St. Anthony’s College, Shillong yesterday organised a seminar to raise awareness of the social development sector in the country in collaboration with SBI Youth for India.
Parij Borgohain (YFI 2017-18 Batch), an alumnus of SBI Youth for India, delivered a talk on how youth from Shillong have the drive and zeal to drive social development at the grassroots and can facilitate rural development by collaborating with communities at the grassroots. The seminar was attended by the professors, students, and aspirants of the social sector.
Speaking at the seminar, the Youth for India alumnus, Borgohain highlighted the social work that the youth today can explore in thematic areas such as Health, Rural Livelihood, Food Security, Environmental Protection, Education, Water, Technology, Women’s Empowerment, Self-Governance, Social Entrepreneurship, Traditional Craft and Alternate Energy. Some of these areas are aligned with India’s national priorities.
The seminar by SBI Youth for India exemplified that the urban-educated youth have the proper skill set and education to come up with unique solutions to challenging situations and foster sustainable, inclusive, and resilient growth at the grassroots level of the country. These will result in building capacity and empowering local communities to take ownership of development initiatives.
The SBI YFI, through its various youth-led interventions, has impacted over 150,000 lives in more than 250 villages across 20 states in the country over more than 13 years.
It is currently accepting applications for the 12th batch of YFI through https://youthforindia.org/register in its pursuit to place informed women and men to facilitate development planning at the village level and enable the linking of plans with available resources.
The social development sector in India faces several challenges in reaching out to rural communities while engaging youth in their development.
Some of the rural challenges include limited Infrastructure, language, and cultural barriers, limited resources, lack of awareness, resistance to change, and gender inequality, to name a few.
To address these challenges, social development organisations need to adopt innovative approaches, build partnerships with local organisations and community leaders, and work towards building trust with the community.
