ETASHA Society

New Delhi, Delhi, 110048 India

Mission Statement

“To Provide Training and Mentoring to resource-poor communities for Sustainable Employment and Income Generation”

About This Cause

ETASHA Society, a not-for-profit organization, has been working since 2006 to skill resource poor, underserved communities for sustained employment and income generation. We work with whole communities, with a special focus on youth, adolescents and women, to empower them with the skills, confidence and mindset required for modern-day work environments. We envision a future where every Indian is self-reliant, has self-worth and leads a dignified and productive life. ETASHA’s Interventions and Impact We implement projects relevant for employment and income-generation, and, as of 31.03.2023 we have impacted over 2.83 lakh people directly, including deep engagement with close to 59 thousand people. This covered training of over 16 thousand youth, over 40 thousand adolescents and 800 adult women including 377 women who were trained for entrepreneurship, 222 of whom set up self-owned enterprises. Our mission is fulfilled by a team of over 100 team members operating from 10 centres and 15 schools through the following interventions: 3 kinds of Programs for Youth, 3 Programs for Adult Women, 6 Programs for Adolescents and Multiple types of Programs for the Community. Details follow: Programs for Youth Several programs are focused on young adults, who are in the age bracket where thay can be legally employed (18+ year old) and are at least 12th Standard pass. All the programs include Placement in Jobs in organised industry after completion of training. i. Vocational Training and Placement for Young Adults (VTP) – Job-linked short duration training programs for 12 passed girls and boys followed by placement into relevant jobs in growth-oriented Service Sector Industry. The programs include a strong component of Employability Skills. The Placement ratio has consistently been above 70% for those completing the programs, and currently ranges around 80%. ii. Employability Skills Development and Placement (ESDP): Designed for students of Government-supported Industrial Training Institutions (ITIs) and Polytechnics the program covers soft and core skills training followed by placement for youth enrolled in technical as well as non-technical trades. This program is also customised for trade-specific, ITI-specific as well as emloyer-specific requirements. iii. Grassroots Entrepreneurship Program(GEP): The program identifies youth with the right skills and an entrepreneurial mindset, imparts business knowledge, trains in enterprise management skills, helps develop a business plan and arranges some initial funding thus helping youth to set up their small-scale enterprises. The program also mentors and handholds the young entrepreneur towards sustainability of the enterprise. Programs for Adult Women 1. Women Entrepreneurs Program: This program is focused on helping 35 to 65 year old women from underprivileged communities become socially and financially self-reliant and generate income as individual or group entrepreneurs. It involves training, handholding and mentoring the women to become successful owners of sustainable enterprises. 2. Adult Literacy Program: The objective is to provide basic level of empowerment with the ability to sign their names, read sign boards, newspapers and keep simple house hold accounts. 3. SHG Formation: Through the formation of Self Help Groups we seek to promote another level of empowerment for women, ie inculcating the saving habit and experiencing the power of collective working as a support group for meeting urgent financial needs of group members. . Programs for Adolescents The overall objective of the ‘Adolescent Well Being & Success’ series of interventions is to guide and prepare adolescent girls and boys towards emotional, social and economic self reliance. The programs are designed for students of class 8 to class 12 and are typically conducted in collaboration with Government, NGO-run or Low-budget schools meant for children from underserved communities. The programs offered are: 1. Life Skills Development and Counselling (LSC): This program includes a series of Life Skills workshops for students of classes 8th to 12th supported by individual face to-face as well as on-line counselling through our Helpline by trained counsellors. 2. Scholastic Improvement Program (SIP) With a view to ensure children complete school education scholastic improvement programs in basic Reading-Readiness, English, Hindi and Maths are implemented in collaboration with school managements. 3. Basic Computer & Internet Usage Skills (IT) Starting from getting to know the keybaoard, students are taken through a gradual process of learning and practice on Microsoft Suite, and Internet processes like mailing, search, google docs and use of the Google Drive. 4. Confidence building of students through participation in Public Events and Competitions- Students are trained, groomed and prepared to participate in school assemblies, special day functions etc. to build their confidence in their skills and abilities, hence in themselves. 5. Career Guidance (CH) - Career Guidance is provided to high school students in the form of workshops in school, either as Face-to-face workshops or as App-based Workshops (in case of students being reasonably proficient in computer or mobile based typing skills). 6. Coaching for Scholarships - This is offered particularly for students who are good at studies, keen on pursuing higher studies and are considered by the school management as good candidates for the National Merit and Means Scholarship. Projects in Government schools frequently also include Infrastructure Development, in case basic infrastructure like Toilets, Drinking water and Computer Labs need renovation/ upgradation. Further, Teacher Training Programs in Participative Teaching methodologies, Spoken English and Computer & Internet usage, are also offered. Whole-community skill-development for employment & income generation projects - Community-focused projects including some or all of the above interventions are undertaken to change the approach and thinking of an entire village or slum community with respect to employment and careers for girls and boys. Other interventions include events, skill competitions, Digital. How did it evolve? 2007 - ETASHA’s first Career Development Centre was established in a low-income community in New Delhi. In the initial years it focused on program delivery only at its own centres 2009 - ETASHA Partnered with NGOs to expand its footprint in hard-to-reach communities in New Delhi. This partnership model allows ETASHA to leverage the community base of its partner NGOs 2009 - ETASHA Delivered employability skills training and placement programs at government-owned Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in NCR to address the gaps in the preparation of ITI students for work in industry 2015 - ETASHA Expanded its operations to Jaipur, Rajasthan where it began working at 8 ITIs; and with government approval, initiated a pilot to deliver employability skills training to ITI trainers. 2015 - ETASHA added a new program for the women in the communities to help them financially independent by training & empowering them to become entrepreneurs. 2016 - ETASHA expanded its work in to the rural location of Janauli a village near Palwal, where we established our center and worked with communities and schools taking all our interventions. Since then we worked in Palwal for 7 years and also working in Pataudi and near by villages 2020 - As covid hit the country forcing to shut down, we adopted technology and converted all our programs to be delivered digitally. As things became difficult, we also got into Covid Relief work distributed ration, medical kit etc but soon felt the need of Livelihood regeneration and connected many people from these communities to Mask making, sanitiser production and distributed these free in the communities. Currently we are working on a hybrid model and slowly resuming offline work. The Challenge It is estimated that over 75% of the new jobs to be created in India will be ‘skill-based’. However, only 20% of the Indian workforce possesses ‘marketable skills’. This problem is particularly acute for the large and growing population of underprivileged youth. AWARDS AND RECOGNITION ‘Most Promising Program’ for ‘Women Entrepreneurship Program’ awarded by Cause Because in June 2018. ‘Champion Level – GuideStar India Platinum Certificate for Transparency and Public Accountability’ valid till Nov 2023 NGO Leadership Awarded by World CSR Day in Feb 2023 Top 30 most Trusted NGOs Awarded in 2023 by Indian Social Impact Awards Award for outstanding contribution to SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS Awarded by World CSR Day in Feb 2022 NITI Aayog’s recognition for Dr. Meenakshi Nayar, President of ETASHA Society amongst the top twelve ‘Women Transforming India’ in 2016. Recognition by Mr. & Mrs. Kumar Mangalam Birla among ‘25 NGOs doing commendable work’ in 2013-14. ‘Best Use of ICT’ by an NGO in South East Asia Award given by Digital Empowerment Foundation in 2012.

ETASHA Society
E48 Greater Kailash Enclave Part Ii
New Delhi, Delhi 110048
India
Phone +91 11 35000588, 35000589, 45508593
Unique Identifier AAATE2303G