Established in 2006, Sambhav Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation committed to empowering women, youth, the intellectually disabled and other vulnerable communities by equipping them with the skills necessary for meaningful and sustainable livelihood opportunities via education, employment and entrepreneurship. The interventions span vocational training across various trades, entrepreneurship development and community engagement. To date, Sambhav has empowered over 2.7 million livelihoods and facilitated the creation of more than 13,000 micro-enterprises across India.

Activities

Phase 1

In Phase 1, Sambhav Foundation worked to enhance the income of waste pickers and their families by providing alternate livelihood opportunities without disrupting the existing waste management ecosystem. Significant milestones achieved include:

• Vocational Training and Opportunities: To promote equitable access to opportunities, the project offers vocational courses (📹 + 📷 These women are skilling it) tailored for women and youth from waste picker communities in Bengaluru. In addition to vocational training, the intervention includes comprehensive support programs for trained candidates such as:
  • Training Programs: Job-oriented training and workshops for employability
  • Entrepreneurship Development Program (EDP): Offers comprehensive support, from employability courses to entrepreneurship skill development, preparing candidates for interviews and job placements
  • Soft Skills: Communication training and resume building to enhance employability
  • Financial Literacy: Provided sessions on essential skills such as productive use of mobile phones, navigating net banking, creating email IDs and linking phone numbers to bank accounts, which are crucial for managing earnings and achieving financial stability 
  • Social Security: Support waste pickers in accessing financial services and securing social benefits. This included facilitating the opening of bank accounts for waste pickers, ensuring access to essential financial services and assisting them in obtaining necessary social security documents, such as ID cards and address proofs

• COVID-19 Response: During the pandemic, Sambhav Foundation expanded its focus from livelihood building to addressing the urgent needs of the waste picker community and launched several key initiatives:
  • Distributed grocery kits and provided virtual training for mask-making and sanitation work, where waste pickers sanitised buildings and vehicles during the lockdown
  • Set up 24/7 Help desks at government hospitals
  • Organised large-scale, free vaccination drives, prioritising those most exposed to medical waste, ensuring access to essential healthcare

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Phase 2

Phase 2 marked the inauguration of Livelihood Resource Centres (LRC) and SEED Centres (📷 Opening doors to new livelihood opportunities, one centre at a time), introducing experiential learning for the waste pickers' community. Starting with the LRC at JC Road, additional centres opened in Goraguntepalya and Hebbal, guiding candidates toward successful careers in beauty and tailoring entrepreneurship.

Sambhav is also expanding its collaborative efforts with partners like Enviu, Hasiru Dala, Bal Raksha Bharat, Circular Apparel Innovation Factory, Udhayam Learning Foundation and BBC Media Action to promote a circular economy and create sustainable job opportunities for the people from the waste picking community.

‍Facilitation of Collectivisation and Entrepreneurship: An exclusive program for household members of waste picker communities to enhance life skills, employability readiness and entrepreneurial skills for better alternate livelihood opportunities has been rolled out.

• The training program aims to enhance the life skills, employability readiness and entrepreneurial skills of the waste pickers for better alternate livelihood opportunities
• The intervention includes building and strengthening efficient collectives to empower groups of waste pickers, especially women. Along with facilitating waste pickers' access to relevant resources, schemes and opportunities specific to entrepreneurship and employment for alternate livelihood options

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Impact 

• Total waste pickers engaged - 5500+
• Family members reached- 21000+
• Skilling program participants - 3000+
• Entrepreneurship course participants - 1700+
• Bank accounts created - 140+
• Job-ready Waste pickers- 1000+
• Self-employed post certification - 1300+
• Wage-employed post certification - 950+
• Youth completing skill development - 3100+
• CRPs on-boarded - 11+
• Candidates placed in jobs - 1900+
• COVID-19 Vaccinations administered – 6100+
• Grocery kits distributed during the pandemic - 1000+

Featured Posts:

📹 Watch how our Saamuhika Shakti (SaaS) partner, Enviu, found a perfect home for their extra spools at our Livelihood Resource Centers.

📷 Our latest collaboration with Twirl facilitated by CAIF as part of the Saamuhika Shakti ecosystem.

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