Livelihood Connect

Livelihood Connect is a multi-disciplinary platform in the area of  livelihoods and employability initiated by QUEST Alliance with support from USAID and International Youth Foundation. The platform will have multiple manifests like a knowledge portal, innovation workshops, demonstration grants, large-format conferences and print publications.

Livelihood Connect Action Group 1 Workshop, held in Bangalore on November 26 & 27, 2009, is the first in the series of workshops planned under Livelihood Connect.

Livelihood Connect Action Group 1 was a small format two day knowledge sharing and innovation workshop co designed and facilitated by Quicksand Design. It brought together recent research, stories from the field (narrated through film and photography), expert views and a framework for innovation that combines expertise from design, technology and pedagogy. The workshops was planned as a closed-group multi-sector gathering to engage and innovate with stakeholders to provide meaningful and sustainable livelihood opportunities for India’s disadvantaged youth.

The concept of Livelihood Connect has emerged as part of the QUEST mandate to innovate, collaborate and enable solution sustainability, scalability and replicability. The Livelihood Connect Forum is a multi-disciplinary platform to facilitate information exchange and knowledge creation in the area of livelihoods and employability.  A key element of these interventions will be documenting and sharing practices from the field that can serve as inspiration to scale up and innovate further.

The program seeks to:

• Create a platform for active, continuous knowledge sharing and collaboration in the employability space, which will provide value to diverse stakeholders (donors, program implementers, researchers, academics, teachers, trainers, livelihood seekers, students etc.)

• Facilitate an environment for meaningful interaction between resource seekers and resource providers

• Create multiple channels for information dissemination and stakeholder communication

• Design a series of summits and workshops focusing on specific issues and ideas in order to:

a) Create shared understanding among stakeholders

b) Build capacity for practitioners

c) Design new interventions

d) Assess existing interventions and explore possibilities for replication and scale

• Provide a rich repository of the following:

a) Practices, methodologies and processes which will enable need-based program design with clear and targeted outcome mapping       

b) Metrics and standards to support continuous program assessment and improvement

c) Case studies of both “successful” and “unsuccessful” interventions which will provide inspiration and learning towards overcoming challenges and  maximising grassroots impact

d) Insights into the current ecosystem and existing policies from the perspective of program design and evaluation

Expected Outcomes:

• Shared understanding of scenarios, gaps and trends in the  “employability in India” ecosystem

• Cross-learning and synergy between multiple programs

• Concrete partnerships for funding, sharing of resources and program management

• Standard metrics and benchmarks for program monitoring and evaluation

• Tangible market linkages which will provide livelihood seekers with channels for gainful employment

• Synthesize lessons learnt and suggestions for policy-makers

• A constantly evolving network of diverse stakeholders, working towards impactful intervention and systemic transformation

• Inclusive and transparent channels of participation, allowing knowledge sharing and communication from multiple sources