Category: Livelihood Projects

One of the many slum colonies across Mumbai, Kandivali has 60% of its residents belonging to low income groups and disadvantaged sections like SC, ST, OBC and OC. Most of the families settled in this area have migrated from Gujarat and other parts of the country, and earn their livelihood from menial labor.

This project focuses on enhancing the livelihood of such deprived people living in slum localities of Kandivali East, such as Damupada and Hanuman Nagar. For the same, residents in the age group of 18-30 years are subjected to various learning and skill development programmes and prepared for formal employment.

Employability skills like English proficiency and computer literacy are imparted to students under this project. The students are also trained on marketable skills like public speaking, basic management and retail sales. Counseling sessions, industry visits and placement assistance are other crucial elements of this project.

Post training, the students are placed on different positions in many retail outlets, BPOs, hospitality industry and other such fast expanding sectors.

Smile Foundation has partnered with Sankalp Manav Vikas Sanstha to implement the STeP project.

Kamathipura is home to a large number of destitute people migrated from different parts of the country. The area was initially inhabited by migrants of Andhra Pradesh (called Kamathis) who used to work as laborers on construction sites, but the population of sex workers in the area gradually rose over the years, making Kamathipura the second largest Red Light District in Asia.

The oldest of its kind in the city, this Red Light Area is currently divided according to regional and linguistic backgrounds of sex workers, who have come from the North, border areas of Karnataka, West Bengal and Nepal. Lack of basic education and job-oriented skills pushed the youth from the marginalized sections living in this slum to take up this demeaning profession early on in their lives to support their families and children.

This project is aimed towards sensitizing and empowering such youth and women in order to provide them means for a dignified living. For the same, candidates are offered various job-oriented courses and trained in areas like computer literacy, English proficiency, sales and management and personality development that help them get an employment.

Smile Foundation has partnered with Prayog Foundation to implement this STeP project.

This project targets such youth from underprivileged groups who were not able to complete their school education or were forced to drop out of school due to lack of facilities or challenging financial conditions.

The skill training programme under this project is designed in accordance with the current market requirements so as to provide the underprivileged youth an opportunity to work for the fast emerging sectors of India, including retail, hospitality, information technology and BPOs.

The six-month course trains the youth in computer, spoken English and soft skills giving them job orientation and preparing them for employment. Apart from this, the beneficiaries are trained on their overall personality development so as to aid them in adjusting better to their work surroundings.

Many activities are organized during the tenure of the course to give students a hands-on experience of various industries and help them decide their course of action during placement stage.

Smile Foundation has partnered with Mamatha Makkala Mandira to implement the STeP project.

This project is aimed towards sustainable development of the illiterate, destitute, socially deprived and marginalized groups living in the slums of Bandra East. This suburban village of Mumbai has emerged as a commercial and administrative hub over the decades. However, the area has a dark side too, featuring multi-storeyed slums rising up to four storeys covering the land around the railway station.

The slum colonies in Bandra East have a predominantly Muslim population among other marginalized communities that are deprived of education and thus, support their family’s income with menial jobs. Under this project, underpriviliged youth in this area are provided formal training in English Proficiency (spoken and written), Basic Computer Education and Soft Skills as primary subjects. The aim of the training module is to enhance prospects of employment of every individual.

Guidance lectures are also organized under this project on topics like personality development, career counseling and job interview preparation. Moreover, industry visits are conducted for students to provide practical knowledge of working styles in the fast expanding retail, hospitality, BPO and other sectors. Upon completion of the course, candidates are given placement assistance for white-collar jobs.

Smile Foundation has partnered with The Prem Foundation to implement this STeP Project.

Bengaluru is the IT hub of the country and is massive, wealthy and sophisticated in many ways, but studies reveal that about a quarter of its 8.4 million population live in slums. There are over 800 designated slums across the city; the industrial area of Yeswanthpur has six of them which is primarily inhabited by Dalit Muslims and migrants from various districts of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

Due to the poor financial conditions of its residents, most of the children drop out of school especially after the age of 13 and get engaged in meagre work like laborers, drivers and coolies for survival. This project envisages skill building of these marginalized youth, so as to make them self-reliant and fit for jobs which can help them to lead a dignified life.

