NGO Participation
Change Initiatives
About Us
Change Initiatives is a Kolkata-based non-government organisation working in the areas of education, livelihoods and environment. We work mainly among women, children and the youth.
Our work has a strong focus on ICTs, and we work on proven solutions to development problems — both of which help us to quickly achieve the desired results.
Our collaborators include Unesco, EU, DFID, Governments of India and West Bengal, CapGemini, Nasscom, University of Manchester, Natural Resources Institute,UK and Radboud University of the Netherlands.
We are a Gender & ICT award winner at the World Summit of Information Society and have received Honorary Mention at Prix Ars Electronica.
Our Appeal
During an FGD in ward 65 in Kolkata, Warisha Salahuddin, a girl studying in class 12, said, “I want to crack the UPSC examination one day” during a discussion conducted by Impact360 with a group of 15 youths living in a slum in the Park Circus area of Kolkata. Her eyes glowed while expressing her dream. Ankit Shaw, another young boy from the same locality, was clueless about what he wanted to do and said, “I want to earn a decent living, but I don’t know how.” Another young girl, Pallavi Das, explained, “We slum-dwellers are lagging because we cannot articulate our thoughts or speak English well like the boys and girls from the privileged community do.” What Warisha, Ankit, and Pallavi said captures the aspirations of the children and youth living in the slums of Kolkata. However, slum youths studied in nearby government schools (many dropped out) are mostly underemployed or unemployed due to a lack of skills that are in demand in the job market. They all echoed they need career counselling, and well-being counselling to succeed in life.
Youths living in slums are socially vulnerable and find it challenging to seek career advice and counseling services. Young women need counseling services even more as they face larger discrimination. Both young men and women need career counseling, guidance, and access to counseling services for well-being. Youths are often more comfortable with digital technology, making online counseling a natural choice. They are accustomed to communicating through texts, video calls, and apps, which can make the counseling process more engaging and reliable. Digital platforms provide a level of anonymity and privacy that makes them more comfortable seeking help. Providing quality career counseling and psychological services at a lower cost is possible using digital platforms and other digital tools, including mobile phone-based counseling. The diagram below describes the flow of online counseling, including career counseling activities.
Economic constraints force many families to prioritize immediate survival over investing in their children’s education, perpetuating a cycle of poverty that they find difficult to come out of. As a result, youths living in slums find it difficult to get gainful employment opportunities, as most jobs require a certain degree of skills, and slum youths end up doing precarious jobs in the absence of a skillset. Career counselling in schools, as well as at the community level would give youths living slums of Kolkata studying the government schools would help them in identifying a vocation and strive to develop requisite skills that can help them gainful employment.
Target: Providing career counselling and other counselling services, including well-being counselling to 500 youths living in slums of Kolkata.
Outcome: 200 students will be able to identify vocations that can provide gainful employment.
Budget: INR 2,50,000
Contact Details
Jhumpa Ghosh
- Phone: 9831007306
- Email: changeinitiatives@gmail.com
Website Details
- Website Link: https://changeinitiatives.in/index.html
