15

Reskilling

How entrepreneurs are embracing learning innovations globally

Talking #InclusiveBiz No. 2: Educating the most vulnerable populations effectively despite the pandemic through participatory solutions

Talking #InclusiveBiz No. 2: Educating the most vulnerable populations effectively despite the pandemic through participatory solutions

Podcast interview by Susann Tischendorf with Neelam Chhiber, Co-Founder and Managing Trustee at Industree Crafts Foundation

Industree Foundation (est. 2000) is a Bengaluru-based non-profit working with producers in the farm and creative manufacturing sectors. It builds sustainable livelihoods to ensure that underemployed women can have high and regular incomes, decent and equitable working conditions, and resilience to life crises.


In this second episode of the iBAN podcast, Neelam Chhiber, co-founder of Industree Crafts Foundation, provides an insight into her work reskilling women in rural India during Covid-19. What are the main challenges to the education model due to the pandemic? What are the new tools and formats of learning that have been successfully implemented? And most importantly, what can we learn and how can we adapt to the new situations created by the pandemic?

woman working
Building sustainable livelihoods. © Industree Foundation

Key takeaways: 

  • Having a smartphone is of critical importance for new learning formats.
  • There are simple roadblocks that need to be taken into consideration when working with vulnerable women. 
  • Never exclude the men from the empowerment work. 
  • Look at the glass as half full and not as half empty, as an organization.

 

Listen to the podcast here

Neelam Chhiber

Neelam Chhiber is the Co-Founder and Managing Trustee at Industree Foundation. She is also the Co-Founder and Director at Mother Earth. For the past three decades, she has been working on regenerative economies with parts of India's 200 million strong artisanal work force, by providing design, technical, marketing and management solutions to bridge the urban-rural divide. She is also a founding member of #Creative Dignity, a movement initiated by India’s leading artisan skill-based development organisations and experts in the field designed to respond to the needs of the Indian artisan community.

Interview

Funding new EdTech ventures to support employment and reskilling

EdTech is booming in India. Siddharth Nautiyal and Sarvesh Kanodia of Omidyar Network explain what draws them to fund new and innovative business models that help workers access employment opportunities.
Alexandra Harris
Table of contents

graphic summary

GRAPHIC SUMMARY

Learn more about reskilling and learning innovations by reading this fifteenth edition of the online magazine on Inclusive Business! The illustration was developed by Christopher Malapitan, a visual practitioner and trainer based in Brussels…

editorial

Why the education crisis won’t quickly vanish

In his editorial, Markus Dietrich discusses the global education crisis wreaked by the pandemic. Drawing from personal experiences, he asks whether the private sector will harness new models and tools to address skilling gaps that will affect the workforce of the future.

Markus Dietrich

feature story

Reskilling: How entrepreneurs are embracing learning innovations globally

The global Covid-19 pandemic has upended traditional learning models while increasing unemployment and poverty. This has contributed to an education crisis and further highlighted the need for targeted reskilling and measures to address the digital divide. In this issue of CLUED-iN, inclusive business leaders, education specialists and impact investors explain how the crisis has accelerated the move to new formats and ‘blended learning’ models, while also providing opportunities to innovate and develop the workforce of the future.

Alexandra Harris

Talking #InclusiveBiz No. 2: Educating the most vulnerable populations effectively despite the pandemic through participatory solutions

In this podcast, Neelam Chhiber describes how her organization continued to provide skills training and empowerment to rural women in India during the pandemic despite significant challenges. The situation called for ingenuity combined with harnessing the power of networks.

Funding new EdTech ventures to support employment and reskilling

EdTech is booming in India. Siddharth Nautiyal and Sarvesh Kanodia of Omidyar Network explain what draws them to fund new and innovative business models that help workers access employment opportunities.

Keeping students motivated through new and engaging formats in Kenya

Last July, we described how low-cost private schools run by Bridge Kenya adapted quickly to the unfolding pandemic by providing innovative approaches to education for underserved communities. Managing Director Reuben Wambugu discusses why new tools are now complementing existing learning content.

How the pandemic accelerated blended learning

Marc Castagnet draws on his years of experience in professional higher education to explain why blended learning and connections to employers are key during Covid-19 times and in the future.

Taking collective action to bridge the digital skills divide

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted unequal access to digital infrastructure and skills. Camille Putois of Business for Inclusive Growth explains how companies can use collective action to address the digital divide and accelerate skills training initiatives.

Making – not finding – careers in sustainability: Reskilling leaders for a sustainable future

Laura Asiala discusses the importance of reskilling leaders to meet the challenges of the sustainability transformation. She explains why practice is critical to developing new competencies, and how a simulation-based training model can fill this gap.

Addressing skills shortages through hybrid, targeted learning initiatives

Gayathri Vasudevan shares how LabourNet developed the Shiksha platform, a new hybrid training model, and piloted initiatives in health and hygiene to increase employment during the Covid-19 pandemic.