Context: Recently, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Meta (formerly Facebook) have launched the second phase of the GOAL Programme (GOAL 2.0).

GOAL Programme

  • GOAL (Going Online As Leaders) is a joint initiative of Meta (formerly Facebook) and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
  • The GOAL Programme is designed to provide mentorship to tribal youth through digital mode.
  • The program will focus on three core areas – Digital Literacy, Life Skills and Leadership, and Entrepreneurship.
  • The Programme is fully funded by Meta (Facebook India).
  • 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.
  • The Programme has been designed with a long-term vision to develop the potential of tribal youth and women to help them acquire skills and knowledge through mentorship in various sectors including horticulture, food processing, bee keeping, tribal art and culture, medicinal herbs, entrepreneurship among others.
  • 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.
  • All the mentees will be provided with smartphones and Internet access (for one year) by Facebook along with exposure to various external forums that will give the opportunity to the participants to showcase their entrepreneurial skills and leadership abilities.
  • The program will also create awareness amongst tribal beneficiaries about various schemes initiated by Central and State Governments for the welfare of STs as well as their fundamental duties.
goal programme upsc

GOAL 2.0

  • 1st Phase of the GOAL Programme was launched as a pilot project in May 2020 and it was completed by December 2021.
  • Goal 2.0 Programme will be open to all people from tribal communities.
    • In Phase-I, the digital mentorship was provided online by attaching one mentor to 2 mentees.
  • The program aims to upskill and digitally enable tribal youth via Facebook live sessions and Meta Business Coach, a digital learning tool.
  • There will be special focus on more than 10 lakh members of 50000 Vandhan Self Help Groups.They will be digitally trained with regard to market demand, packaging, branding and marketing of their products.
  • The GOAL 2 will enable maximum participation and percolation of benefits of the training within the tribal youth with provision of Chatbot, need based on line sessions from Industry experts in different fields as per requirements from the mentees.
  • Agencies Involved:
    • The Ministry of Tribal Affairs in coordination with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, will be providing 6 digital classes in each of the 175 Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) selected under the program.
    • The project is being implemented by The Education and Research Network, which is an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeITY).