In an absorbing conversation with Thrive, Ravi Nayse, GM – Skill Development at Ambuja Foundation outlines the work A mbuja Foundation has been doing to enable rural youth to have a prosperous future.

Mobilisation of rural youth for skill training programmes has always been a challenge. Traditional mindsets, youth aspirations, and an unwillingness to migrate to other towns/cities often stand in the way of youth enrolment.

On 29th April, 2017,Mangi Budruk village was declared a Smart Village and awarded a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh by the Govt of Maharashtra. Yet a little over a decade ago, barely 10 of its 234 households even had a toilet.

Throughout the world, people want the same things - access to clean air and water; economic opportunities; a safe and healthy place to raise their kids; shelter and a say in the decisions that affect their lives.

"Whenever we have enabled communities to chart their own progress, they have reached far greater heights," points out Pearl Tiwari - CEO of Ambuja Foundation in this riveting interview with Thrive.

Anita Nayak from Jaitaran belongs to a low income group with her father being the only breadwinner of the family. A challenge to make ends meet on a daily basis, farmers in eastern Rajasthan are known to have difficult lives due to the lack of water availability which affects their crop production. But while Anita worked hard in her studies and completed her graduation, she still couldn't secure a decent job.

SEDI Chirawa took an innovative route to encourage more women enrollment and job continuity post training - by honouring the female trainees' mothers. For each female trainee who spent more than 6 months at her workplace, her mother was felicitated with a cheque of Rs. 5,000/- at a public function.

When Leena first joined SEDI, she was the only person from her village, Hathbandh to do so. Ridiculing her, the neighbours made fun of her efforts - "Look at her attending an institute that promises a job after just 3 months of training!" they would laugh. But she was quietly confident that her time at Ambuja Foundation's Skill & Entrepreneurship Development Institute would soon deliver results.

The pandemic has exposed just how vulnerable India's labour force is. An estimated 450 million internal migrant workers make up 92 percent of the labour force in India - with the majority of them hailing from rural India.

One of our earliest learnings at Ambuja Foundation, was that to tackle poverty in rural India, we needed to build the livelihood capabilities of rural people.

The 2019/20 Annual Report was launched in September, highlighting the achievements of the Foundation over the last 12months, and once again an e-version of the report was distributed online to all key stakeholders.

Women's role in India has typically been limited to 'the home' thanks to a patriarchal society and a 'permission culture' which, according to an IDHS survey, sees 79.9% of women having to ask for permission from a male family member to seek medical care, and 58% of women reporting that they needed permission to visit the local kirana (grocery store)