Arjun Munda launches ‘Goal’ programme for digital skilling in partnership with Facebook

GOAL programme was launched by Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Arjun Munda on Friday to in partnership with Facebook to provide a platform to tribal youth and women to move ahead in life.

New Delhi: Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Arjun Munda launched the “GOAL (Going Online As Leaders)” programme of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) in partnership with Facebook at a Webinar in New Delhi on Friday.

MoS, M/Tribal Affairs Ms Renuka Singh Saruta; Secretary, M/o Tribal Affairs, Shri Deepak Khandekar and senior officers of the M/o Tribal Affairs as well as representatives of Facebook were present at the launch through the webinar. The GOAL programme is designed to provide mentorship to tribal youth through digital mode.

Arjun Munda said that MoTA’s partnership with Facebook through GOAL programme has come at the right time to provide a platform to tribal youth and women to move ahead in life.

The program intends to upskill and empower 5,000 tribal youths in the current phase to harness the full potential of digital platforms and tools to learn new ways of doing business, explore and connect with domestic and international markets as is the vision of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Under this mentorship program, we will inspire the youth of tribal society for proper counselling in the areas of digital literacy, life skills and entrepreneurship. This is a very important step to empower tribal youth who live in the village," he said.

The Mentees and Mentors have to register on portal (goal.tribal.gov.in), which will be open for 2 months from May 4, 2020 to July 3. 2020. Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has been requested to associate CSCs (Common Service Centres) in facilitating ST youth who do not have a smartphone, for registration with Portal.

In this program, 5000 scheduled tribe youth (to be called as ‘Mentees’) will get an excellent opportunity to get training by experts from different disciplines and fields (to be called as ‘Mentors’).

There will be one mentor for two mentees. The program aims to enable Scheduled Tribe (ST) youth in remote areas to use digital platforms for sharing their aspirations, dreams and talent with their mentors.