Need:
The low income and below poverty line population constitutes a significant percentage of India’s total population. Youth with limited education and economically disadvantaged background cannot afford to invest in training that would help them develop technology skills, improve interpersonal skills and gain professional exposure, which the new global economy demands. This impacts their ability to jumpstart careers in various sectors, find jobs that pay well, establish viable self-employment ventures, and stay employed and productive in a changing economy.
About the Program:
The program primarily caters to youth between the age groups of 14-30 years from underserved communities with the primary objective of making them ‘digitally literate’ – enhancing their ability to use digital tools and devices in their day-to-day lives. As part of the IDI Program, PIF runs job-oriented Digital Sakshar trainings and Digital Academies.
In the Digital Sakshar project, apart from application software trainings, the youth are also introduced to various online platforms like banking, shopping and paying utility bills. The emphasis is on exposing them to basics of IT and instilling the confidence in them to implement what they have learnt.
The Digital Academies focus on providing software development training to underprivileged youth interested in making a career as developers. Through all the trainings, youth are encouraged to use IT as one of the sources to enhance their knowledge base. The program aims to channelize their energies for positive and productive purposes through basic IT and soft skills training, thereby making them more efficient and employable. Laptops are provided to the students for self-study and group study.