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Taking the Economy to the People: A Place Based Approach to Connect Young India to Work

August 17, 2023   Global Opportunity Youth Network (GOYN) and Transform Rural India

Global Opportunity Youth Network (GOYN) is a multi-stakeholder partnership committed to catalysing place-based systems shifts in communities — cities and rural districts — around the world through the creation of sustainable economic opportunities for “Opportunity Youth,” (OY) aged 15-29 who are out of school, unemployed or underemployed. Created in 2018, GOYN’s current network comprises eleven communities in India, Africa and Latin America, which together represent over four million such young people. GOYN will be expanding to 15 new communities in India 2023-2024.

India is in a unique place with a young population and steady economic growth. However, young people in India – especially rural youth – are still struggling to find productive work. GOYN’s report, “Rural Youth at Work – A Place Based Approach to Connect Young India to Economic Opportunity,” outlines a ‘place-based’ approach to connect these rural youth to dignified work so they can participate in and drive India’s economic growth, contextualized for rural India context.

The work highlights the dual opportunity and challenge presented by India’s growing youth population and economic growth, which has unfortunately been jobless growth. Lastly, the paper provides an overview of specific upcoming and promising solutions and recommendations for labor absorption at scale.