Unnati To Train 1 Million Underprivileged Youth For Employability By 2020 Through 1000 Centres

Aug. 8, 2009 - PRLog -- The Global Fund For Children joins as partner to support the program
Bangalore, August 07, 2009:  Unnati, a Bangalore-based grassroots non-profit organization that focuses on making poor, unemployed youth get employed in the corporate sector through vocational training is looking to expand its program across India and touch more people. The NGO shared that it has set itself an ambitious target of 1 million youth being gainfully employed through its program by 2020. Unnati is the only program currently active in India that offers the trained youth an assured placement in corporates immediately upon completion of the course. The Global Fund for Children (GFC), a leading global grant making organization is supporting Unnati in realizing its vision.
Unnati, incepted in 2003, trains youth in the chosen vocations that are relevant to the job market. Economically backward drop out adults aged 18 and above (both boys & girls) are offered the 3 months rigorous training. Currently seven vocational courses are offered - retail sales, guest care, industrial tailoring, entry level voice & data (BPO), security services and industrial painting. In keeping with the ultimate goal of Unnati of not just enabling employability but making Unnatians responsible citizens, the program covers life skills, communication, spoken English and basic computer usage. The NGO has since placed close to 800 youth from really poor backgrounds in reputed corporates like Café Coffee Day, J P Morgan, Levis and ITC among others. Two Unnatians, Saheeda Banu and Srinivas, who benefited from the program shared their experience and how the transformation’s ripple impact in that it changes the course of life for an entire generation of family of these Unnatians.
In his comments, Ramesh Swamy, Founding member and Trustee, SGBS, said, “Unemployed youth from economically backward sections of our society need to be bought into the mainstream if India needs to progress in the future as an inclusive society. From the industry’s perspective, it needs millions of semi-skilled workers for various jobs which will not come from the college going sections of the society. There is a mutual win-win for everyone involved – the youth, the society and the industry, if we can get them gainfully employed. At Unnati, we have fine tuned a program of training that is proven to work and since we are filling a unique gap, employment for Unnatians becomes assured. What is the need of the hour today is to ensure this program is expanded faster to touch larger numbers. To this end, we are looking to partner similar minded organizations across India in replicating the Unnati model and the courses wherein we will play a facilitative role in establishment of similar centers. In retail this model is called franchising and has proven to be successful in diverse areas and we will it will work in the social context as well.”


According to Dr. Vineeta Gupta, Program Officer, South Asia, The Global Fund for Children,” “By providing vocational training, the Unnati program enables bright, hard-working youth from below the poverty line to realize their life goals. The program offers three-month, full-day training in specialized professions, such as security services, tailoring, sales and retail, and business process outsourcing. Relying on a volunteer faculty drawn from a diverse pool of Bengaluru-area experts, Unnati is exactly the kind of innovative operation we at The Global Fund for Children seek to support in our grantmaking work”.
Talking about her experience, Ms. Sayeeda Banu, an Unnatian who currently works in Café Coffee Day, said, “Because of Unnati am working today in such a company and my entire family is happy. What they taught me is of great help and is the reason am able to work confidently and can converse with ease”.
According to Srinivas, another Unnatian who currently works in Capgemeni,” With minimum education I never believed that I could find a job and stand on my own feet. I am always grateful to Unnati for supporting my dream of working in a corporate world.  The job has transformed my life and today am proud that am able to support my family. “
About Unnati: Unnati, an initiative of SGBS Trust is a vocational training and social transformation program for the underprivileged offering free of cost, a three month program with assured placement at the end of it. Incepted in 2003, Unnati’s concept of training is based on matching the needs of the large numbers of poor youth for employment with the growing demands of the corporate industry for semi-skilled but qualified talent. Unnati is supported in this process of socio-economic and sustainable empowerment for underprivileged youth by some leading corporates. With Learn, Earn and Stand Tall as a motto, Unnati aims to enable 1000 centers across India by 2020 which will transform the lives of almost 1 million youth.
About The Global Fund for Children: The Global Fund for Children’s (GFC) is a grant making organization based in United States. Its mission is to advance the dignity of children and youth around the world. GFC pursues its mission by making small grants to innovative community-based organizations working with some of the world’s most vulnerable children and youth, complemented by a dynamic media program that, through books, documentary photography, and film, highlights the issues affecting children.
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