Building competencies amongst youth to mainstream knowledge and

soft skills to enable a transformative impact on the society

TARU MEHTA, *LIVLEEN K KAHLON, MONMI BARUA,

Environment Education and Awareness,

The Energy & Resources Institute (TERI)

6C, Darbari Seth Block, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi,

INDIA

* Corresponding author

Abstract: - The world is recognizing the relevance and scope of Sustainability Science (SS) as it integrates the

disciplines ranging from pure sciences and social sciences and their specializations. Hence, a balance between

policies, research, and direct action is integral to the field of SS. Interdisciplinarity is important for SS, and this

is a relatively new area. Hence, experiments done within the scope of SS need to be recorded and intensive

dissemination of lessons learnt (Haider, 2018). The youth of today should be aware of these new upcoming

disciplines and be able to align their strengths to address environmental challenges with interdisciplinary skills.

The future belongs to the youth, and they will also be impacted the most. Representative of vibrance and

positive energies, young people are our future citizenry. The need of the hour is to enhance their knowledge of

sustainability and improve their skill sets. This is achievable only when the capacity-building initiatives are

planned with the right mix of pedagogy, limiting not only to subject matter knowledge but beyond, hence

touching the sphere of SS. At TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute), different permutations and

combinations are tried to make learning creative and, at the same time, have the potential to apply learning in a

larger setting. This paper presents the findings of a project run by TERI in partnership with NCSTC (National

Council for Science and Technology Communication), Department of Science and Technology, Government of

India. TERI implemented TERI-NCSTC Eco Next Investigation for Youth, which comprised six trainings of

five days each on local environmental issues. Along with core environmental learning, these workshops were

also enriched with science communication and leadership training. Post this training; a few selected students

worked on action projects that promised a transformative impact in their immediate neighborhoods. Through

the program, TERI directly reached out to 175 students and also influenced 20 students to implement path-

breaking changes in their surroundings. The program helped students enhance their knowledge about issues

related to nature conservation, eco-restoration, and nature-based solutions through tools that stressed co-

creation, leadership skills, innovative approaches, and experimentation. The paper also stresses upon future

research area on citizen science concept and ways in which a connect could be established with environmental

education.

Key-Words: - Action Projects, Capacity Building, Environment Education, Education for Sustainable

Development, Leadership, Science Communication, Soft Skills, Youth Development

Received: June 18, 2022. Revised: August 29, 2023. Accepted: September 24, 2023. Published: October 31, 2023.

1 Introduction

Youth is an important target group for spreading

awareness about environmental protection and

sustainable development. They can channel

innovative ideas into experiences of joyful learning

and constructive action. Youth is hence considered

as a resource and a catalyst for strengthening

transformative impact on society. It has been

realized that opportunities for convergence between

a sustainability agenda and core ESD (Education for

Sustainable Development) practices, enthuse youth

to pursue a path of ecopreneurship.

There is another important aspect related to youth

and sustainability. As per the reports from

UNESCAP, young people will play a crucial role in

achieving the Sustainable Development Goals

(SDGs) by 2030. It is a fact that a majority of the

world’s young people live in Asia and the Pacific.

Global reports point out that youth action will be the

key to the achievement of six SDGs: Zero Hunger,

Quality Education, Gender Equality, Decent Work

and Economic Growth, Reduced Inequalities, and

Climate Action (Hwang, 2017). It is evident that

creating opportunities for youth to move out of

poverty into decent and sustainable work will help

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DOI: 10.37394/232029.2023.2.15

Taru Mehta, Livleen K Kahlon, Monmi Barua

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capitalize on the demographic dividend created by

the youthful population of a region.

Ecopreneurship is a term coined to represent the

process of principles of entrepreneurship being

applied to create businesses that solve

environmental problems or operate sustainably. The

term began to be widely used in the 1990s, and it is

otherwise referred to as "environmental

entrepreneurship." The term was first introduced in

the book Merging Economic and Environmental

Concerns through Ecopreneurship, written by Gwyn

Schuyler in 1998.

