It was a smartly-turned out batch of trainees that the CM, Sheila Dikshit, met yesterday, at Savda Ghevra re-settlement colony. Seeing them, it was hard to believe that these confident youngsters were, until just three weeks ago, just another bunch of aimless guys and girls who would surely not be part of the ‘India Shining’ story.

Hats off to the team from our partner -Dr Reddy’s Foundation(DRF)- for their efforts to transform the lives of these 100-odd people. By April, these kids would have specialised in either Customer Care, Retail, Sales, Hospitality or Auto Repair, and be geared up to enter India’s booming service sector. As the CM walked around the classes, the first signs of this promising future were already evident. Confidence, optimism and good cheer were in evidence rather than cynicism and bitterness.

Among the large group of ‘basti’ residents who had gathered to meet the CM were the parents of these youngsters. For them, it would’ve been immensely gratifying to see the change, especially when some of them went up on stage and took a pledge to make their family, community and country proud.

For us, at Growth-for-All, this has been a proud and satisfying moment.

It signifies that our first ‘pilot’ project at Savda Ghevra has started off well. Our entire model for integrated development hinges on working with the best external partners for each aspect. In that respect, our close working relationship with DRF, and our ability to facilitate and support their work, were on test. The first signs are that we’ve passed this test.

This bodes well for the future. Please wish us good luck!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 4th, 2008 at 2:52 am and is filed under Inclusive Growth, Indian Economy, CSR That Works. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.