Generation Unlimited India (YuWaah!)
Unleashing the potential of young people in India
A large proportion of India’s young people are not in education, employment or training. But thanks to YuWaah – the Indian chapter of GenU – work is well under way to accelerate young people’s seamless transitions from learning to socio-economic empowerment.
Launched in 2019, YuWaah (GenU India) has benefited over 26 million young people to date – through opportunities for skills development and employment, career guidance, volunteering and active citizenship. Central to YuWaah’s efforts is the willingness and capacity to listen to and meaningfully engage with young people’s needs, ideas and aspirations.
India’s more than 350 million adolescents and youth (aged 10–24 years) makes up nearly one third of the total population. Each month, 1 million young people turn 18 years of age and look for economic opportunities and ways to make a difference. But millions – especially young women and young people with disabilities – remain excluded from education, skilling and employment. It’s thought that about 30 per cent of the youth population is not in education, employment or training.
YuWaah has three main aims, which are to:
- build pathways for 100 million young people to aspirational economic opportunities
- support 200 million young people to gain relevant skills for the future of work and life
- partner with 300 million young people as change-makers and create spaces to develop their leadership.
How it works
YuWaah initiatives include Passport to Earning, which was designed and is being piloted in partnership with India’s Central Board of Secondary Education. Another is a digital platform – developed with PwC and supported by Capgemini – where young people can gain equitable, increased and seamless access to skills development, economic and social impact opportunities.
YuWaah has strong partnerships with civil society organizations, the private sector and youth. It also works with government to integrate programmes into national systems for scale and sustainability. For instance, YuWaah worked with the National Career Service portal to provide its 10.5 million users with career guidance support.
The Young Warriors initiative engaged 4.4 million young people and partnered with 1,350 organizations in 2021 alone to address challenges related to the COVID-19 crisis. Through Young Warriors NXT, over 500,000 learners gained twenty-first century skills via a chatbot tool and more than 1 million learned skills using a sandbox of high- and low-tech solutions. Also, 26.3 million students were given access to a career guidance portal.
Having a Young People’s Action Team enables the meaningful participation of young people in YuWaah’s work. Here’s why such engagement is so important:
A catalytic multi-stakeholder partnership that aims to transform the lives of young people in India.
Together with a wider range of partners–including Central & State Governments, the private sector, industry associations, UN agencies, civil society, and young people, YuWaah! is empowering and connecting youth to socio-economic opportunities and engaging them as active changemakers. More than 26 million young people have already picked up skills to move more easily into productive jobs and livelihoods.
There is a lack of platforms for young people to raise their voice and concerns. Having grown up in an alternate care home, I represent their voices and make people aware of our challenges growing up. Through YuWaah, I want to be heard and acknowledged about the issues we have faced and continue to face. I want there to be change and policies to be reformed keeping in mind the needs of the underprivileged.
