Pune: From Preventing Boys Getting Into Crime To Making Slums Safer For Girls, Pune Youth Attempt To Bring Change At Grassroot Level
Pune, 1st March 2023: Global Opportunity Youth Network [GOYN] Pune and its anchor partner
Lighthouse Communities Foundation recently brought together multiple stakeholders in the skilling and livelihood ecosystem in Pune along with underserved young people. The aim was to celebrate achievements and align on the challenges to be addressed as the collaborative works towards enhancing economic opportunities for young people.
The convening witnessed over 100 participants representing skilling organizations, employers, recruitment agencies, academic institutions, organizations working on youth development and young people aspiring to be change-agents. Participants put forth their perspectives, challenges and commitment to enabling job placements and sustainable livelihoods underserved youth in Pune. While some youth spoke about their dreams, aspirations and challenges in the world of work, there were others who are leading their communities through a variety of projects. GOYN encourages and supports such initiatives, calling them Youth Innovation projects.
One such project named “Voice of Boys” is being implemented by four youth in the Yerawada area with the goal of preventing boys under the age of 18 years from turning to crime. Shalmon Sushma Purushottam Sable (18), Mahesh Ovhal (19), Tanishq Sunita Nagnath (18) and Sahil Tupdhar (17) are leading this.
“There is a ‘Bhai’ and ‘Dada’ culture in slum areas and there are chances of young people getting negatively influenced. Community youth tend to idolize gang leaders as their role models. Our motive is to prevent youth from following this path and help them practice good citizenship”, they said.
Another project, “Surakshit Slum, Surakshit hum”, improves safety for girls through self-defence training coupled with awareness programs for families and communities. Three girls studying in Class 11 namely Ruchi Pandit (17), Priya Khadka (17), and Anushka Misal (17) are spearheading this project. The girls said, “Sometimes we feel very uneasy while traveling within some parts of Yerwada, hence, we want to bring this change.”
The girls believe that due to lack of safety, their fellow sisters are lacking access to various opportunities and they want to change this. “We will conduct sessions with boys, girls and elders separately and then together to change their mindset”, the girls added.
Other projects include free tuition, waste-to-wealth, and livelihood opportunities for transgenders.
The global partners present at the convening were Jamie McAuliffe, Founder Director of GOYN; Alice Gugelev, MD of Global Development Incubator; Joel Miranda, Senior Advisor to GOYN and Annu Mehta, India representative of Global Development Incubator.
Jamie McAuliffe, Founder Director of GOYN, spoke about the network’s mission, saying “We came to Pune in 2019 as we understood that there are lakhs of city youth who have dropped out of school, are out of training, unemployed or underemployed. We call them “Opportunity Youth” as they can unlock enormous opportunities for the city. We are delighted to witness the growth of this initiative from a handful of youth leaders who launched the program in Nov 2019 to this large and powerful gathering of youth, employers, training and other ecosystem partners today”.
Dr. Ganesh Natarajan, Chairman, Lighthouse Communities Foundation, emphasized the importance of the gathering, saying “GOYN Pune has the potential to reach every youth across the city as it is co-owned by diverse and experienced stakeholders. We must strive towards ‘no youth left behind’ thus not only ensuring livelihoods but also wellbeing and happiness in the city in a spirit of total collaboration”.
GOYN is a global collaborative anchored by Aspen Institute USA along with Global Development Incubator, YouthBuild International, Prudential, CRS and Accenture. Globally, GOYN works with 10 ‘anchor partners’ in different countries, Pune being one of them. GOYN’s objective is to catalyse place-based systems shifts in communities around the world thus creating sustainable economic opportunities that improve quality of life for “Opportunity Youth”. Opportunity Youth (OY) are youth aged 15 to 30 years who are not in education, employment, or training.
Lighthouse Communities Foundation has been an anchor partner for GOYN, Pune since 2019. Today, GOYN Pune comprises a collaborative spanning 30 skilling organizations, 50 placement agencies and employer organizations, multiple academic institutions, counselling and community-based organizations and close to 100 youth leaders. Through this connected ecosystem, GOYN Pune has enabled livelihood literacy as well as opportunities for completion of education, skilling, entrepreneurship, employment, mentorship and other support services to 20000 OY in Pune.
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