Learn & Earn Program
for underserved Youth to pursue Higher Education
Learn and Earn Program is Taru Foundation's flagship program for rural youth who aspire to pursue higher education and join the mainstream workforce. We conducted various surveys to understand the aspirations of the youth and determined the factors that act as a roadblock in pursuing them. Taru Foundation took it on them to build a holistic program that is inclusive which enables the youth to pursue a degree/diploma program of their choice while ensuring that they earn during the entire tenure of the program.
Need Analysis
The youth of this region come from economically weaker sections (EWS) usually from families impacted by generational poverty and are first generation learners. Usually, there is a lot of pressure on them to find a source of income at an early age and hence they need to discontinue their education post grade 10th or grade 12th. They usually depend on contractual labour work available in the area. The lack of mentorship and guidance pushes these young minds into problems of alcohol abuse and other social evils like child marriage. However, their interest lies in higher education and a bright future which ends at this point since there is no guidance or opportunities that support them to take a fair shot at a life beyond this.
Our Intervention
We partnered with Medhavi Skill University to offer UGC approved distance degree and diploma program for the students which equip them with the skills relevant to the industry standards so that they can find meaningful employment in the market. We also forged partnerships with employment consulting agencies to link industry partners providing opportunities to the students while they pursue their distance degree. In doing so, we have bridged the gap of earning a decent livelihood while continuing their education.
The Advisory and Operation team at Taru Foundation will constantly provide the students the guidance they need throughout the tenure of the program and help them pursue their education and negotiate a safe and flexible working environment with their employers.
Digital Healthcare Portal
for rural communities in remote villages
In 2023, Taru Foundation was selected for the JP Morgan Chase Force for Good Program. We proposed a problem statement regarding access to healthcare facilities for rural communities residing in remote locations. Fortunately, we were selected as one of the NGOs amongst 300+ applications that came in for the program. This was an opportunity for us to provide state of the art healthcare access to the villages.
Need Analysis
Majority of Chhattisgarh's population, 77%, resides in rural areas, while 31%
consists of scheduled tribes. The state's
health system is a mix of public and private providers, with private providers accounting for
52% of total health expenditure. However, Chhattisgarh's per capita total health expenditure
falls below the national average, both in absolute terms and as a proportion of its Gross
State Domestic Product (GSDP). The public health system in
Chhattisgarh encompasses various tiers, including sub-centres, primary health centres
(PHCs), community health centres (CHCs), district hospitals (DHs), medical college
hospitals, and a super-specialized hospital. Unfortunately, there are more than 200 villages not connected with roads and are located far from the nearest PHC. Pregnant women, new born child, and elderly people face difficulties in accessing these medical facilities resulting in loss of life and crucial time.
Our Intervention
Taru Foundation in collaboration with JP Morgan
Chase Force for Good initiative has developed a Digital Healthcare Portal to provide such medical
consultation at doorstep for the rural community. It connects doctors and para-medical staff
from Govt. and Non Govt healthcare facilities along with ASHA and other trained healthcare
professionals at village level. The intervention is aimed to provide emergency, and critical care access to these remote villages over mobile phones. We will be able to provide access to medical facilities and maintain crucial patient information at one place which can then be used for multiple consultations. We aim to deploy this custom digital healthcare portal by January 2024. The development is complete and the final transfer of the application will be done by JPMC by end of October 2023. Over the next few moths we plan to test the efficiency of the application under various test cases to ensure the services are seamless once it is deployed.