In the rural villages of Birbhum, India, many young people see their future mapped out: agriculture or small, precarious jobs. Yet many of these young people have greater ambitions. The GYVE project, run by Planète Enfants & Développement and its local partner Tomorrow's Foundation, offers them the opportunity to acquire technical skills to support their families, earn more income and continue their studies if they so wish. Today, we're sharing some news about the project and the latest progress made.
Training for sustainable agriculture
A program dedicated to environmentally-friendly agriculture is offered to young people. Model farms have been set up in Birbhum to serve as practical training grounds for students after their theoretical studies. In this way, 82 young people have already had the opportunity to make several visits and work on subjects such as soil preparation, intercropping, choosing the plants best suited to the local climate, transferring seedlings to the soil, composting methods, alternating moistening and drying the soil, etc. Small revolutions for some families, and a lot of enthusiasm around these new practices.
Motivated young people
Véronique Jenn-Treyer, the association's Director, and Maya Verbist, our India/Nepal Director, went to meet the youngsters a few weeks ago.
“What impressed me most was the mobilization of the young people. Their smiles, their desires. They want to succeed at school, but they also want to learn concrete things for their daily lives. The girls express themselves more easily, and some are even starting to sell the products they've made as part of their training (jewelry, embroidery).“, confides Véronique.
"We can see that the villages offer few opportunities, but the young people want to change their lives. They're beginning to believe that they can have a better future thanks to the skills they're learning, such as telephone repair, sewing or climate-adapted agriculture..says Maya.
New modules, such as training in women's health and gender issues, have just been launched for young people. A new embroidery trainer has also joined the team to strengthen supervision.
"We roll out modules as we go along. If the training isn't of the highest quality, the skills won't enable young people to earn a living, and they won't derive any satisfaction from it.”Véronique insists.
"But if they find it interesting, they can in turn encourage other teenagers to take part.”concludes Maya.
We'll be back in a few weeks' time to follow the rest of our adventures. Objective: 2,000 young people trained by 2028.
