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| Livelihoods |
| India is a young nation with over half of its population below the age of 25. On the flip side, India also has the world's largest number of illiterates. While the first statistic augurs well for a growing economy which needs approximately 12 million people to join the workforce every year, the second is a proverbial speed breaker. |
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| To encash the demographic dividend, we must build the bridge between education and employability. We need to provide youth, particularly those from the underprivileged sections of society, a platform to acquire necessary skills and pursue their ambitions. |
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| If ignored, their circumstances are often compounded by inadequate skills, irregular employment, absence of opportunities for training and development, debt, and no bargaining power at the economic or social level. |
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| DRF's livelihood programmes continued to gain traction with higher enrolment, new curriculum and more corporate partnerships. |
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| LABS (Livelihood Advancement Business School) |
| LABS - Livelihood Advancement Business School, an ongoing programme of DRF, empowers minimally skilled youth to gain a foothold in the competitive job market. LABS provides them with soft skills in a warm and congenial environment that employs interactive learning and mentoring to develop their inherent strengths. The aspirants are also put through an intensive English communication course, on-the-job training and various work-readiness modules. |
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| Operational in over 137 centres across India, this one-of-its kind business school tells the collective success story of tens of thousands of economically disadvantaged youth and their journey to self-respect and financial independence. |
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| In FY 2009-10, a total of 20,820 livelihoods were affected through various corporate and government partnerships. Andhra Pradesh accounted for 30% of the total livelihoods generated followed by Delhi and UP, which accounted for approximately 8% and 7% respectively. Of the youngsters trained, 68% started with an average salary of INR 3,618. A total income of over INR 611 million was generated. |
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Along with the economy, its demand for skill sets has also evolved. To keep in-step with these demands LABS constantly introduces new curricula. Some of the recent introductions include: |
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RETAIL
The retail sector is witnessing unprecedented growth in India.
The
demand for entry level
skilled manpower has increased manifold.
The curriculum comprises store management methods, space utilisation, store layout,
and influencing consumer behaviour. Also, to cater to the surging demand for skilled pharmaceutical retail workers,
the pharma retail domain provides training in human anatomy, prescription reading and dispensing medicines.
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HOUSEKEEPING
With the new industries, malls and multiplexes mushrooming not only across metropolises, but also in the small towns of India, there is a huge demand for personnel to clean and maintain them.
The housekeeping curriculum trains
youth in industrial cleaning and maintenance methods, the use of floor cleaning reagents, manual and mechanical equipment, pest control mechanism and many such related skills.
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SECURITY
Over the past few decades, there has been an alarming rise in crime, terrorism, and accidents in India. This has made the use of security equipment and gadgets, an integral part of every business and manufacturing unit, giving birth to the need for personnel to man these systems.
The security curriculum imparts training on inventory management, vigilance aspects, CCTV operations, fire protection, bomb detection, evacuation procedures, and mock drill operations.
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IN-SHOP DEMONSTRATION
The demonstration of key features of electronic equipment requires well-informed personnel, who can address customers' queries, by drawing upon their domain knowledge, communication and interpersonal skills.
DRF piloted a course
in New Delhi to create trained personnel for electronics. |
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PROGRAMME
FOR
PRISONERS
To enhance the employability of convicts
and help them reintegrate into society after their release,
DRF launched the "Prisoners Programme" which provides technical skills in two domains - automobile mechanism
and refrigeration and
air conditioning.
A three-month programme was conducted in Charlapally Jail in Hyderabad for
50 prisoners. |
MOU WITH NASSCOM
FOUNDATION
DRF signed an
MoU
with NASSCOM Foundation
and Accenture to train NASCOMM Knowledge Network Partners and associated NGOs who work in similar areas
of operations to support these teams in terms
of process, curriculum
and content, life skills
and
other operational issues. |
PROGRAMME FOR
HOME MANAGERS
A comprehensive 30-day module covering life skills, housekeeping, first-aid, cooking, child and elderly care along with practical training was provided
to
32 nemployed girls
and women to help
them become
home
managers. |
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| SRI (Skilling Rural India) |
| A programme under the Rural Livelihoods Initiative, Skilling Rural India (SRI) aims to promote
skill development among rural youth to gain employment in the growing economies of small towns
in India. |
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| The programme began with a pilot project in 20 villages in two locations in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. In a period of 16 months more than 600 youth were trained and placed in jobs or were helped to obtain self employment in each location. |
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| Spurred by the success of this pilot project, DRF has entered into collaborative projects with other corporate organisations such as Lafarge India Pvt. Ltd., ACC Cements, Dalmia Cements, Tata Power, and Sesa Goa to up scale the SRI programme. The programme now works towards training and placing more than 1,000 youth from the communities in the vicinity of the plants and mines of
the partner corporate organisation. As part of this programme, DRF has also tied up with Government of Andhra Pradesh to train 1,100 youths from some of the most impoverished villages of Andhra Pradesh. |
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| Besides promoting the creation and development of livelihoods through wage employment, DRF also helps the youth to take up self-employment. It does this by helping the youth to create their own micro-enterprises in various sectors such as dairy, poultry, floriculture, and other trades. In the pilot project in Maharashtra DRF mobilised more than INR 18 million as loans from banks for the target beneficiaries. The average monthly income of the youth operating their own enterprises is around INR 5000 per month. |
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| Besides these initiatives DRF is also working with farmers to find innovative solutions of the problem of water scarcity for agriculture. DRF has formed Farmer's Clubs in 10 villages and this forum is used to disseminate information about new technologies such as improved seeds, crop protection, organic farming etc. More than 200 farmers have participated in this initiative. |
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Till date the impact of
LABS has touched more
than 200,000 youth. |
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In a period of 16 months
more than 600 youth were
trained and placed in jobs
or were helped to obtain
self employment in
each location. |
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