Digital Skills Training Program for Women Entrepreneurs

India’s Minister of Tribal Affairs, Arjun Munda, announced the second phase of GOAL (Going Online as Leaders), a Facebook program aimed at inspiring, guiding, and encouraging tribal girls from across India to become village-level digital young leaders for their communities.

The GOAL program connects underprivileged young tribal women with senior expert mentors in the areas of business, fashion, and arts to learn digital and life skills. In the second phase of the program, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Facebook together will digitally mentor 5,000 young women in India’s tribal dominated districts.

Speaking at an event to commence the next expanded phase of the program, Arjun Munda said, “Through this partnership the GOAL program will provide economically and socially marginalized young women with the tools and guidance they need to succeed, using technology they may otherwise have not had access to. It is my pleasure to be here to launch the second stage of this initiative with Facebook in Delhi.”

The Minister was joined by Ms. Anna Roy -Senior Advisor Data Management & Analysis and Chairperson, Women Entrepreneurship Platform NITI Aayog, and Facebook India leadership team including Ajit Mohan- Vice President & Managing Director and Ms. Ankhi Das, Director of Public Policy.

Participants from the states of West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Maharashtra, who are enrolled in the current program, were also present at the event.

The program will include weekly one-to-one mentoring sessions, focused on a range of skills such as digital literacy, entrepreneurship, and online safety. In total, more than 200,000 hours of guidance will be provided using Facebook family of apps including WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.

Following the program, the participants will graduate to the GOAL alumni and will continue to receive support and guidance from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Facebook.