AKF develops youth skills to help rural communities respond to COVID-19
Aga Khan Foundation
India · 4 June 2020 · 2 min
AKRSP(I) Bihar / Sunil Pandey
In December 2019, 20-year-old Karishma completed a course at Yuva Junction, where she learned sewing skills to make women’s clothes. Now, she is sewing face masks for vulnerable families in her rural community in northern Bihar, India, and is an important part of the Aga Khan Development Network’s response to COVID-19.
Developing youth skills in rural India
Yuva Junction is a skills and entrepreneurship development centre in India that prepares rural youth for meaningful jobs in the changing economy. Yuva Junction is run by the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) in India and supported by Microsoft, Nokia, Quest Alliance, Axis Bank Foundation and the Government of Gujarat. Last year, their innovative training programmes were recognised as a promising solution for youth employment by the World Bank Group’s Solutions for Youth Employment Initiative.
Karishma rides her bicycle to the Yuva Junction center in order sew face masks for community members in need.
AKRSP(I) Bihar / Rajani Ranjan
An implementing partner of the Aga Khan Foundation, AKRSP has been working to support rural communities in India for decades. As the COVID-19 pandemic evolved and wearing face masks became a requirement, AKRSP knew the families they work with would have trouble finding masks.
At around the same time, Karishma called AKRSP to find out how to cope with the economic effects of COVID-19. Together, Karishma and AKRSP came up with a plan for Karishma to make face masks to meet the needs of her community. At first, she found it difficult to make the high-quality, reusable masks, but she quickly mastered the skill and now makes 70 to 80 masks a day. She is also helping other women in her community learn how to make masks to meet high demand for the low-cost masks.
Meeting current needs while dreaming of the future
By making the masks, Karishma is earning enough money to support her parents and three siblings during the pandemic. Her father is unable to work because of movement restrictions caused by COVID-19 and weather damage to crops, but Karishma’s new skill allows her family to buy essential supplies.
AKRSP is expecting the demand for masks to stay high, and is on target to reach one million masks created in the next few months. As Karishma works with AKRSP to meet that goal, she is also dreaming of her future. “I would like to establish my own enterprise,” she says.
A Yuva Junction course held prior to the COVID-19 lockdown, set up by the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme, helps youth to improve their skills and employability.
AKDN / Christopher Wilton-Steer
This text was adapted from an article published on the AKF USA website.
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