It has been estimated that the population of young

people between 15 and 24 years of age accounts for

15.5 percent of the global population. It has also

been suggested that the youth cohort will reach 1.29

billion (15.1 percent of the world total) by 2030 and

almost 1.34 billion (13.8 percent of the overall

population) by 2050

(Tina P. Kruse, 2020). International

Telecommunication Union’s, estimated that young

people are the driving force of connectivity, with 75

per cent of the 15-24 year old now online, compared

with 65 per cent among the rest of the population.

(Measuring Digital Developments: Facts and

Figures, 2022). Youth are the ones who will bear the

brunt of all environmental challenges and at the

same time also hold important decision making

positions in times to come.

However, while engaging youth in finding solutions

for the world’s problems, one often forgets that they

are not just an avenue to think out-of-the box but an

important stakeholder that requires adequate skilling

opportunities. To reaffirm these attributes and help

individuals transition to an empowered and

responsible global citizenry, different permutations

and combinations are tried at TERI to make learning

creative and applicable to larger settings. With this

background, The Energy and Resources Institute

(TERI), under the partnership with the National

Council for Science and Technology

Communication (NCSTC), Department of Science

and Technology, Government of India, implemented

Eco Eureka Training as part of Eco Next

Investigation for Youth program. This prestigious

program was driven by Science, Technology, and

Communication skills centered upon

transdisciplinary knowledge of critical domains like

eco-media, eco-design, eco-innovation & eco-

cultures. Primarily, the belief was to prepare youth

in a manner so that they are equipped to act as role

models capable of making informed choices and

decisions. Majorly, the initiatives focus on

promoting youth volunteerism and responsiveness

for building regenerative ecological futures(

Pamposh Kumar, 2019).

The project was implemented in the cities of Delhi,

Bengaluru, and Panjim, where two batches of Eco

Eureka training were held from September 2018 –

August 2019. The program was able to train 175

youth from the said locations and also from nearby

districts and less endowed regions around the

targeted cities. Out of these, 17 students were

selected as Eco Eureka Fellows to implement their

project ideas within their college neighborhoods.

Through their efforts, they reached out to the

communities and touched the lives of approximately

10,000 beneficiaries, comprising of students,

community members, etc.

2 Tools and Techniques

The true purpose of science education does not rest

on science as a guiding principle for environment

protection and sustainability but on equipping the

learner with the confidence to embark on a journey

of self-discovery and leadership that reflects the

relevance of peer-to-peer learning and an eternal

harmony with nature. Successful delivery of science

education is based on selection of practices both

from ontological and epistemological perspectives.

Further, as demonstrated by the current case study,

an evolving understanding of sustainability-linked

issues over the course of the training supports the

phenomenographic pedagogical method (Feifei Han,

2019).

The case study offers a classic case demonstrating

technique relevant to youth research, including

participatory research, action research, community-

based participatory research, and arts-based

research. The research design offered is highly

dynamic in approach, and the training allows

practical, hands-on experimentation of the learnings.

Several permutations and combinations around

examples of youth research methods have been

adopted for the execution of the training. These are

a mix of traditional methods (FGD, interviews,

questionnaires, observations); visual and digital

methods; methods where youth construct data;

creative methods (Skits, drama, games, and

activities); and task-based methods (drawings,

diagrams, worksheets, photographs) (Susan Tilley,

2018).

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3 Methodology

Skilling youth is an irreplaceable component of the

socio-economic development of a country,

particularly those with a growing young population

like India. The Government of India has adopted

skill development as a national priority and is

expected to be a key driver to giving momentum to

the economy. The current academic orientation

should also encompass skilling from a young age so

that the employability skills of the youth can be

enhanced (Arora, 2019)

The entire program was run through a set of

dynamic tools referred to as Eco Eureka training.

