Introduction of the Program –
Sky Social is working on the Ministry of Tourism’s Hunar se Rozgar tak scheme in three tribal districts of Madhya Pradesh including Betul, Chhindwara and Seoni. We have trained 180 students under this initiative.
"Hunar se Rozgar" is a scheme of the Ministry of Tourism that was launched for creation of employable skills amongst youth belonging to economically weaker sections of the society.
This initiative was taken to bridge the gap of skilled workforce in the hospitality sector.
Sky Social has always been working with the most marginalised communities since its inception. Madhya Pradesh has many tribal districtsand reaching out to them has been a little difficult. The diversity in the tribes across the state comes from differences in heredity, lifestyle, cultural traditions, social structure, economic structure, religious beliefs and language and speech. Due to the different linguistic, cultural and geographical environments, the diverse tribal world of Madhya Pradesh has been largely cut off from the mainstream of development.
These tribal districts have the most vulnerable population, and many government schemes & policies are unable to reach out to them. Youth hailing from these districts have a lack of resources for getting proper education & training which causes many social as well as economic problems for them.
Our focus through our initiative is to reach out to young people in these tribal districts of Betul, Chhindwara and Seoni and provide them with skill training so that they can have access to resources and are not left behind. We want to ensure inclusion to create a social impact that is sustainable and also gives youth a platform to learn, grow & become economically independent. Our initiative will create youth leaders who will empower the whole tribal community at large.
In the globalized world, skill development & life skills are becoming more and more important for successful employment of young people. These skills are important for the young people to secure a job, retain employment and move flexibly in the labour market as well as engage in lifelong learning.
Through our programme with we are focusing on all these aspects for holistic growth and development through a human rights lens and working towards various SDGs including zero poverty, education, gender equality, economic development & reducing inequalities.
Young people are vital to our future, and we believe enhancing their skills through our training programme, will help them get better access to employment opportunities along with holistic growth. Through our programme, we are ensuring the employment shift of rural youth from the informal to the formal sector.
A recent Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in a report stated that “the Indian economy has the potential to grow from the current $3 trillion to $9 trillion and $40 trillion by 2030 and 2047, respectively. But this is possible only if the working-age population is productively employed.”
Skill development is for determining skill gaps and to overcome them. Skill development also refers to acquiring additional capabilities through different and innovative levels of learning and training, which can either be in formal, non-formal, informal or in practical (on the job) formats
According to the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), the unemployment rate among rural male and female youth stood at 17.4% and 13.6% respectively in 2020. These numbers indicate that regular jobs with additional benefits are hard to come by for rural youth. Sky Social’s motive is to help the youth focus on their work and enhance their technical expertise.
Once these youngsters are adequately educated, they will get their desired jobs. And that is possible only by skill development and training, which is the solution to this problem. The initiative undertaken by the Government will empower the rural youth with knowledge, skills and capabilities that will allow them opportunities to better themselves and support their families.
Whilst the initiative is well-formulated, there are still many hurdles to achieving optimum results. One key issue is technology, which we have discovered during the recent pandemic, is a huge enabler, lack of access The rapid shift towards digitization and inability and lack of access to technology in rural India has made it difficult for the rural youth to avail of many of the initiatives designed for them. Being able to leverage technology to making these initiatives sustainable with long-term benefits and then taking that last mile, which is introducing skills training in rural education institutes is probably the biggest challenge to overcome.
Unarguably it is skill development. Only with a systematic and well laid methodology of identifying the skills gap in youth and providing training to strengthen them will it translate into employment benefits to them. Skill development programs are based on understanding the existing levels of education and capabilities of the rural youth, and then extending support by assisting them proper guidance, infrastructure, opportunities, and encouragement that help them achieve their ambitions.
Food and Beverage Services can be broadly defined as the process of preparing, presenting and serving of food and beverages to the customers. In the Food and Beverage Service industry aspirants can work in restaurants, hotels, food stalls and the like. Apart from this, the Food and Beverage Service also includes companies that are involved in the packaging and distribution of food materials.
Front office is the first department of hotel which comes in guest contact, at the time of guest arrival and the last department when they depart from the hotel. This department performs the various functions like reservation, reception, registration, room assignment and bills settlement of a resident guest. The guest remains in contact of front desk for information and any kind of help. Thus, we can say that the Front Office is the hub of hotel operations. After completion of Front Office Associate Course, The Trainee will be liable for receiving the guest, handling guest registration method, reaching to any guest necessities, cashiering and handling guest accounts throughout the stay.
These two courses are an important component of the hospitality sector which are very dynamic in nature and cover a wide range of job opportunities. Along with this, they are also getting trained for self-employment and entrepreneurial opportunities.
Life skills are defined as “a group of psychosocial competencies and interpersonal skills that help people make informed decisions, solve problems, think critically and creatively, communicate effectively, build healthy relationships, empathize with others, and cope with and manage their lives in a healthy and productive manner. Life skills may be directed toward personal actions or actions toward others, as well as toward actions to change the surrounding environment to make it conducive to health.” according to World Health Organization (WHO). Bearing the WHO definition in mind, we at Sky Social through our life skill sessions offer youth the emotional, social and intellectual tools needed to achieve success in life – on a personal level, an interpersonal level, and within their community and work places.
The Basic Life skills provides readily available tools to deal with challenges/demands of daily lives the youth face, from managing their emotions to make an informed decision. It also helps develop children’s personality, talents, and mental and physical abilities, and realize their true potential through learning to know oneself and others, and make effective decisions to live harmonically together in the society.
We have included life skills among the essential learning tool for survival, capacity development and quality life. We also realise that all young people and adults have the “human right to benefit from an education that includes learning to know, to do, to live together.” Recognizing the importance of living together as much as acquiring knowledge from an academic environment.
Through life skills education, young generations are equipped with foundational skills necessary for transitioning to productive adulthood; manage stress; learn to deal with difficult emotions; practice positivism; improve self-esteem; feel empathy; learn to listen to others carefully; learn to set personal boundary; handle dispute well; find balance between priorities and demands; communicate confidently; set goals; make decisions; solve problems; think critically and creatively; use executive functional skills; and learn to bounce back from adversity.
As a part of our programme we worked on important life skills like communication, empathy, goal setting, digital literacy, CV making, using various platforms for job search, leadership, self-employment and team work in collaboration with All Hands Organization. Our training focused on these skills so that youth can feel overall empowered and use these skills while in the professional and personal life.
