Category: Livelihood Projects

Delhi the capital city of India is advanced in all ways possible; education, technology and employment but it only seems so because a lot of the population is currently dwelling in the slums, devoid of any advancement in any field let alone technology. Shakurpur area of Delhi is one such area which is a thickly populated area of daily wages earners who have no time to think for the education, health and other life enrichment resources for their children. Youth of the area are involved in high risk or unskilled work and are drop outs from formal education or unemployed after higher education.

This project serves as platform for the enhancement of livelihood of the youth in the area by providing them training in basic office management, personality development, spoken English training, also reading and writing English. The youth get placed after appearing for exams after the training period is over.

Smile Foundation has partnered with Bharatiya Navadeep Samiti for the implementation of this STeP project.

The condition of the girl child and women in most societies are poor because they are considered undesirable as opposed to the birth of a boy. Hence the question of getting the girl child educated or considering them fit to be financially independent has not yet arisen. They are married off at a young age and most of the time get bound to household chores or begin work as daily laborers to make both ends meet. The youth in slum areas of Nangloi in Delhi too are under privileged in terms of education and basic necessities to survive, they study up to minimum levels, start to work as daily wage earners at an early age and hence their potential goes waste.

This project aims to uplift the living conditions of such youth by providing them enough opportunities to grow and realize their potentials and use them for their own benefits. Under this project management and retail skills, personality development, soft skills development, spoken English and computer education is imparted so that their social confidence and communication skills improve and they are able to gain favorable employment opportunities so that their living conditions improve.

Mylai Balaji Nagar,Pallikaranai , is a place where3000 families evicted from Mylapore, in Chennai city, were forced to live in without basic amenities. More than 1500 hundred unskilled youth without could not continue their education after 10th class and Intermediate and are unskilled and follow daily wage earning occupations as rag pickers, mechanic , and are engaged in very small jobs and unable to fulfill their basic amenities.

This project aims to train this youth in basic management and retail skills, spoken English, computer skills, personality development and other soft skills. The project aspires to make these youth so able so that they are able to gain employment in various white collar jobs and improve their living conditions. The other areas of focus are to mobilize unskilled youth from different slums of Chennai and sensitize the youth about their better career.

Smile Foundation has partnered with AIIM Trust for the implementation of this STeP project.

The areas of Trilokpuri, New Ashok Nagar and adjoining areas in Delhi are densely populated with the people of low income group living in slums & small houses. These people are migrant workers from states such as Bihar, UP, West Bengal, Kerela etc. The average income of each family is not proportionate to the number of family members and hence most families do not give much preference to education of their children and engage them in daily wage earning to make both ends meet.

Under this project the learners undergo training on spoken English, Basic computer skills, Retail & Basic management, Personality development & soft skills etc. with the aim of making them ‘job-ready’, in terms of requirement in the field of Retail, BPO, KPO, Hospitality, Marketing & Insurance sector etc.

Smile Foundation has partnered with AiDENT Social Welfare Organization for implementation of this project.

Madan Pur Khadar JJ Colony is on the border of the South Delhi and Faridabad District and the population residing there are migrants to Delhi from neighboring states in search of livelihoods. There is prevalent illiteracy, unawareness and unskilled labor force. The main occupation of the community members are daily wage laborers, vegetable vendors, masons and domestic helpers and most of the time are deprived of the basic necessities of life like clean drinking water. The children are the worst sufferers. They have to leave studies at a very young age and help their families in either earning for the family or look after the household chores and their younger brothers and sisters. There is also a lack of schools in the area.

This project aims to bring a change in the lives of the youth in the area by imparting to them job based training which would further allow them to gain white collar jobs. Within this programme, skills such as Basic management, computer literacy, personality development, spoken English, reading and writing skills are imparted to both boys and girls to enhance their employable qualities.

Smile Foundation has partnered with AAROHAN for the implementation of the programme.

This project aims to bring job-related training within the reach of youth from the urban slum of Nakkal Bande in Bangalore. There are 2,700 families in this locality including Kannadigas, Telugu, Tamil and Muslim residents, 15% of which accounts for the youth population.

Most of the youth, belonging to disadvantaged groups, are unable to complete schooling and lack necessary academic qualifications, thus losing the opportunity to get skilled jobs. Inaccessible/unaffordable skill training is another factor that leaves them no other option but to work as domestic workers, drivers, construction laborers, vendors and the like to provide for their families.

Designed on the premise of opening sustainable employment opportunities for the urban poor, this skill training course is provided free of cost for the young people of Nakkal Bande. The curriculum includes subjects like Spoken English, Computer, Lifeskills Education (workplace behavior and personality development), Retail and Sales Management, etc. that help prepare them for employment and independent living. The completion of the skill training course is marked by the job placement process.

Smile Foundation has partnered with the Association for Promoting Social Action (APSA) to implement the STeP project.

Since majority of the people are marginalized in India, educating them becomes a crucial phenomenon. Though their children have high potential, economic poverty, social backwardness, ignorance and lack of schools in their locality make children drop out from schools. This project targets such neo-literate youth who, owing to lack of formal education, have resorted to unorganized labour for income. Agenda of this project is to shape their future and provide them a dignified living.

The proposed location Kabi Nabin Sen Road slum is a part of the South Dum Dum Municipality, which is strategically located in adjacent to Kolkata city in the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal. Most of the municipality’s residents are migrants from West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar and some are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Most of these slum dwellers are employed either as daily wage earners or operate small ventures like stalls and repair centers. The target population of this project is the unskilled youth of Kabi Nabin Sen Road slum who are school drop-outs with basic education. Under this programme, these youth are provided formal training in computer, English and soft skills essential for a white-collar job. The placement process ensures that students secure decent positions in good companies.

Smile Foundation has partnered with Narayantala Mass Communication Society to implement the STeP project.

The city of Chennai has a slum population of 16.41 lakh spread over 1279 slums that accounts for over 40% of the total population. About 42 km northwest of this capital city of Tamil Nadu is Ambattur, a fast developing residential neighbourhood that serves as the administrative headquarters of Tiruvallur district.

Presently, the town is home to 184,390 workers, including cultivators, agricultural labourers, workers in household industries and marginal workers. Of these, about 55,000 people are unskilled youth who are involved in unorganized labor primarily due to lack of better opportunities. Under this project, the youth of Ambattur are enabled to fully equip themselves with the skill training that helps them to earn a decent livelihood. Computer education and English fluency are the primary constituents of this job-oriented training initiative.

Apart from this, the younger generation are trained in personality development & soft skills that will prove to be handy while working for fast emerging sectors like retail, hospitality and BPOs. Activities like employer engagement programmes and exposure/industrial visits helps the students identify their skills and interests, and pursue jobs in their preferable domain.

Smile Foundation is working in association with Mother Teresa Rural Educational Development Charitable Society to implement the STeP project.

St. Thomas Mount Block is a revenue block in the Kanchipuram District, which is a huge quarry (excavation site) in Chennai. The district has a total of 25 panchayat villages with an approximate population of 2,30,000. Due to limited skills and exposure, the youth population of the area amounting to 40,000 is also involved in similar daily wages and unorganized labor sector. These youth are usually made to drop out of school and engage in such petty jobs to support their family in their financial crisis.

This project works with the youth from 75,386 Dalit and migrant families living in 22 settlement pockets in and around the stone quarries and crushing units in St. Thomas Mount Block of Kanchipuram District. Under this project, the youth in this relocation settlement are provided training and skill that would help them get the employment opportunities available in local and regional markets of Chennai.

An important part of this training programme is computer education that makes a strong base for any white-collar job. Besides this, the beneficiaries are provided training in English fluency that will further help them in placement and personality development. Life skills like decision making, leadership, interpersonal relations & so on are also inculcated in students to make them proficient in different jobs.

Smile Foundation has partnered with Mass Empowerment For Growth Alternatives Trust (MAEGA TRUST) to implement the STeP project.

Barasat is a town in the outskirts of Kolkata that serves as an important roadway and railway junction of the city. The area is home to the cotton weaving industry, and is an important trade centre for legumes, sugarcane, potatoes, coconuts, and rice.

Due to migration, the area now has a crowded metropolitan area on one side and riverside villages/slums on the other. The four slums altogether have a population of 6 lakh, of which 80,000 constitute the youth. Most of these youth work in small enterprises, retail businesses and small manufacturing units in the nearby areas. The aim of this project is to create better employment opportunities for the youth through a skill training course developed in tandem with market requirements.

A better hold on spoken English and computer application helps the students land a significant position in fast emerging sectors like retail, hospitality and BPOs. The course also helps beneficiaries with lifestyle skills and personality development to further help them adapt to the corporate work culture. For a hands-on experience of the industry, activities like exposure visits and alumni meets are also organized during the course. Placements are held towards the end of the training session.

Smile Foundation is working in association with Holy Mission for Children’s Welfare & Rural Development (HMCWRD) to implement the STeP project.