For the same, the targeted people are provided a six-month training during which they are trained in computer application, spoken English, personality development and soft skills. The training not only inculcates market required skills in them that can help them get decent jobs during placement, but also helps them shape their own career path through activities like employer engagement and exposure visits.

Smile Foundation has partnered with Paraspara Trust to implement STeP project.

The main aim of this project is to ensure overall development of the economically weaker sections of the society and giving them the opportunity to earn a dignified living and dream for a better tomorrow. For the same, education and training are provided to the unskilled and unemployed youth living in Kalyan East slums.

Located in Thane District, Kalyan is known for providing a significant workforce for the economy of Mumbai. The area has a population of approximately 25,000 that includes people belonging to lower income groups of the society. Most of the families residing in the slums of Kalyan East are deprived of formal education, with 60% of them comprising school drop-out population.

The remaining 40% might have completed their graduation, but still lack the skills to land a white-collar job. Thus, these people either take up a menial labor job or work on daily wages in small scale industries. This project targets such youth and gives them access to developmental programmes in English proficiency, computer literacy, basic management and sales to explore untapped job opportunities.

Smile Foundation has partnered with Gosavi Bahuuddeshiya Sanstha for implementing this STeP project.

The underprivileged population living in the slum clusters of Kapashera comprises mainly of migrants from the states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh. Due to poor financial conditions and lack of employability skills, a large number of youth in the area are engaged in casual labour work with inadequate earnings.

This project, under Smile Twin e-Learning Programme (STeP), has been implemented to address the dwindling livelihood opportunities of these youth. With a special focus on underprivileged girls and women, the project identifies youth who are school dropouts and jobless, and trains them to help them earn a respectable living.

Under the project, a special course of six months is being conducted, wherein subjects like English, Basic Computers, Retail and Basic Management, Soft Skills and Personality Development are taught to the students. Activities like Employee Engagement Program, Career Counseling and Exposure Visits make an important part of this 6-month training. Through a placement support programme at the end of the course, the candidates are placed in reputed organisations in the retail and other sectors.

Smile Foundation has partnered with Nipun for implementation of this STeP project.

The suburban area of Goregaon is primarily known for the much-famed Filmistan and Film City. However, the locality also has a slum pocket that stretches over an area of 2 square kilometers and comprises areas like Bhagat Singh Nagar No. 1 & 2, Indira Nagar and Anand Nagar. Together, these areas house more than 2 lakh people belonging to low income groups and economically weaker-sections.

Most of these slum dwellers lack formal education while youngsters have a high percentage of drop-outs due to poor economic condition of families. This project serves as a platform for the enhancement of livelihood of such people including females and rural communities, through all-round development.

Under this project, special job-oriented programmes are run to help the deprived earn better livelihood. Under the project, the students are trained on reading, speaking and writing English. In addition, Basic Computer Training is provided to them along with programmes dealing in Personality Development, Soft Skills and Management.

Special sessions are conducted for public speaking, interview preparation, group building and team work, presentation skills and other skills requisite for a white-collar job.

Smile Foundation has partnered with Ambedkar Sheti Vikas Va Sanshodhan Sanstha (ASVSS) for implementation of this STeP project.

The proposed location Malleshwaram is a huge commercial area in the north-west part of Bengaluru city. This district was developed as a planned suburb after the great plague of 1898, which caused many people to move out of the city center & settle in the suburbs. Presently, the area has a total population of 1,94,068 that includes 20,000 unskilled youth, who work in the local mall and nearby areas.

Due to lack of opportunities and limited skills, most of the youth in Malleshwaram struggle to provide a decent livelihood for their families. While working as street vendors, construction site labours, coolies, hawkers and other such jobs, they are paid minimal wages. With the vision of enhancing employability in these youth, a job-oriented training is envisaged under this project that enables them to develop requisite skills for a white-collar job and grab opportunities during placements.

Under this training programme, the beneficiaries are trained to have an excellent command over English, which is a necessity for business communication. Besides, each individual undergoes personality development, which brings about a positive change in their lives. Other aspects of this programme include computer training, participatory activities, career counseling, exposure visits and life education.

Smile Foundation has partnered with Sa-Mudra Foundation to implement the STeP project.