Greetings and welcome to JULY 2010 ‘REEDS NEWS’.

Target 16 of the Millennium Development Goals [8] is ‘In cooperation with developing countries, develop and implement strategies for decent and productive work for youth.’ The United Nations defines youth as all individuals aged between 15 and 24. A recent World Bank report projects the youth population is to peak at 1.5 billion in 2035. One of the regions expect to have the increase most rapidly at 20% is South East Asia. FAO estimates that around 55 percent of youth reside in rural areas while this figure is put at as high as 70% in South Asia. Some estimates indicate that youth comprise 36 percent of the entire labour force.

Youth, one sixth of the global populace, certainly can play a major role in improving governance at all levels. Despite growing awareness among governments and other stake holders about the roles of youth in the development process, yet, youth as a target group is not a major policy priority of most governments particularly in low-income developing countries. Ministries of Youth many times are very poorly resourced and usually combined with other responsibilities such as culture, sports and education.

The issue with most rural youth is not so much about unemployment, but serious under-employment! The unemployed are mainly better-educated urban youth who can afford to engage in relatively protracted job search. It is, therefore, essential to focus on livelihood improvement of the most disadvantaged youth rather than unemployed. Despite their size, rural youth have limited social and political power.

Well-designed interventions are required, in order to build up the political and social capital of rural youth. In India, promising youth development models are in place but there are only limited instances of collaborative efforts between the different stakeholders. A multi-sector approach will be essential requiring close coordination and partnerships between a wide array of public and private organizations.

Nearly 140 million youth in developing countries are classified as ‘illiterate’. The greatest contribution to improving the future employment and livelihood prospects of disadvantaged children is to make sure they stay in school until they are least functionally literate. Investing in young people, though a challenge, strongly contribute in fighting poverty. It is critical to recognize the youth as change agents who have the energy to make a significant contribution to society while also building their skills for the future.

Development programs, therefore, should support young people to negotiate a place in their society. It is certainly a time for all the stake holders to focus on building the capacities of young people to become leaders for social change and prepare them towards leading meaningful and successful lives.

International Youth Day, that is celebrated every year on 12 August since 1999 for highlighting awareness on the requirements of young people, is the appropriate time to commemorate the power and strength of the youth.

REEDS expect SKILLS2010, the International Conference on Life and Livelihood Skills – Challenges for Institutional Development, being held on 18 – 20 November 2010 at Hyderabad would deliberate on Skills for empowering the Youth.

The virtues of our values and skills need to spill over to the society at large. We have a responsibility towards our times, our world and towards coming generation. Let’s focus of our thought process when we celebrate our independence day on August 15. This day should remind us that with independence and freedom also come added responsibilities.

Ravi K Reddy, August 10, 2010

‘ The day every one of us gets a toilet to use. I shall know that our country has reached the pinnacle of progress ’ remarked Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India. Recognizing the fact that sanitation is one of the most critical aspects for better and improved life, in the year 2003 Government of India [GoI] has launched the Total Sanitation Campaign [TSC] in the entire country and to give a fillip to the TSC, GoI introduced the Nirmal Gram Puraskar [NGP], a prestigious national award in 2005.

The NGP is to honor, felicitate and encourage those Panchayats which have achieved full sanitation coverage in their area and become Open Defecation Free and clean villages. NGP is certainly instrumental in making TSC into a successful mass movement.

REEDS takes pride in becoming a part of this important mission having been engaged by The Department of Drinking Water Supply, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India as one of the external-monitoring independent agency for conducting surveys to ascertain the achievements made by the Panchayats. REEDS was assigned with survey of 513 specified Panchayats spread over in 7 districts in Tamilnadu. 60 of our Resource Personnel had commenced the survey from 16th July and expect to complete the survey work by end August 2010.

REEDS, had carried similar assignments in the States of Gujarat and Tamilnadu in the years 2008 and 2009 respectively and we thank our Resource Personnel for the exemplary work they are continuing in upholding the prestige of the National award.

At SKILLS2010 conference front, I have the following to share with you:

A delegation representing SKILLS2010 comprising of myself, Prof.Sadananda, Member Steering Committee – SKILLS2010 and Dr Anila, Member Organizing Committee - SKILLS2010 are invited to participate in the ACPET Asia Pacific International Education Forum on 25 August 2010 and ACPET 2010 National Conference on 26 and 27 August 2010 in Melbourne, Australia. ACPET is the Australian Council for Private Education and Training - the national industry association for independent providers of post-compulsory education and training, for Australian and international students. ACPET is one of the Institution co-operating with the SKILLS2010 International Conference.

Please do keep watching www.skills2010.org for updates and we look forward for your valuable support and advice for an eventful and successful conference.

CRISIL, the leading financial rating company, pegged the number of households facing financial exclusion in the country at round 120 million. SKS Microfinance, ranked number one in CRISIL ratings is a premier organization in the sector, Rs 1,654-crore IPO in July 2010 was oversubscribed 13.69 times. This certainly a boost to the Microfinance industry that plays an important role in filling the gap in financial exclusion by providing banking and financial services to the poor and vulnerable.

  Source: CRISIL Report on Microfinance

REEDS welcome support and participation in any manner that suit one’s convenience. All the monitory contributions to REEDS qualify for deduction under section 80 G of the Indian Income Tax Act, 1961.

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