Yuva Junction: Empowering Rural Youth

The Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India) is a non-denominational, non-government development organization. AKRSP (India) works as a catalyst for the betterment of rural communities by providing direct support to local communities to promote activities and develop models for sustainable natural resource use and development of human resources. AKRSP (India) is active in over 1900 villages in three environmentally challenged and economically vulnerable regions of Gujarat: the tribal block of Bharuch – Narmada, Surat, Dangs, Tapi, coastal salinity affected areas of Junagadh – Porbandar and the drought prone Surendranagar – Rajkot. Since 2004, AKRSP (India) is working in the remote and tribal blocks of Khandwa, Khargone, Burhanpur, Badwani and Dhar districts in Madhya Pradesh. And since 2008, AKRSP (India) has initiated work in the flood prone districts of Muzzafarpur and Samastipur in North Bihar. AKRSP (I) operates in incredibly remote, rural and tribal villages where income from agriculture and agricultural labour have been the predominant source of livelihoods. Due to limitations associated with small landing holdings and access to markets, increasingly income solely from these sources is quite a challenge. For younger generation, the need to diversify income sources is becoming increasingly apparent, which has led to shifting from agriculture to industry and services.