way.

With pride and confidence, Shivani Mehta says the organisation is now aiming at reaching 1 million students a year. It is also looking to partner with other NGOs for further reach and improvement and make virtual learning websites. Here’s wishing them all the best!

Yuva Parivartan,Jaipur and their partner ABC consultants came together to implement something extraordinary and out-of-the box in order to support the SHGs.

Yuva Parivartan held an exhibition at Fairmont Hotel, Rajasthan in collaboration with their corporate partner – ABC Consultants. The Yuva Parivartan Livelihood Exchange (YPLE) team including the guide Mr. Saurabh participated in the event. It was an extremely fruitful experience for Yuva Parivartan Rajasthan staff.

Akbar, Haris and Kishor of Yuva Parivartan staff worked seamlessly to make this event a success and their efforts paid off. Consequently, they collected different items from SHGs of many villages of Jaipur district and different Remote Work Force (RWF) groups in order to display them. The response to the exhibition was overwhelming.

The exhibition left all the visitors appalled since the products were reasonably priced in spite of them being of a premiere store’s quality. The category of products was wide with items like bangles, dress and apparels (for adult and kids both), bags, jute work, handicraft items, materials made with rag, kitchen items (apron, Kitchen poster and many others)

Head of ABC Consultants, Mr Shiv Agrawal and CSR head Ms Jhanavi Trivedi offered their support throughout. Now, they are motivated enough to do this on a regular basis and are making a strong plan to increase the earning opportunity for RWF.

Mr Ankush Bhardwaj, Shiksha Khemani with the Delhi team, West Bengal team with their leader Tapas made it possible with their guidance and support!