Reskilling for Displaced Migrant Workers

The COVID19 pandemic has severely hit every section of society in terms of both health and financials. But most badly hit, in India, are the 40 million migrant workers who have been forced to return back home, without any certainty of being able to join back the workforce in the near future. This reverse migration has opened up doors for promoting small and micro businesses in sectors like Agriculture, Beauty & Wellness, Apparel, Food Processing, FMCG, and Logistics. Keeping this in mind, Orion is providing reskilling and upskilling training programs to this segment of populations by helping them get placed in local jobs. In addition, through creating market linkages like Self-Help Groups, access to government schemes like National Rural Livelihood Mission and Mudra loans, it is working on SDG1- No Poverty and SDG8- Decent Work & Economic Growth. 

In India, close to 1.5 million workers enter the job market every year. Apart from the challenge of there being fewer jobs than workers, most of these jobs are concentrated only in some of the more commercialized and industrialized states of Maharashtra, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telengana, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. This creates the monstrous problem of labor migration leading to more unemployment. Although, the unemployment rate is on the decline, from 23.5% in April-May 2020 to 17.5% in June 2020, that by no means has helped reduce poverty riding on this current wave of reverse migration. But it can easily be said that this problem has not risen overnight. It is the outcome of an ever-increasing gap in the demand and supply of skilled workforce in the country. The Skill India Mission's target of skilling 400 million youth by 2022, shows a very grim picture and looks like an almost impossible task now given the current economic downfall. Thus, the need to upskill has never been more important before. 

Orion aims to-

• Reskill/Upskill migrant worker basis identified foundation skill
• Identify wage employment opportunities for placement of beneficiaries
• Promote entrepreneurship through skill training program
• Identify market linkages for end beneficiaries Provide mentoring and handholding post training

These will be done through 

• Research-based skill mapping of beneficiaries
• Identification & Mobilization of Beneficiaries
• Setting up of Infrastructure (Physical centres and e-learning platform)
• Community Rapport Building through Rozgar Melas, Awareness Camps
• Training Delivery on Skills and Entrepreneurship Development (includes physical practical classes, online theory classes, industry exposure, industry expert-led lecture sessions and mentoring sessions)
• Partnership Building for Market Linkages (NRLM, SHG’s, Mudra Loans, NBFC’s etc.)
• Partnership Building with local industries for wage employment
• Assessment & Certification of beneficiaries
• Placement Drives (for wage employment) Post-training handholding and monitoring through field visits and monthly calls

The program gains to benefit the migrant worker population in India, who are currently faced with an uncertain future and are being driven to extreme measures including self-inflicted deaths. 

The program aims to impact their lives in the following ways-

• Beneficiaries will gain from reskilling/upskilling training
• At least 60% beneficiaries will be placed in wage employment post training
• At least 30% beneficiaries will be supported for self-employment Increase in beneficiary household income by at least 30%
• Create jobs in the long run through setting up new businesses
  
• Empower wage employees to become ambassadors for reskilling and upskilling Encourage saving and investment to improve financial security

Orion's program are designed in a way that caters to the following needs-

1. Identification of most aspirational districts for project implementation ensuring alignment with priority areas for most backward sections
2. Need assessment to ensure effective program delivery
3. Tailor-made courses as per need assessment findings
4. Multi-stakeholder engagement involving local community and government representatives to ensure a magnified effect in terms of enrolment and long-term engagement. 

5. Combination of tech-based and in-person training modules to enhance learning

Current number of beneficiaries served- 450,000+

Beneficiaries to be served in one years- 650,000+

Beneficiaries to be served in next 5 years- 1,500,000+

Orion aims to create diverse employment opportunities by imparting skill training to close to 2 million youth by 2025. 

The major challenge in achieving the goals is unavailability of enough funds (both private and government aided) to encompass every beneficiary who needs skill training

Niladri Banerjee- Project Head; has over 15 years of experience in Management and Business development. 

Ritashree Mazumdar- Digital Training Head; 12+ years of experience in Trainings and Curriculum Design & Placements

Dipanjana B- Assistant General Manager; 10+ years of experience in Training, Curriculum Design, Business Development and Organization Development. 

Tarak Roy- Project Implementation Head; 16 years of experience in Sales, Business Development, Channel sales, Promotions and Profit 

Kaushik Ranjan Bose- Finance Head; 6+ years of experience in Accounts and Finance Handling for multiple corporate and societies.

1. Scale of operations- presence in 29 states of India

2. Multi-stakeholder partnerships with governments, corporate, and other CSO's

3. Market Credibility- Largest Training Partner of National Skill Development Corporation

Due to the current COVID crisis, our funding-based programs have almost come to a standstill. On the other hand, the need to impart skill training to more and more beneficiaries have increased manifold. We need to reach maximum beneficiaries in the shortest possible time. This requires more resources and money. 

MIT Faculty or initiatives

International donor agencies for livelihood enhancement

Orion Educational Society is a front runner in providing skill-based training to make well paying jobs more accessible for the young workers entering the workforce. The GM Proze on Good Jobs and Inclusive Entrepreneurship will help the beneficiaries to start up their own businesses and create more jobs in the long run.