India has a population of 140 crore according to the latest United Nations (World Population Prospects) data. With a population so huge, one of the major challenges that our country faces is lack of employment opportunities. As per the survey done by Centre for Monitoring India Economy (CMIE) only 40% of the Indian population are employed or looking for jobs which when compared to the vast population of the country in productive years is quite marginal. One of the major reasons for unemployment in India is the lack of vocational education and avenues for skill development in India. . The reason why vocational education is important because it helps the individual develop expertise in a particular area which in turn provides them with an opportunity to get into the job market. The National Skill Development Policy is a framework devised by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship to address the challenges related to lack of skilling among the workforce. Working in line with the National Skill Development Policy, NGOs working for skill development in India such as Prayatna implements various CSR and other programmes to provide vocational education and skill development to the marginalised
One of the flagship programmes of Prayatna is Enterprise Development where we set up Enterprise Resource Centres which are equipped with trainers, machines, raw materials and other essentials. The organisation’s enterprise development model aims at providing new skills or upgrading their existing skills to another level to the beneficiaries and supports them to set up their own enterprise. This model helps in tackling the lack of job opportunities and also allows the individual to work on vocations that they are interested in. Let’s look into some of the programmes!