Arjun Munda, Minister of Tribal Affairs launched the second phase of the Going Online As Leaders (GOAL) program, which is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Meta. GOAL 2.0 initiative aims to digitally upskill 10-lakh youth, primarily focusing on promoting entrepreneurship amongst women from tribal communities of the country and opening up opportunities for them using digital technology. Noteworthy, Meta has extended its their collaboration with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to launch the 2nd phase of GOAL program.
Arjun Munda, Union Cabinet Minister for Tribal Affairs, Anil Kumar Jha, Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, S N Tripathi, DG, IIPA, Dr. Navalljit Kapoor, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Youth & entrepreneurs from tribal communities from across the country attended the event. Smt. Renuka Singh Saruta, Minister of State, Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Bishweswar Tudu, Minister of State, Ministry of Tribal Affairs have also supported the program.
Through this program, the GOAL participants will have access to Meta Business Coach – a WhatsApp based learning bot – that will give the participants an opportunity to learn skills on how to build and grow their business using Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. To empower the participants to play an active role in the digital economy, the program will also include Facebook Live sessions in 9 languages by master trainers on topics like Anti Scamming education, staying safe online, how to combat misinformation and being a good digital citizen.
The first phase of GOAL included inspiring, connecting and upskilling tribal youth from across the country. 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% said that it helped them understand how to set up their business. Ajit Mohan, Vice-President & Managing Director, Facebook India (Meta) said, “In collaboration with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, GOAL 2.0 will upskill and empower 10-lakh women and youth across tribal communities to harness the full potential of digital platforms and tools.”
