The approach and framework described in the paper for scaled rural youth employment in India is a place-based approach to connect youth to work. This approach has been pioneered by the Global Opportunity Youth Network (GOYN) in India, and several countries across Africa and Latin America.
The paper has been written in close collaboration with Transform Rural India, who anchors GOYN in rural India, the Aspen Institute, who hosts GOYN globally. We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to both organisations for the time, expertise, deep learnings that helped shape this paper, with special thanks to Jamie McAuliffe, the Founding Director of the GOYN at the Aspen Forum for Community Solutions, Neeraj Ahuja, who leads the GOYN work at our anchor partner Transforming Rural India, Anish Kumar, the Co-Lead at Transform Rural India, as well as our colleagues at the Global Development Incubator, including Cyrielle Auffray, the Learning Lead for the GOYN, and Suvranil Mazumdar, the Climate Lead.
We would also like to express our thanks to the Ministry of Rural Development and the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Development Alternatives, Yuwaah, Syngenta Foundation, and the Agri- Entrepreneur Growth Foundation for joining early discussions around this paper. Last but not the least, we would like to thank all the organisations whose work in the youth employment space we have referenced and showcased as examples. It is only when all of this work comes together that we will be able to transform how young people participate in our economy and society.
