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ENTREPRENEURSHIP FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
As per a Dalberg study conducted in 2019, young people become entrepreneurs not out of opportunity but due to necessity. With limited jobs available and poor-quality job-matching, entrepreneurship is one of the pathways to enhance employment opportunities and quality of life for a young person. However, young entrepreneurs might not always be equipped with the knowledge, skills, and support to take forward their ideas, especially those from marginalized backgrounds.
Thus, we are seeking solutions by aspiring young entrepreneurs and ventures, especially women in India, that can be replicated in multiple contexts. The solutions shortlisted should ideally include not just skill development opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs, but also support for operationalizing their venture ideas, helping them sustain their businesses and thrive in the market through mentorship, supporting establishment of ventures, and other relevant support. As challenges faced by women entrepreneurs are multifold, shortlisted solutions should either have specific focus or have elements of gender mainstreaming. |
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ENABLING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUNG WOMEN
Female labour force participation rates have been declining in India for the past 2 decades. More women are opting out or are being forced out of the workforce due to multiple reasons. Therefore, we need solutions that cater to enhancing women labour force participation.
We aim to support solutions that work towards specific ideas to enable access to job opportunities to young women in the 18 to 29 age group. Some indicative areas could be facilitating remote jobs or focusing on specific skilling and job placements that take into consideration the needs of women. We are open to solutions that embed enhancement measures in strategy and implementation, as well as solutions with specific out-of-the box approach. |
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CAREER GUIDANCE SOLUTIONS TO ENABLE INFORMED CAREER DECISION MAKING
According to India Skills Report 2018, around 85% of young people in the country at higher education levels feel ill-equipped to take informed decisions regarding their future career paths. Further, a survey conducted by Mindler found that 93% of the young people surveyed were aware of only seven career options, even though there are over 250+ possible career choices available in India today. These two data points are representative of the widespread need for career guidance to enable transition from school to work and equip young people with knowledge about jobs of the future. Further, these solutions should also cater to the most marginalized and cognizant of the influence of stakeholders other than students, such as parents, in career decision making and engage with them as well.
Thus, we are seeking to support career guidance solutions that are innovative, inclusive or have the potential to be customized to serve marginalized youth, promoting non-traditional livelihoods, and are considerate of the various stakeholders partaking in decision making. These could be solutions already working at scale or scalable solutions that need to solve for access and affordability. |
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MODELS AND PRACTICES FOR BUILDING YOUTH-CENTRIC GOVERNANCE AND PLANNING
Young people constitute one third of India’s population, holding the potential to boost the GDP by 2%. An investment in young people through youth centered programming can lead to 2-4x the social returns in investment. Thus, while youth centrality is beneficial for public and private stakeholders, young people are rarely involved in decision making or execution of programmes, policies, and practices of relevance.
We are seeking to support solutions that invite young people to collaborate as leaders and equal partners with stakeholders from diverse sectors. These youth-centered solutions can be from varied domains, such as adolescent and youth health and well-being (with a focus on physical and mental well-being and sexual reproductive health and rights); programs/practices that affirm and enable the participation and leadership of young people; and sustained, youth led climate change policies, programmes, and tools (with a focus on green and blue jobs, water and wildlife conservation, and sustainable products/tools). |
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HOW TO APPLY
Applications for this year are now closed. Stay tuned for future opportunities and updates Thank you for your time and participation! |