Government Partners
Learn about YuWaah's collaborative efforts with the Government of India
Collaborative Efforts with the Government of India
Over the past 75 years, UNICEF India has established a strong history of collaboration with the Government of India. Since its inception in 2019, YuWaah (Generation Unlimited in India), incubated by UNICEF, has been working closely with the government.
Through partnerships with the Ministry of Women and Child Development, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, the Ministry of Skills Development and Entrepreneurship, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Ministry of Labour and employment and the Ministry of Rural Development, among others, we are collectively addressing the challenges that young people in India face in the areas of learning, skilling, employment, and entrepreneurship. This collaborative effort falls under the framework of the Government of India-UNICEF Country Programme Document 2023-2027.
“YuWaah-the Generation Unlimited Partnership will go a long way in empowering our youth to acquire skills to enhance their creativity and potential to build the New India of the 21st century. I am sure that this partnership will make our youth the harbingers of social change. Best wishes for all success of the YuWaah- Generation Unlimited partnership."
"The government is determined to lead in making YuWaah a transformational alliance that brings a national step change in preparing young people for the transition from education to 21st-century work. Any country’s greatest asset is the energy, ideas and vision of its young people. As young people build their own futures, they’ll build India’s future. Investing in them is the best investment India can make."
Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports
In August 2020, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and YuWaah UNICEF signed a Statement of Intent to cement their partnership towards furthering the leadership potential of India’s youth.
YuWaah has collaboratively worked on multiple campaigns, served as knowledge partners on youth centrality, and rolled out tools for work readiness with the NSS and NYKS cohorts. Major successes of the partnership include the Young Warrior campaign (May 2023-October 2023) and youth-led COVID action engagement. Through its efforts, YuWaah has supported 4.4 million young Indians through capacity building, verified resources and information, and psychosocial support to take 7.6 Million actions that safeguarded themselves, their families, and communities against the pandemic.
YuWaah has also supported civic engagement and nation-building activities of volunteers at the state level. Additionally, YuWaah served as a knowledge partner, along with other UN agencies in finalising the thematics and scope of work for Y20, and has contributed to the white papers on the future of work, and youth centrality in governance.
YuWaah continues to engage with the NSS and NYKS youth volunteers through the rollout of Passport2Earning, a tool focused on upskilling youth to be work-ready, and TrustCircle, an Al-empowered platform for preventive mental well-being that is currently being piloted in Maharashtra.
The Ministry of Labour and Employment
UNICEF and the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MOLE) entered a formal partnership on 17th June 2021, for a period of 3 years, by signing a Statement of Intent committing to jointly enable skilling, learning and employment opportunities for young people. Over the past 2 years, the partnership has resulted in numerous initiatives to support young people’s career aspirations. Insightful career awareness sessions are organised on a weekly basis to introduce jobseekers to the various career pathways available and strengthening of the National Career Service (NCS) portal is one of the core areas of focus.
MOLE champions youth engagement through surveys and discussions, placing youth aspirations at the center of their work. As a part of the commitment, they are chalking out a joint action plan to strengthen the NCS portal. The partnership aims to boost women’s participation in the labor force by launching a national-level working group and other initiatives with shared goals.
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
YuWaah and UNICEF have partnered with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to create meaningful ways for young people to take deliberate and mindful actions for the environment. YuWaah’s Youth Hub Platform was adapted as the Meri LiFE portal and application, launched by Hon’ble Minister, Shri Bhupender Yadav in May 2023 towards catalysing pro-planet actions across Government ministries and citizens pan-India.
In the lead up to World Environment Day 2023, Meri LIFE witnessed an incredible active engagement from over 72 Ministries, reporting participation from 24 million+ participants through more than 15 lakh on ground events and 110,000 mobile app downloads. UNICEF and YuWaah continue to support the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change with technical guidance and programmatic support on the Meri LIFE platform including understanding the types of environmental actions they can continue to drive, enhanced programme delivery models, and methods for reporting results effectively.
Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and UNICEF YuWaah signed the Statement of Intent in March 2023, within the umbrella of the approved Government of India-UNICEF Country Programme Document 2023-2027. With the intention to empower India’s young people, connect them to aspirational work and engage them as active changemakers. This collaboration will leverage both parties’ existing mainstreamed initiatives at the national and state levels to co-create and implement solutions at scale, addressing employment, skilling, and civic participation challenges for Indian youth. Special attention will be given to vulnerable populations, including migrant youth and those leaving care institutions.
Ministry of Education
In December 2022, YuWaah led a consultation hosted by the Ministry of Education on strengthening institutional career guidance in schools. Following the consultation, the Ministry of Education, in collaboration with UNICEF (YuWaah and Education), partnered with Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to develop a career counselling model. This model aims to hire approximately 13,000 career counsellors at the block level across India to provide career guidance and support to students in higher secondary grades, thereby enhancing access to career guidance.
Ministry of Women and Child Development
Recognizing the importance of improving livelihood outcomes and options for girls in India, especially at the district and village level, the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD), Government of India, and UNICEF (YuWaah) have collaborated on strategic advocacy initiatives in 2022: International Women’s Day and International Day of the Girl Child. The partnerships were aimed at increasing adolescent girls’ and young women’s access to 21st-century skills and non-traditional livelihoods.
Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)
YuWaah in collaboration with CBSE and Udhyam Learning Foundation launched a pilot on 21st century skills in 100 CBSE schools. It followed a cascaded model of training and engaged 16,000 students who spent 1 hour of classroom & 3-4 hours self-learning time on funDoo (Young Warrior NXT chatbot). The students were introduced to essential life skills such as job readiness, communication, problem solving etc. in classrooms, through the five week-long interventions.
Life skills encompass a broad range of competencies for the 21st century that go beyond academic or technical subjects, focusing on personal, social, and emotional development. The goal was to empower young people to become self-reliant, adaptable, and capable of making informed decisions in school, work and life.