Going Online as Leaders (GOAL) Programme (July)

Recently, Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Meta (formerly Facebook) have launched the second phase of the GOAL Programme (GOAL 2.0) . GOAL is a joint initiative of Facebook and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

Key Points

  • The GOAL programme is designed to provide mentorship to tribal youth through digital mode.
  • The program will focus on three core areas - Digital Literacy, Life Skills and Leadership and Entrepreneurship.
  • 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.
  • The programme 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.
  • The program aims to enable Scheduled Tribe (STs) youth in remote areas to use digital platforms for sharing their aspirations, dreams and talent with their mentors.
  • All the 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.
The program will also create awareness amongst

About the GOAL Programme

Going Online as Leaders (GOAL) was launched as a pilot project in May 2020 and it was completed by December 2021. It aimed at digital empowerment of tribal youth and women through the concept of mentor and mentee.

The programme is fully funded by Meta (Facebook India) .

Trainings were provided for three pillars:

  • Communication & Life Skills
  • Enabling Digital Presence
  • Leadership & Entrepreneurship

Objective

  • The program aims to upskill and digitally enable tribal youth via Facebook live sessions and Meta Business Coach, a digital learning tool.
  • There will be special focus on more than 10 lakh members of 50000 Vandhan Self Help Groups.
  • They will be digitally trained with regard to market demand, packaging, branding and marketing of their products.
  • The GOAL 2 will enable maximum participation and percolation of benefits of the training within the tribal youth with provision of Chatbot, need based on line sessions from Industry experts in different fields as per requirements from the mentees.

Agencies Involved

  • The Ministry of Tribal Affairs in coordination with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, will be providing 6 digital classes in each of the 175 Eklavya Midel Residential School selected under the program.
  • The project is being implemented by The Education and Research Network, which is an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeITY) .

Other Initiatives for Skill Development

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY)

  • Under the Skill India Mission, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) is implementing the scheme.
  • Under PMKVY 3.0, focus has also been given for skilling on digital technology and Industry 4.0.
  • Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) have also created job roles on new and emerging digital technologies and industry 4.0 skills like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT)

eSkill India Portal

  • National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) , under the aegis of the MSDE has initiated online skilling through eSkill India portal.
  • The platform offers learning opportunities on emerging technologies like cybersecurity, blockchain, artificial intelligence and machine learning, predictive modelling, statistical business analytics cloud and Internet of Things along with professional skills like design thinking, project management and digital marketing.

Samagra Shiksha

  • Under the Vocational Education component of Samagra Shiksha, National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) compliant vocational courses are offered to the school students including tribal Students from class 9th to 12th in the schools covered under the scheme.
  • It consists of Communication Skills, Self-Management Skills, Information and Communication Technology Skills, Entrepreneurship Skills and Green Skills.

Examrace Team at Dec 1, 2022