Empowering vulnerable youth to realise their inner potential by becoming their ‘Saarthi’ – guiding them on their life path. 

Project Saarthi is a career readiness program targeted towards youth who are under-equipped to foster their career paths that leads to them being able to live independently. Through this project, we intend to help them identify and secure career pathways in line with their interests and current job trends, along with developing crucial work skills and work ethics. 

During the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, a cluster of youth care-leavers (youth from the age of 18 and  above who are required to leave the care of shelter homes as per the JJ Act) in Kolhapur were facing a pressing need for an income source.

The slowdown of the economy rendered these youth jobless and unable to manage their living expenses. While the temporary relief through donations was available during the initial months, it had started dwindling and raised the requirement of a regular earning source for their sustenance. The youngsters who leave the shelter homes lack awareness and exposure to career guidance, finding employment and  work skills. As a result, they took up low-paying, odd jobs in the unorganized sector, which was one of the  worst affected sectors during this pandemic. 

Muskurahat Foundation initiated Project Saarthi with the  aim to equip these youngsters to find employment on an emergency basis and work with them in the  long term to identify and take steps towards building their choice of career. The long term vision of the  project has been to support the youngsters in equipping them with life skills and mental health support to be  able to uplift themselves from their current situation.  

Muskurahat’s team arrived in Kolhapur to conduct an initial training workshop to reaffirm their needs  and equip them with job readiness skills to implement on an urgent basis. The need was quickly  affirmed as the participants delved into the problems they are facing and the readiness to find  employment to solve their basic requirement of food and shelter. The day-long workshop was packed with identifying their existing skills and interests and matching it with the current availability of jobs in and around them. The participants were exposed to different avenues of finding jobs, preparing for  application, job query and interview preparation, etc. All tangible takeaways that would help the  participant to start their job search immediately and rationally. The need for on-ground training proved essential as the participants didn’t possess smartphones or reliable networks and to ensure their buy-in into the project. As we explored this segment, we realised the lack of NGO penetration in Kolhapur and  surrounding areas, a result of which is the lack of exposure for the children in shelter homes. These children anyway grow up with the absence of a family that takes care of their basic needs till the time they are able to earn their own living.  The requirement was urgent and for their survival, we took quick decisions to support them in the  interim to resolve their immediate requirements while keeping our focus on the long term that is to help them build quality lives for themselves.