While some NGOs provide opportunities for vocational skills to youth, most of them are unable to find suitable employment. The few who do are unable to sustain it. Youthreach believes that it is essential to give young adults a set of skills and exposure to prepare them for employability apart from training NGO staff who works with these youth.

The Capacity and Skill Building Initiative of Youthreach aims at providing youth from our partner NGOs with training opportunities in diverse areas by creating linkages with skilled persons and organisations who become our volunteers.

• Youthreach collaborated with ITDC young adults Hotels under the scheme Hunar se Rozgar, an initiative of the Ministry of Tourism, to conduct a training programme in hospitality and create employable skills for the youth. Youth from the Shanti Devi Charitable Trust, Mobile Crèches, Children of the World and Manzil enrolled for this programme.
• Youthreach facilitated the visit of a team from The Hilton Garden Inn to the bakery unit of Muskaan, an NGO which looks after people with special needs. The visiting team provided the necessary inputs to enhance the existing skills and build capacities of the chefs working in the bakery unit.

Mridula Sakle, Muskaan: “The baker and trainees of Muskaan Bakery had a wonderful experience working with the chef from Hotel Hilton. They learnt to bake a variety of products like soft-baked chocolate cookies, crunch oatmeal cookies, choco-chip cookies, focaccia and doughnuts. Apart from the actual baking, the visiting team also shared with our chefs some tips on presentation. We are now making Crunchy Oatmeal cookies, Focaccia and Doughnuts regularly. Focaccia, particularly, sells like hot cakes at our sales counter helping Muskaan to reach out to various customers in and around Vasant Kunj.”

• The NIIT Foundation approached Youthreach to train and provide employment to underprivileged youth in the retail and IT sector. Young people from the Salaam Baalak trust and Children of the World have enrolled for this programme. Fifteen youth from the Shanti Devi Charitable Trust, Mobile Crèches, Children of the World and Manzil have enrolled for this programme.

Alka Parmar, Children of the World: “Children of the World are grateful to Youthreach for giving an opportunity to the youth of the Manglapuri community to do vocational courses like Hardware and Networking and Service Industry (SIC). These youth are from the marginalised section of the community. But they now have the confidence to use the knowledge gained from these courses, and find a job in these sectors to support their families.”

• Youthreach solicited help from eminent make-up artist Vidya Tikari to employ and enhance the skills of interested girls from the Divya Chaya Trust, Navjyoti India Foundation and Shine Foundation. She has not only trained the girls but also employed them post their training.
• HR Consultant Anubhuti Mittal, who specialises in placing the disabled, helped find jobs for three boys from the NGO, Akshay Pratisthan, at Anand Niketan Club to work at the fast food counter.
• Café Coffee Day (CCD) approached Youthreach as they were looking at providing employment to boys and girls who were minimum 18 years of age at their outlets in Delhi and NCR. Three boys from Salaam Balak Trust were selected for employment post the field visits by CCD representatives to two NGOs.
• Taj Mansingh Hotel trained 25 boys and girls in housekeeping, laundry, kitchen, refrigeration and maintenance with the objective to orient these young people in the hotel industry. Eight youth were selected for training at the hotel.
• Youthreach collaborated with ILSC Education Group to provide training opportunities for girls under their Learn to Earn programme. Learn to Earn is a non-profit programme established by the ILSC-New Delhi, to provide free English education and job training to young underprivileged girls in order to enhance the girls’ financial awareness and soft-skills. 10 girls from Salaam Balaak trust enrolled for this training and have greatly benefited from the same.