This set of 65-day trainings focused on enhancing

knowledge on environmental issues, promoting

science communication, and supporting leadership

skills amongst young students. Apart from these, an

element of media literacy was incorporated wherein

participants were trained to promote these and

related issues through media to generate public

awareness.

Throughout the training, a practical approach was

adopted by providing hands-on training in

measuring several parameters on technical know-

how, adaptability, learning agility, communication,

and leadership skills. As part of the workshop,

students were encouraged to explore nature-based

solutions and adopt a nature-friendly attitude.

The paper adopts a case study approach, which is

deployed to understand in-depth, multi-faceted

explorations of ways and means of education in

real-life settings. This approach is particularly useful

to employ when there is a need to understand the

processes involved and challenges encountered in a

given context. Our aim in writing this piece is to

provide insights into intertwining sustainability

science concepts with pure sciences and social

science.

4 TERI’s approach

Science and technology (S & T) have profoundly

influenced the course of human civilization. S & T

is the critical driver necessary for development and

social transformation. It can make an invaluable

contribution to growth, for example, reducing

disease burdens and food insecurity, facilitating

communication, enabling monitoring of global and

national environments to minimize conflicts, giving

an early warning of natural disasters, and

developing new ways of using water, energy, and

other natural resources. S & T is essential for the

holistic development of youth and related

communities. Additionally, India is set to become

the most significant contributor to the global

workforce. According to The Environment Scan

2016, (KPMG, 2016), a projection of requirement of

103 million skilled manpower by the time period of

2017-2022 is made.

Job markets are transitioning with each passing day;

today, skills that employers seem to emphasize

while screening candidates are domain knowledge,

adaptability to the environment, learning agility, and

positive attitude (India Skills Report, 2020).

Against the above background and realizing the

importance of working with the demographic

dividend of India, The Energy and Resources

Institute (TERI) implemented TERI- NCSTC Eco

Next Investigation for Youth from 2018 – 19, which

was catalyzed and supported by the National

Council for Science & Technology, Department of

Science and Technology, Government of India. The

program strived to create a cadre of youth who are

aware, innovative, and ready to make a difference

for nature conservation, eco-restoration, nature-

based solutions, co-creation, and innovation. The

project considered science necessary to mitigate and

solve present and emerging environmental

problems. However, the specific objectives were as

follows:

 To provide a platform for the youth to learn

concepts on nature conservation, eco-

restoration, nature-based solutions, co-creation,

and innovation.

 To hone leadership skills in youth, this will

subsequently enable them to transform

knowledge into action

 To instill a sense of responsibility and engage

youth in environmental stewardship to play a

proactive role in addressing issues related to

sustainable development

 To encourage use of media as a means of

reaching out to the masses

The program focused on three fundamental

principles: imparting knowledge, building skills and

competencies, and enabling action to reiterate the

learnings imparted during the capacity-building

programs. TERI designed the workshops to cover

various aspects of the environment by discussing

live projects and successful case studies.

The program provided the participants with an

opportunity to undertake research projects through

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fellowship programs, which paved the way to

enabling action at the grassroots level.

The Eco Eureka Training was organized to provide

students with technical and environmental

knowledge and skills to deal with the issues in their

day-to-day lives. While the National Council for

Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC)

delved into making science communication the basis

to reach out, TERI believed that it was critical to

augment the training by interweaving lessons of

leadership, project management, and team building.

Lessons further elaborated science communication

on methods, information and technology tools, and

options for publishing the stories of change to build

up further students’ capacity to use the lessons

learned while implementing their ideas on the

ground. Such neo-liberal methodology is adopted

owing to the gap in the curriculum, which is

remotely addressed in school systems. With growing

demands in the labor market for technical expertise

infused with soft skills, this approach helps students

build their portfolios for job markets.

