MoTA and Facebook to skill 5000 tribal youth through digital skills

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) and Facebook partnership program was recently launched by the Union Minister of Tribal Affairs Shri Arjun Munda, through a webinar.*

The Going Online As Leaders (GOAL) programme is designed to provide mentorship to tribal youth through digital mode. The digitally enabled program envisages to act as a catalyst to explore hidden talents of the tribal youth, which will help in their personal development as well as contribute to all-round upliftment of their society.

Announcing the program, Shri Arjun Munda said that the Digital literacy has gained importance in view of challenges posed by Covid pandemic. He said that MoTA’s partnership with Facebook through GOAL programme has come at the right time to provide a platform to tribal youth and women to move ahead in life. He expressed his confidence that digital skilling and technology will integrate them into the mainstream.

Highlights of GOAL program from Ministry of Tribal Affairs in partnership with Facebook for imparting digital skills to 5000 tribal youth

The program intends to upskill and empower 5,000 tribal youths in the current phase to harness the full potential of digital platforms and tools to learn new ways of doing business, explore and connect with domestic and international markets as is the vision of the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.
The program has been designed with a long term vision to develop the potential of tribal youth and women to help them acquire skills and knowledge through mentorship in various sectors including horticulture, food processing, bee keeping, tribal art and culture, medicinal herbs, entrepreneurship among others.
Starting with 5000, the program can be extended to cover any number of tribal persons who show keen interest in being mentored to achieve their goals.

GOAL Program will develop Tribal Entrepreneurship and connect Tribal Youth to Domestic and International Markets through Digital Platforms

Smt Renuka Singh Saruta said that the intent and content of GOAL program is unique and influential. This will go a long way in creating an environment for empowerment of tribal women by connecting them with digital world and use digital platforms to groom their talents. She hoped that the GOAL program will be successful in making fruitful impact towards enabling the ST youth to become financially independent.

Shri Deepak Khandekar said that the GOAL programme demonstrates affirmative action which will go a long way to reduce the gap between tribal and non-tribal youth and will enlist participation of tribal youth in nation building.

Ms. Ankhi Das, Director, Public Policy, Facebook – (India, South & Central Asia) said that the current global pandemic is the most severe health and humanitarian crisis that we have seen. “The Ministry of Tribal affairs is dedicated to enhancing the preservation of the tribal culture of India and enhancing the competitiveness of our tribal communities. At this juncture, we are expanding our collaboration with the Ministry to build more entrepreneurial capacity of our tribal youth through phase 2 of our GOAL program by creating a learning and training platform that will connect 5000 tribal learners with experienced mentors. We anticipate the program will ignite several tribal enterprises which will be built by the program’s alumni.”

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How the GOAL program from Ministry of Tribal Affairs in partnership with Facebook works

In this program, 5000 scheduled tribe youth (to be called as ‘Mentees’) will get an excellent opportunity to get training by experts from different disciplines and fields (to be called as ‘Mentors’). There will be 1 mentor for 2 mentees. The program aims to enable Scheduled Tribe (ST) youth in remote areas to use digital platforms for sharing their aspirations, dreams and talent with their mentors.

GOAL (Going Online As Leaders), Joint initiative of Facebook India with Ministry of Tribal affairs
5,000 young tribal entrepreneurs, professionals, artisans and artists will be trained on digital skills under digital entrepreneurship program
Aspiring candidates invited to apply at online portal “goal.tribal.gov.in”
Application will be open from May 4, 2020 till midnight of July 3, 2020.
Leaders from the industry and academia invited to register as mentors on “goal.tribal.gov.in”

The Facebook had on its own run the project on pilot basis from February 2019 to October 2019 in 5 states with 100 mentees and 25 mentors; which received enthusiastic response. Based on its success, Facebook approached MoTA for a joint initiative under affirmative action and help Facebook in selection of mentees, design curriculum and various activities under the program.

How to apply for GOAL program as a mentee or a mentor and selection process

The Mentees and Mentors have to register on portal (goal.tribal.gov.in), which will be open for 2 months from May 4, 2020 to July 3. 2020. Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has been requested to associate CSCs (Common Service Centres) in facilitating ST youth who do not have smartphone, for registration with Portal.

The mentees and mentors will be selected based on their inputs in such a way that it represents tribal youth from varied professions and has representation from urban and rural area across India.
The IT based system is designed to match mentors and mentees so that they are from similar profession and preferably speak same language.
The selected mentees will remain engaged in the program for nine months or 36 weeks comprising of 28 weeks of mentorship followed by eight weeks of internship.
The program will focus on three core areas – Digital Literacy, Life Skills and Leadership and Entrepreneurship, and on sectors such as Agriculture, Art & Culture, Handicrafts & Textiles, Health, Nutrition, among others.
At least 250 Fellows who are getting scholarship from Ministry of Tribal Affairs under National Scholarship and Fellowship Scheme and are part of Tribal Talent Pool will also be mentored through the program.
All the selected mentees will be provided with smartphones and Internet access (for one year) by Facebook along with exposure to various external forums that will give opportunity to the participants to showcase their entrepreneurial skills and leadership abilities.

The program will also create awareness amongst tribal beneficiaries about various schemes initiated by Central and State Governments for welfare of STs as well as their fundamental duties. Efforts will be made to integrate the program with other government schemes such as Mudra Yojana, Kaushal Vikas Yojana, Jan Dhan Yojana, Skill India, Start Up India, Stand Up India, among others. This will enable participants to leverage opportunities provided under these government schemes.

*Source: PIB, Ministry of Tribal Affairs