AVPN Constellations highlights the ways in which AVPN members are ‘addressing the complex problems of our times with stellar interconnected solutions, leveraging the power of networks for greater impact’. In addition to our coverage of the AVPN Virtual Conference 2020, Alliance magazine is taking a look at each of the five winners in turn. Today:
Future Right Skills Network
AVPN Members: Accenture Solutions Private Ltd, Cisco Systems India Private Ltd, Quest Alliance
Estimated total financial contribution: $2.5 million USD
Country of activity: India
Corresponding SDG: 4 – quality education; 5 – gender equality; 8 – decent work and economic growth
Accenture, Cisco and Quest Alliance joined up to reach 1.5 million youth across India and equip them with skills for the digital economy. These organisations have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Directorate General of Training within the Ministry of Skills Development and Entrepreneurship in order to offer a digital skilling program to all students enrolled in industrial training institutes via the Indian government’s Bharat Skills portal.
Each organisation had already been working in different ways around the ‘industrial training ecosystem’ in India for four years. Accenture already has a program called Skills to Succeed, which has skilled more than 690,000 youth, rural women and persons with disabilities in India. Cisco’s CSR focus is to empower social change agents with technology and expertise with a goal to accelerate global problem solving to benefit not only people but the planet. Quest Alliance works to transform learning through education technology, capacity building, and collaboration to build on skills for both learners and facilitators.
This is the first example in India of a consortium of private companies, a non-profit entity and the Government of India coming together to deliver employability and digital literacy skills through in-classroom sessions, a mobile app and desktop self-learning content with a potential to reach this high a number of youth across India.
MoUs have also been signed with the governments of Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Bihar and Assam to roll out a comprehensive blended learning program, covering over 100,000 students from 227 separate training institutes. Training modules include both online self-learning, as well as in-classroom training.
In-classroom will deliver more than 240 hours of training to impart skills for digital literacy and fluency; workplace readiness, including creative problem-solving and use of data to in decision making; and career management skills, including the cultivation of a growth mindset and the ability to identify and plan career journeys. The online module is for mobile phones for self-learning.
This initiative formally began in 2019, and will continue until 2021 at least with the possibility of extending the same with more members joining the consortium. Discussions are underway with other state governments to replicate the model. Capacity building and training of trainers and principals is a core part of the engagement to ensure that each ITI is able to navigate and position themselves better for the future.
Read about the other winners:
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