Youth empowered through key skill development initiatives by ACF’s Skill and Entrepreneurship Development Institute network across India
India CSR News Network
NEW DELHI: On the occasion of World Youth Skill Day, Ambuja Cement Foundation has announced its milestone accomplishment of empowering 25,000 youth across the country through 16 of its Skills and Entrepreneurship Development Institutes across India.
The placement success of youth who have undergone training at SEDI is close to 75% till date. Skills and Entrepreneurship Development Institute (SEDI) is a unique employment intervention initiative introduced by Ambuja Cement Foundation that focuses on enhancing employability of rural youth through intensive vocational courses.
Pearl Tiwari, Director, Ambuja Cement Foundation, said, “On the occasion of World Youth Day, it is important to acknowledge the spirit of entrepreneurship that is gaining precedence in not just metros, but also smaller towns across India. Through SEDI we aim to motivate youth, towards equipping themselves for both jobs and entrepreneurship opportunities, thus enabling employment generation and economic progress. We wholeheartedly believe in contributing the Governments Skilling India mission and look forward to many more such milestones going forward.”
SEDI endeavors to promote a sustainable livelihood by strengthening the earning capacity through provision of skill & knowledge in income generation activities. The initiative was established to address the needs of the community for productive employment and micro-enterprise with following objectives:
- To promote short term training courses based on employable skills for farm & non-farm employment.
- To promote gainful employment for rural youth to ensure stable livelihood through alternate employment/self-employment
- To bridge the gap of skills required in an economy by enabling an access to skill training opportunities
- To encourage the entrepreneurial spirit among local youth by way of hand holding & facilitating in setting up of an enterprise
- To promote holistic growth of the participants with life skills to support improved quality of life
Ambuja Cement Foundation has witnessed an overwhelming response from communities to improve their capacities and consequently raise quality of standard of living. With access to over 13 sectors that include masonry, plumbing, electricians, two–wheeler repair, computer hardware and networking the students have access to a vast curriculum to choose from.
Based on demand from location-specific industries as well as students, ACF has also introduced customized courses including nursing assistant, food & beverage services, industrial sewing machine operator, hosiery and retail management.
Currently SEDI is present in following locations: Kodinar, Darlaghat, Jaitaran, Anantpur Sahib, Roorkee, Dadri, Chirawa, Nagaur, Chhindwara, Chandrapur, Gandhinagar, Surat, Panvel, Bhatapara, Farakka, Sankrail, Ghaziabad and Nalagarh.
Last year Ambuja Cement Foundation signed a MoU with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), to train over one lakh people across 14 locations in the country to contribute to Skill India Mission.
Established in 1993, ACF is the social development arm of Ambuja Cements Ltd working exclusively with rural communities on issues related to water conservation and management, sustainable agriculture, health and sanitation, support for school education, awareness on prevention on HIV and AIDS, promotion of SHGs for socio-economic development of women and capacity building of local youth and farmers. ACF undertakes projects and schemes for promoting social and economic development for communities around the manufacturing locations of Ambuja Cement Ltd.
