Employment Opportunities for Young People
YuWaah is committed to strengthening pathways to employment by enhancing economic opportunities for young people
India is home to 371 million young people aged 15-29, the largest youth population in the world. Despite this, limited job awareness, gender disparities, and evolving skill demands make it challenging for them to enter and thrive in the workforce.
YuWaah is committed to strengthening pathways to employment by enhancing economic opportunities for young people through two key approaches:
- Employment (Jobs, Apprenticeship & Internship) – Strengthening employment awareness, readiness and employment linkages.
- Entrepreneurship – Supporting young entrepreneurs with self-paced curriculum, mentorship, financial access, and market linkages.
By leveraging multi-stakeholder partnerships, policy advocacy, and digital solutions, YuWaah aims to bridge gaps in both employment and entrepreneurship to empower 100 million young people by 2030.
Strengthening Employment Opportunities
Young jobseekers often lack access to job awareness, resources & information, and employment support. To bridge these gaps, YuWaah is implementing several initiatives:
Job Awareness Sessions
Conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoLE) and Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), these sessions cover a broad spectrum of topics tailored to the needs of the participants. From discussions on in-demand job roles to networking strategies, each session is crafted to empower job seekers with the information and skills necessary to navigate their career paths effectively.
U-report flows for
Employment Awareness
Leveraging U-Report, UNICEF’s digital youth engagement platform, YuWaah has launched multiple employment awareness flows to inform young people about government apprenticeship schemes, the National Career Service, and various job opportunities.
Apprenticeship Awareness
YuWaah convened a unique ‘Apprenticeship working group’ of 16 key representatives including young people to understand the existing challenges in the apprenticeship ecosystem and recommend a way forward in 2022. The group put together a policy recommendation document which was jointly released early in 2023. The policy document shares recommendation for increasing awareness, reviewing stipends at regular intervals, introducing degree-embedded apprenticeship program among others. In partnership with UNDP, MSDE, NSDC and YuWaah, a month-long digital apprenticeship campaign was launched. This was aimed to scaling up apprenticeship opportunities by bridging critical information gaps on both the demand and supply sides.
Skill Innovation and Development
In partnership with the International Labour Organization (ILO), YuWaah launched the Skill Innovation Challenge to identify and support groundbreaking solutions that enhance informal apprenticeships through digital transformation. Four winners were selected, each receiving USD 20,000 in financial support, along with technical guidance and global visibility for their innovations in skills development.
Step Up – ‘Bano Job Ready’ Program
This training program designed to support young jobseekers by making job opportunities more accessible and ensuring they apply for relevant roles. It equips them with essential skills such as resume building, interview preparation, job application processes, and identifying genuine versus fake job opportunities, ultimately enhancing their job readiness and easing their transition into employment. Through Training of Trainers (ToT), the initiative has connected over 1 million young people to jobs by 2024.
Fostering Mass Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is a powerful driver of economic growth, yet many young people face barriers such as limited mentorship, financial access, and weak market linkages. YuWaah is tackling these challenges through:
Supporting Government-Led Initiatives:
The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) launched the Lakhpati Didi scheme to empower women, particularly from marginalized communities, by promoting self-employment and entrepreneurship. The initiative aims to help women achieve financial independence through financial literacy, skills training, and access to microloans.
MoRD follows a subsector approach, aiming to create one million livelihoods, each generating an annual income of ₹1 lakh (~$1,200), in key sectors like bamboo, honey, moringa, spices, fisheries, and medicinal plants. Aligning with YuWaah’s priorities, value-chain-based models drive its youth entrepreneurship efforts:
- Partnered with MoRD as a Knowledge Partner for the National Subsector Consultation on Moringa, facilitating expert discussions on best practices and opportunities.
- Piloting an end-to-end entrepreneurship model in the Honey Value Chain (Jharkhand & Odisha) with a buyback model ensuring market access.
- Exploring similar value-chain models in floriculture and moringa.
Creating youth entrepreneurs in the aspirational districts:
Through its partnership with the Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust (BYST), YuWaah aims to enable over 1,500 entrepreneurs to secure their first business loan, train and mobilize 2,000 mentors, and leverage $1.9 million in funding through strategic partnerships.
Encouraging Innovation-Led Entrepreneurship:
- UPSHIFT: Empowering School-Age Innovators – A school innovation program equipping students (ages 10-15) with design thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills. Delivered through UNISOLVE, UPSHIFT has already reached 300,000+ students and aims to expand nationwide to impact 1 million youth.
- ImaGen Ventures: Supporting Young Innovators – A college-level entrepreneurship initiative fostering problem-solving and business acumen among young people (ages 16-24). Initially piloted in Telangana, the program has engaged 12,000+ students from 500+ colleges and will expand to additional states in 2025.
Youth Hub: A One-Stop Platform for Young People
YouthHub is a digital aggregator platform co-created by YuWaah at UNICEF, PwC India, Capgemini, and Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), the platform functions as a digital ecosystem, connecting young people to curated jobs, skills, and volunteering opportunities. and enable access especially for girls and youth from marginalised backgrounds.
With a focus on accessibility and impact, YouthHub provides a seamless experience for job seekers, learners, and changemakers across India, including those in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities with gray and blue-collar jobs.
With AI-powered job matching, it provides personalized recommendations based on skills and interests, along with diverse job listings for both freshers and professionals. The platform also offers volunteering opportunities to help young people gain experience while contributing to their communities and provides free skilling and training courses to build both technical and soft skills. Available in nine languages, YouthHub is designed to be inclusive and impactful for young talent nationwide
Launch of YouthHub app by Ayushmann Khuranna
#SakshamNaariKaSafar
YuWaah organized a national consultation on “Enhancing participation of young women in the labor force” launching a nation-wide communication campaign #SakshamNaariKaSafar for amplifying stories and aspirations of young women. This consultation also marked the launch of report on “Factors influencing young women’s participation in the labour force and non-traditional jobs”.
Strengthening Youth-Centric Platforms with Government Partners
YuWaah partnered with Ministry of Labour & Employment (MoLE) to survey youth perceptions of the National Career Service (NCS) portal, with BCG supporting the analysis. Insights from the report informed a capacity-building plan, where YuWaah continues to support the Ministry through partners.
To enhance NITI Aayog’s Women’s Entrepreneurship Platform, YuWaah conducted User Acceptance Testing, leading to UI/UX improvements for better accessibility.
YuWaah also collaborates with policymakers to strengthen employment ecosystems by:
- Contributing to government-led task forces on workforce participation and emerging job trends.
- Supporting research, campaigns, and serving as a knowledge and technical partner.
- Driving thought leadership and integrating initiatives into government platforms for scalability and sustainability.