Equip Vulnerable Youth with Skills for Brighter Futures!

The Problem

Adolescents growing up in informal settlements like Mumbai’s M/E Ward face deep-rooted challenges—poverty, limited access to quality education, gender-based discrimination, and lack of career pathways. These issues are magnified for those from families engaged in informal waste work, at risk of child labour or early marriage, or dealing with chronic illness and disability at home.

• 🧱 68% of Mumbai’s workforce is employed in the informal sector (NSSO PLFS 2022–23), comprising over 5 million daily wage workers in construction, sanitation, and services (BMC Labor Report 2023).
• 🏙️ 42% of Mumbai’s 2.2 crore residents live in slums. By 2030, this is expected to grow to 2.8 crores (Census 2011, BMC 2023, NFHS-5).
• 👥 35% of this population is youth, often working as gig workers without formal education or skill development.

The Goal - To build a generation of confident, self-reliant, and economically independent individuals who can shape their futures and uplift their communities.

The Solution

Apnalaya’s E3 Programme—Youth Education & Economic Empowerment—seeks to change this trajectory by equipping adolescents with:
✔ Life Skills
✔ Career & Employability Training
✔ Leadership Opportunities

• Adolescents aged 15–19 in Shivaji Nagar and Bainganwadi
• Parents and caregivers
• Community Educators aged 18–25 from the same communities.

Project Activities

1.    Life Skills Training – 56 hours/year covering SRHR, gender, mental health, and nutrition
   • Weekly group sessions
   • Counselling for at-risk youth

2.    Career Guidance & Employability Training – 50 hours of structured modules
   • Career planning, communication, and time management
   • Spoken English and digital literacy via self-guided learning

3.    Community Educator Development – 20 youth trained to facilitate sessions
   • Weekly mentoring, outreach, and tracking
   • Skill-building in facilitation, digital literacy, and leadership

4.    Learning Infrastructure – Community Learning Centres
   • Equipped with computers, internet, and mini-libraries
   • Satellite classrooms in safe and accessible spaces

5.    Parent Engagement – 1,000 parents reached annually
   • Quarterly meetings to build awareness and support
   • Encourage volunteering and school participation

6.    Community Leadership – Exposure visits, student-led activities, and civic engagement opportunities

Project Goal

To empower 500 adolescents and 20 Community Educators in Mumbai’s M/E Ward with life skills, career preparedness, and leadership capacities—paving the way for long-term economic and personal empowerment.

Your contribution builds their confidence, work readiness, and ability to participate meaningfully in the city’s economy—empowering youth and, through them, entire families and communities.

Alignment with the UN SDGs

Direct SDG Impact:
• SDG 4: Quality Education – Indicators 4.1.2, 4.3.1, 4.4.1

Indirect SDG Impact:
• SDG 5: Gender Equality – Indicators 5.1.1, 5.3.1
• SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth – Indicators 8.1.2, 8.3.1, 8.6.1