Project ‘Udaan’ for Entrepreneurship training to rural youth

Background:

On the other side of the buoyant Indian economy, which today is indicated by interest of foreign investors and spiraling growth of industry, lies the Indian mosaic, still marred by stark realities of economical and digital divide, social ills, depleting natural resources, rural-urban disparity, environmental problems, poor infrastructure, poverty and lack of education. Obscene levels of inequality stare this society in the face. People are still in the wanting of essential needs to live a civilized life. The ‘other’ India finds itself isolated on account of various factors like economic struggle and lack of opportunity and resources.

Both educated and uneducated youth from villages or small towns look for employment opportunities in big cities/metros which deepens the divide between the ‘two Indias’ and causes huge imbalances in metros which do not have the economic and infrastructural capacity to support huge influxes. Thus life in both the urban and rural areas are inhuman, both having their share of different problems. In sheer numbers, the estimated poverty rates correspond to 26 crores (26,70,00,000) people living below a dollar a day in 2005.

By and large, the rural youth of India is getting educated today. But due to the limitations of the education system, the basic skills, creativity or entrepreneurial skills are not developed in the education process. And though educated he finds himself dependent on finding a job for his living.

In this background, there is an urgent need to help people become more self-sufficient where they live. Jobs created in India are far from sufficient to support the Indian population which today stands at 113 crores.

Programme outline:

Yuvak Biradari is working towards training the youth of India to make them self sufficient and confident since the last 36 years.

This project titled Udaan is designed by Yuvak Biradari (Bharat) and is aimed towards economic empowerment for youth and women, especially from the weaker sections. The word Udaan connotes to take on a flight and thus grow by leaps and bounds for personal and professional development. Young people constantly face dilemmas with respect to their careers and professional decisions. Lack of knowledge of available options, peer pressure, herd mentality prove detrimental in making the right career choices. Entrepreneurial instincts of young people need to be unleashed so that more wealth and jobs are created in smaller towns and rural areas as well which will reduce the urban-rural divide. Also women in most rural or semi-urban regions are deprived of opportunities and education. They can turn around the fates of their families if they receive exposure, guidance, training and encouragement and are empowered in general.

Udaan training programmes will thus focus on:

• Motivating the youth to pursue the path of self-employment and entrepreneurship
• Helping them to identify business opportunities within their local environment
• Showing them options on what can be done with limited capital or no capital
• Steps of innovation
• Training them in preparing Project Proposals to raise capital if required for their venture

Yuvak Biradari (Bharat) is committed to guide 10,000 youth every year from small towns of India towards self employment through its Udaan training workshops.

A follow-up mechanism will be put in place to track a select group of 1000 people every year from the original 10,000 participants. The follow-up may consist of an additional training programme if required or help to reach out to banks or as per the need that will arise out of the follow-up.

Yuvak Biradari is committed to organize 50 Udaan workshops every year till the year 2014. The programme has been divided into three categories based on the target audiences.

Udaan workshops – is targeted at the young aspirants who are college students from small towns, district and Taluka places across the nation.

Udaan Club – Yuvak Biradari plans to promote minimum 5 Clubs every year in collaboration with local organizations/educational institutes. These clubs will be situated in small towns at different locations. Each club will conduct 15 follow-up programmes between August and January every year to promote entrepreneurial skills among the youth in the region and will assist them in dealing with the problems in their self-employment ventures.

Udaan Self-Employment Training Camp – is designed for the uneducated / partially educated youth and women from rural and semi-urban India.

Yuvak Biradari’s Udaan initiaive has received continual support from Mr. Amitabh Bachchan.

Track Record

Yuvak Biradari has been pursuing this project since a number of years. The record of the most recent times is listed here:

In 2008-09, Udaan workshops were conducted in Mumbai, Wardha, Malegaon, Dhule and Shirpur in Maharashtra.

In 2009-10, 5000 youth were trained through the workshops that were conducted across Mumbai, Nasik, Malegaon, Dhule, Chinchni, Thane, Dombivli, Latur, Solapur, Pandharpur, Sangamner, Igatpuri, Pune, Wai, Yeola, Nandgaon, Manmad, Bhiwandi, Mahad, Dapoli, Sawantwadi, Navapur, Wardha, Yavatmal, Amravati, Kosbad, Dahanu.

Workshops planned for 2010-11 have taken off. 10000 youth across 15 districts of Maharashtra and 5 districts across Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat will be directly benefitted.

Udaan 2010-11 is being organised by Yuvak Biradari (Bharat) in collaboration with Welingkar Institute of Management, Mumbai.