Bridging the Divide

The economy is expanding rapidly, however only around 30 percent of the young adults are proficient on computers, whereas the figure is lower for women. Moreover, although more youth are pursuing higher education after secondary, a majority are having a difficult time gaining employable abilities. Each year, around eight million youths in India are enrolled in short-term work education programs, these programs create jobs for about three percent of the participants.

As the population of the world is shifting, with nations becoming more urban, and rural communities dependent on remittances, some non-profits have shifted their focus away not on rural livelihoods but aiding urban transplants as well as their ties to their home. This is why, even though "rural" is baked into the name of the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP)--an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network, the agency has witnessed a demand for new services in India as well as elsewhere in the world where youth are moving into cities to jobs. In addition to the skills needed for work they seek help in to find work and ability to adjust to urban life.

They first told us that to get to get a job, you have to earn an education. So , we put in money as we studied and we earned these degrees. We have these certificates of degree, but they tell us that 'Your education isn't sufficient. If you're not proficient in computers, then you're unemployed.'"

This exchange led to the beginning of the program for training, named Yuva Junction ("yuva" is "youth" in Hindi) that has offered the necessary job and computer skills -- as well as life skills training to more than 37,000 youngsters in the past 10 years. The program draws on AKRSP's expertise and track record of providing rural services through new partnerships that assist youngsters transition into life in urban areas. In the course of time this has led to changes in the program of the agency In the beginning, jobs training for young people comprised approximately 10 percent of the activities with rural communities however, the percentage part of its pie quadrupled.