Social media giant Meta and Ministry of Tribal Affairs has announced to extend their collaboration to launch the second phase of Going Online As Leaders (GOAL) programme. The second phase of the GOAL programme was launched by Union tribal affairs minister Arjun Munda.
“The first phase of GOAL has seen changing the lives of tribal youth through the digital mentorship programme. In the second phase, we will reach out to 10 lakh women and youth entrepreneurs and will also create a platform for more than 50,000 self-help groups and 10 lakh families associated with TRIFED to take their products global,” the minister said.
GOAL 2.0 will look to digitally upskill, connect and empower 10 lakh youth and women from the tribal communities of the country. It aims to serve as a bridge for the socially marginalised youth to leverage opportunities using technology. Tribal population constitutes about 8.6% of the total population in India.
Through this programme, the identified GOAL participants will have access to Meta Business Coach – a WhatsApp-based learning bot – which will give the participants an opportunity to learn skills on how to build and expand their business using Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
The programme will also involve Facebook Live sessions in nine languages by master trainers on topics like anti-scamming education, staying safe online, combating misinformation and being a good digital citizen.
“We recognise the wide canvas of opportunity that gets unlocked when these tribal communities have access to digital tools and technologies and that is why we are excited to launch the next phase of this programme,” Ajit Mohan, vice president and managing director, Facebook India (Meta), said.
The first leg of GOAL included inspiring, connecting and upskilling tribal youth from across the country, a joint release said. As a result of GOAL, 75% of the participants from the tribal community admitted to being able to better articulate their thoughts to words and saw an improvement in their interpersonal skills. About 69% were able to leverage digital commerce for increased reach and about 63% stated that it helped them understand how to set up their business.
With inputs from PTI.
