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Key Strategies:

In this section, we highlight strategies adopted by YU comprising key strengths for its success. Key strategies adopted by YU involve:

  1. Responsible organisation involving strong networks and volunteers
  2. Monitoring and Evaluation
  3. Partnerships with public and private sector organisations

No cold-calls are made for new contacts, expansion is mainly by introductions through partners and networks. Existing and prospective partners are persuaded to visit the schools and witness the quality of Yuva work.

Strong commitments are secured through engagement with its networks, organising joint events, effective communication and involvement of supporters and partners with YUVA’s programmes.

Organisation

YU’s committed core team is strongly committed and dedicated to improve school education in India. Employees, volunteers and partners contribute to the mission with the same level of commitment. YU operates through its strong networks for its growth and expansion toward achieving its goals.

The Core team, including founder Amitabh Shah, work to build a community of people who are passionate about, and committed to the development of education in India. Yuva creates and nurtures a community of engaged donors, trustees, volunteers and school officials. “Community of people who care” being fostered to support YU and education in India in general

“We have built a community of people who care [about education in India] through Yuva’s growth. Our donors and partners become our ambassadors for future growth”,
Amitabh Shah, founder, YU

Resource generation and sharing knowledge and expertise is managed through collaborations with networks to facilitate effective implementation of their programmes, while volunteers are recruited through these networks as well.

Selection

YU focuses on commitment and synergies with its cause and initiatives while recruiting. It looks for individuals who are passionate about changing society through education.

Training

All employees in YU are made to undergo a compulsory one-week induction-training program at organisation’s head office located at Ahmedabad, India. This Induction process introduces the new employee to the core team, provides an understanding the work of all the departments. The process also seeks to imbibe and inculcate the culture at the organisation. New recruits spend time at the grassroots, through school visits, meetings with children, teachers and other stakeholders like vendors and the school management committees. This is useful for the recruits in understanding the challenges faced by YU at the operational level. The one-week induction program is a part of a month-long training period for the recruit, during which (s)he can gain familiarity with the given respective department and job role.

In addition, where possible, the organisation invests in the up-skilling of its employees by pairing them with mentors from large organisations. HDFC Bank, for example, has provided mentoring to the employees engaged in human resource management and public relations at YU.

Culture

A key reason for YU’s success is the passion and involvement of its employees, and their identification with the values of the organisation. YU prides itself on fostering a culture which involves fun, learn and bringing value addition at work.

The essential factors that define Yuva’s culture are Passion, Compassion and Gratitude.  Employees are encouraged to embody these qualities and are motivated to bring improvements to the initiatives. By encouraging a sense of gratitude and recognizing the efforts of all team members, the YU cultivates a sense of ownership and enthusiasm in its employees.

As a result, YU has reported zero attrition in its organisation. The core team members have been engaged with the organisation for more than 10 years, and this spirit can be seen in recruits at all levels and positions.

Volunteers & Giving Back

Volunteers are a key component of YU’s organisation. It started in 2005 as a volunteer group founded by five individuals, who sought to bring change in the society by contributing two hours a week to municipal schools in India. From five volunteers then to mobilising 150,000 volunteers till date, Yuva Unstoppable’s volunteers have played a pivotal role in implementing its programmes, as well as driving its agenda.

Currently, interested volunteers can work with YU on its projects. It offers ‘Summer Internship Programme’ or Employee Engagement with CSR funding partners on weekly basis at grassroots level or direct volunteers who are willing to contribute their time and energy for the upliftment of the society. Volunteers bring their skills, time and networks to add value to the organisation. In the last three years, YU has worked with approximately 400 volunteers. Volunteers have been engaged in conducting capacity building sessions in schools, managing social media platforms and fundraising.

This continuous process of volunteer recruitment is mostly driven by youth, with a high proportion of volunteers coming from the 17-35 age group. Students from local universities, young professionals and homemakers make up a majority of the volunteer base. These volunteers contribute their skills to YU’s activities, provide support in the implementation of projects, and also help expand the network and community that YU is building. 

Monitoring and Evaluation

YU has been keenly focused on ensuring transparency and accountability. This allows the organisation to have greater credibility amongst the donors. The creation of a reputation of trust and reliability has been key to the process of nurturing YU’s community. 

