Employability Programme for youth in slums

Employability Programme for Youth in Slums

Unemployment is one of the major problems faced by youth in India. Saath noticed that there are many youngsters in Gujarat who have dropped out of schools to earn livelihood. But they don’t have enough skills, so to get the solution for this issue Saath started employability programs, not only in Gujarat but also in Jharkhand and Bihar. 

Objectives of the Programme:

1. To train disadvantaged youth, aged 18-30 years, between 180 - 300 hours and ensure they are placed and try to support of them in relevant jobs with assurance of minimum wages and opportunity for career advancement
2. To introduce minimum three innovations that would directly impact retention, skill enhancement, and program sustainability

Report Duration: July 2017 – September 2017

Introduction about Programs:

The sector has been divided into formal and non-formal trainings:

1. Formal training program:

• Udaan

1. Informal training program:

• Nirman

1. Informal training program for Women:

• Women at Work

Udaan:

Udaan program provides livelihood training to youth from vulnerable backgrounds and give them an equal opportunity to employability. The courses selected for the programs are also a result of market research and need assessment program from the community itself. The courses that are currently offered in this program are as follows:

• Beauty Parlour
• Retail Management
• Career and Workplace Skills

The entire above mentioned program is for entry level jobs. Placement assistance is also provided to the trainees.

Nirman:

Nirman program addresses the training needs of people in the informal sector. Practical and theoretical training is provided which enhance their skills and capabilities to get better incomes. The courses that are currently offered in this program are as follows:

• Plumbing
• Electrician
• Masonry
• Welding

SAATH has collaborated with American India Foundation and Ambuja Cement Foundation as they both are well known for their qualitative and effective work. They use their expertise in providing opportunity to impart training about safety standards.

Women @ Work:

Saath started new skill development and enhancement program to empower young women and focus on non-traditional job options which will have an inclusion of micro-entrepreneurship, life skills and technology components to aid them in setting up their own businesses if they choose. In the case of adolescent girls below 18 years, there will be a STEM (Science Technology Engineering & Mathematics) and Life-skills Module, through which they recreate interest in science stream also this programme, will help them in re-enrolling back to school.

• Electrician
• Mobile Repairing

Activities:

• Under Women@Work programme, Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) activities were initiated at Amit High School, Odhav. Main aim behind conducting STEM based activities is to recreate the interest of science among the girls so that they further pursue education in that particular stream. As majority of parents of these girls thinks that science stream is not for the girls and they can only take Arts or commerce stream as a career option.

• A six days Training of Trainers (TOT) life-skill workshop was organised at Ghodasar center. A total of 11 faculties and centre coordinators from Women @Work, Godrej Salon-i and Udaan programme participated in the TOT. Sessions on Goal setting, SWOT analysis, Gender and safety, Women’s rights were scheduled followed by activities and discussions on the same.
• A one day health camp was organised at Ghodasar center, free basic health checkup and medicines were provided to poor residents and students associated with Saath.  More than 100 people availed benefit from the healthcamp. Students played an important role in mobilising the local residents to the health camp.

• Lifeskills sessions were carried out at vocational training centres in Ahmedabad, Nadiad and Baroda. Focus of the session was on Goal setting, micro entrepreneurship and women rights.  More than 250 trainees participated in the session. Through these sessions a level of awareness was created among the girls pertaining to their career goals and basic rights. As most of the girls comes from poor socio-economic background they are not aware of their basic rights.
• To create awareness regarding importance of identification and legal documents such as Adhaar card, Pan card, Passport, Bank account etc sessions of Urban Resource Centre (URC) were organised at the Udaan trainings centers of Isanpur and Ghodasar center. Total 60 students from trades such as beauty parlour, retail management participated and understood the importance of identification and legal documents. They also understood how important it is to open a bank account and maintain savings. They were made aware that these documents can help them avail many other government benefits for them as well as their families.

Guest Lectures& Visitors at Centre

• Mr. Hasmukhbhai, (Civil Engineer) took an informative session on RCC construction and types of plastering at Nirman centers of Meghaninagar and Trikampura. He also talked about the current market trends in commercial construction.
• A lecture on skin and hair care was organised by Amway at Udaan centers of Meghaninagar, Isanpur and Ghodasar. Amway representative practically demonstrated how to take care of your skin and hair after the demonstration she did a skin and hair checkups of the students. A total of 80 students attended the session.

Celebration

• Saath believes in participation of students at every level and boosting their confidence by celebrating various days at the center so in that context Teacher’s day was celebrated by STEM programme’s girls of Women@Work programme at Amit High school, Odhav. Adolescent girls took Mathematics and Science classes.
•  Teacher's day was also celebrated at Aksharchowk center, Baroda.  A total of 15 students participated and gave lectures on different topics.  To encourage students it was decided to give price to the three best performing teachers. Judging was done by our previous year students. Prizes were distributed to the best of three students also consolation prices were given to remaining students who participated in the celebration.

Exposure Visits

• All the batches of informal sector workers are taken to a site in Nikol area of Ahmedabad to broaden their perspective on the field of work they are in. They were explained about how concealed wiring is done at commercial construction site with the help of pipe and spring.
• As a part of the exposure visit, 30 Retail students of Aksharchowk center, Baroda went to Bigbazar retail mall. HR person of the mall provided information to the students regarding different section, processes, product categories, rules and regulations regarding jobs and safety measures taken at the mall.

  Success Story:

.Suresh Thakor (name changed) is 26 and studied up to class 7. He belongs to Mokhasan village of Kalol. He stays with his parents, wife, children and a brother. Their family income is Rs. 15,000. His father used to work as a welder and that is how he came into the same field. He used to work as a helper and earned Rs. 150 per day. He would do small tasks such as joint welding and other menial tasks. He did not find any opportunity to learn other skills.

One day he came in contact with the mobiliser of Nirman team. Mobiliser gave him information pertaining to various courses of Nirman including welding course.

He enrolled for the training with an aim to get more knowledge, skills and work. Talking about his training experience, he says, “I used to get random work as a helper but that work was not fixed. There were days when I didn’t get any work as a helper so during those days I used to work as a Hamal (those who carry loads). I was really interested in welding and was very keen to learn the skills, but find no one who could teach me other skills in welding work. But Nirman training has provided me the opportunity through which  I learn about types of welding, calculating estimates, welding of mixed metals, gas welding. I also learnt how to make grill, staircase, windows, etc. which I did not know earlier. Apart from this, I have started saving in a bank. I usually save Rs. 200-300 per month. With all the skills, I am now able to earn Rs. 11,000 per month.”

Links:

• http://www.saath.org

• Progress Report YEP July - September, 2017 (PDF)