India – Gujarat Youth Building a Future
The Gujarat-Alboan Mission has launched this spring an initiative to support the development of the Adivasi communities of Valsad, in southern Gujarat. The area where the training and job placement project for young Adivasis is being carried out is characterized by forests, mountains, hills and rocky terrain. It is a rural environment that lacks infrastructure and is not well communicated.
In 2021, Jesuit James C. Dabhi sj. conducted research with the help of the Sevasi Culture and Development Center of Baroda on the reasons behind the seasonal migration movements occurring in the region. The study also analyzed the situation that accompanies both the migrants at their place of work and their families, who are affected, especially with regard to the education of their children, who do not always have the opportunity to continue their studies. The research found that villagers in the region migrate to earn a living in neighboring districts and the nearby state of Maharashtra. In the area there are plans to build dams on the Par and Nar rivers, which will affect more than 30 villages that will be submerged and many families will be affected and displaced without economic compensation. In addition, the local population has suffered greatly from the pandemic. The confinement prevented them from going out to work, which has placed them in a situation of extreme vulnerability due to the difficulty of obtaining a stable source of income.
Youth is a very important and delicate time in life. It is a time of change and of making important decisions in people's lives, so it is necessary to accompany them and offer them alternatives so that they can face adulthood with the tools to take control of their lives. In the face of apathy and discouragement, Gujarat-Alboan Mission is committed to providing them with opportunities to change their destinies and that of their communities. It is essential to address their needs and help them grow and live meaningful life. During visits to the villages, we have found that, due to limited opportunities for employment, they often indulge in bad habits, such as alcohol consumption, which leads to poor family relationships and generates problems of coexistence in their homes and neighbourhoods.
Job training and entrepreneurship program for young people
The region's youth population lacks adequate training and during the last two years marked by the health emergency, they have remained at home with no prospects for the future. The lack of motivation is a danger that we intend to tackle through the implementation of training modules for access to employment in areas such as: brick making, hotel management, carpentry, masonry, painting, etc. The initiative we are presenting aims to put a stop to the labor problems faced by the youth of the region, through the generation of self-employment. To this end, a group of 40 young adivasis from the region, women and men, have been selected, who, divided into two groups, will be trained for a month to learn the technique of brick making. At the same time, awareness-raising workshops are planned for young people who are currently unemployed and do not participate in any community space.
The main objective of the project is not limited to training for employment, but aims to encourage self-employment initiatives, channeling and enhancing the skills and talents of the participants. For this reason, once the training spaces have been completed, they will be encouraged and accompanied so that they can replicate the process with other young people in their area. To put this initiative into practice, a local leader has donated land on his property on which training and brick making have already begun.
The initiative we are reporting on today is modest and
may not seem overly ambitious, but it holds enormous potential, as we are
convinced that this small group of forty young people will be able to replicate
their experience and encourage many more people in their communities.
"Many small people in small places, doing small things can change the world."
Source: Alboan
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