A pre and post survey has been incorporated into YU’s process. For each of the projects, the operational team collects data on attendance and test scores for students, and survey data from students, teachers and school administration.  Data is collected through interviews as well as observation-based methods. This enables YU to measure the impact of its project in an unambiguous and concrete manner. This data has been used to carry out an evaluation of their impact in partnership with faculty from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad. 

At the organisational level, in order to carry out a professional third-party check, YU partners with several large firms. The annual audit for the organisation finances and tax is done by KPMG, and Deloitte partners with YU to carry out process review and is currently engaged in internal audit of YU.

In this section, we list some of the monitoring and evaluation processes put into place in the smart classroom and the WASH programmes.


Partners

The operation of a network-based model entails the creation of a number of partnerships across sectors. YU’s strength and success in its programmes are through partnerships with private and public sector organisations and individual networks.

Public Sector

Two key initiatives launched by the Government are Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India campaign) and Digital India. The former focuses on hygiene and sanitation at various levels in the country. YU’s WASH programmes align with the aims of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, by creating facilities for sanitation in municipal schools. The Digital India initiative focuses on increasing the take-up and use of IT enabled services in India. The Smart Classroom programme draws from the aims of this initiative and seeks to empower young students with IT skills and IT-enabled learning.

The alignment of YU’s objectives with the programmes of the government has allowed it greater ease in generating the resources required for its projects. The creation of a positive reputation of trust and reliability have facilitated engagement with government officials and bureaucrats, which helps YU expand into new government schools. So that it is able to focus the implementation of programmes in inner city government schools, where the contribution toward inclusive education would be significant.

Private Sector

YU has partnered with almost 100 corporate donors, who have engaged with its programmes through their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funding. Under Indian law, private companies are mandated to devote a portion percentage of their profits to their CSR initiatives. Companies are hence encouraged to invest money in societies in the long run, and organisations such as YU are able to bring their expertise to channel this money into their programmes.  As per Amitabh Shah, “Up to 95% [of YU’s] funding comes from the CSR route”, indicating the value of this channel for such organisations.  Through the CSR channel, companies that have partnered with YU include large firms such as HDFC Bank, Exide, Nomura and Vedanta. HDFC bank, for instance, offers funding as well as organisational support to YU.

The partnership between HDFC Bank and YU was initiated in 2016-17 as a part of the School Transformation Programme, where HDFC (Bank and Securities) sponsored the upgrade of WASH facilities in 39 schools in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat in India. This has gradually been scaled up to expand to 411 schools across India, in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Mumbai, Punjab, and Maharashtra, reaching out to 164,400 students. HDFC (Bank and Securities) has contributed INR 24.98 Cr over three years, providing support to both Wash and Smart Class projects. In addition, HDFC Bank also mentors the organizational team in YU on areas such as Human Resource (HR) management and Public Relations (PR).

Partnerships: Private Sector

“HDFC Bank Group has played a key role in bringing about positive changes in schools through Yuva.

Our journey with school transformation initiative with Yuva Unstoppable began in 2016 and as the years roll on our ties have strengthened! 

We have also helped Yuva Unstoppable  in realigning their Organization structure, HR Systems and operational processes. Amitabh the Founder and Chief Inspiration Officer has inspired children to perform better and keep aiming higher and higher. He has touched the hearts of Captains of Industry to contribute to the cause and bring magical transformation in municipal schools.

With Yuva, we have transformed 400 schools together and benefitted over 1,50,000 children across India. 

Yuva team is young, energetic, bright and open to new ideas and adapts quickly to suggestions and recommendations. Yuva’s goal is to provide better toilets, improved drinking water, sanitation, women’s hygiene, digital literacy and upgrade municipal schools in the country & is in alignment with our vision.  Yuva has upgraded 1500 schools and their first goal is to transform 10,000 schools thereby benefitting millions of children.

Having visited Yuva schools and interacting with children, teachers and other stake holders – it is evident that the entire community benefits with the Yuva Model.  We have miles to go together.”   


Bharat Shah, Chairman HDFC Securities