Page 113 - Swachhata Chronicles – Transformative Tales from India (eBook)

The OSSS project catered to the service infrastructure such as hospitals, offices,
needs of repair and maintenance, including and residential areas.
schools. In addition to providing these
Young Entrepreneurs: The initiative
services, OSSS offered employment
aimed to create a group of skilled youth
opportunities by training young individuals
who, through OSSS, would become a
from rural and urban areas.
professional workforce with promising
Conceptualization of OSSS: A UNICEF futures. The OSSS project engaged in multi-
survey on ‘WASH in Schools’ conducted in sector skill development, transforming
2018–19 highlighted technical gaps, lack of young individuals into Youth Entrepreneurs
skilled human resources, and insufficient (YEs) with multiple skills.
services for seamless O&M of WASH
During the 21-day residential training
facilities in schools.
programme, individuals from local, rural, or
To ensure functional and sustainable WASH urban areas who were interested in working
facilities, there was a need to develop a cost- as entrepreneurs were selected and trained
effective, locally adaptable, and sustainable in six essential trades: plumbing, masonry,
WASH entrepreneurship model, leading electrical work, painting, housekeeping,
to the conception of OSSS. Through the and entrepreneurial skills, including
innovative partnership between Pratham, business knowledge, marketing strategies,
CYDA (implementation partner), and and successful entrepreneurship. The
UNICEF Maharashtra (funding partner), WASH Mitras extended their services to
OSSS addressed not only the pressing schools, anganwadis, health facilities, and
issue of poor operation and management other establishments in GPs.
standards in schools but also in other public

utcome

» Over the past 12 months, more than 183 WASH Mitras and around
70 service providers reached out to 40,000 families, 3,100
schools, 1,152 anganwadis, 432 health facilities, and 1,100 GPs for
WASH O&M and construction services, generating a total income

of Rs. 17 millions with a profit of Rs. 6 millions.

» 40 per cent of the entrepreneurs and service providers were
female and 70 per cent fell within the age group of 18–29 years,
with 90 per cent falling within the age range of 18–35 years. This

not only promoted gender transformation but also addresses the
21 century skills of rural youth.
st
» The average investment for each entrepreneur is around Rs.

40,000 which covered residential training, seed money, personal
protective equipment (PPE) kits, and tool kits. Currently, the
recorded return on investment is three times the initial investment,

with a break-even point achieved within 10 months of total income.

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