Eco Eureka training was organized in two batches in

Delhi, Bengaluru, and Panjim. A total of six training

on the subject provided a vital locale-specific

approach to harness the youth’s attention towards a

solution inclined ideology. University students

across the streams in all these locations were

targeted. All issues covered revolved around three

pillars of sustainable development - environmental,

social, and economic and had deep-rooted

connections with achieving the targets of SDGs. Out

of 17 SDGs, training focused on developing

capacity of students on education for sustainable

development (ESD-SDG 4.7), water, sanitation and

hygiene (SDG 6), renewable energy with emphasis

on biofuels (SDG 7), urban planning (SDG 11),

waste management (SDG 12, 13), climate change

and environment sustainability (SDG 14, 15).

The two aspects of the training, developing core

competency and augmenting soft skills, solved real-

time challenges and helped them bring core

technical aspects at the forefront of project

implementation. As a follow up, TERI awarded the

Eco Eureka Fellowship 2018-19 to 17 students. As a

fellow, students implemented a project that they felt

passionate about and which catered to immediate

needs in their vicinity against seed funding

catalyzed and supported by the National Council for

Science & Technology Communication (NCSTC),

Department of Science & Technology (DST),

Government of India. Enlisting two projects out of

the 17 implemented that vividly describe the

adoption of technical and soft components to

achieve the objectives of the fellowship.

a. The Composting Project by Ms. Arveen Kaur

Sodhi from the University of Delhi: As the

name suggests, the project was implemented to

set up a compost pit to reduce the kitchen waste

from the cafeteria of a college hostel and to

strive towards achieving behavioral change

amongst peers and people working in the hostel

mess. Delhi has one of the highest annual

generation of waste. Hence, the student team

felt a necessity to include a capacity-building

program on Waste Management. Activities were

clubbed with Do-It-Yourself (DIY) projects that

can solve local issues.

This type of direct action project supports the

theory behind neoliberalism and the attraction

that it holds for the youth, as they continuously

strive for uniqueness and novelty of approach

(Henn, 2017).

The most crucial aspect of The Composting

Project was to set up a model for composting in

an institutional setup like a college and at a low

cost. The team identified a resource person who

undertook a round of capacity-building

initiatives of making a decentralized compost

unit using earthen pots at home. The program

was replicated at the hostel campus to deal with

more significant amount of waste generated.

Lessons on communications and media

delivered during Eco Eureka Trainings helped

her design strategies to reach out to the masses

on awareness generation. In contrast, leadership

and project management helped her implement

the projects following management cycles.

b. Rain Water Harvesting in College Campus by

Esha Gadekar from Dnyanprassarak Mandal’s

College and Research Centre, Assagao, Goa:

With her college located at a plateau hill, spread

across 30 acres, the campus received an ample

amount of rain due to its tropical location. Apart

from surface runoff, a lot of rainwater was

unutilized, which fell on the roofs of the

buildings. The main highlight, in this case, was

using the roof water to recharge the

groundwater and set up a replicable and

demonstrative model for awareness generation.

This pilot project on Rain Water Harvesting

helped create awareness among peers.

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TERI’s experts have been aiming to develop

solutions for providing equitable access to clean

and safe water while ensuring social,

environmental, and economic sustainability in

water resource allocation. Through the project,

students were taught ways to conserve water, by

emphasizing the topography of the region.

5 Outcomes

Eco Eureka training was an ambitious program as

this was for the very first time we were

simultaneously training students from different

academic streams- Science, Arts, and Commerce.

The platform presented a unique experience of not

only interweaving soft skills with technical expertise

but also helping in paving the road that the students

face while experimenting on the ground. Some of

the immediate outputs that were gained are as

follows:

 Trained 175 students on key thematic areas-

ecosystems, waste management, water

management, sustainable agriculture, green

building, and renewable energy

technologies.

 Trained 175 students on leadership, project

management, communication, and team

building

 Involved 60 experts through active

interactions with participants.

 Engaged youth through intensive interaction

spread over 30 days (approximately 240

hours.)

 Mentored 17 project teams, where the

outcomes rippled to approximately 10,000

people comprising students and

communities.

The initiative opened doors to deep dive into

environmental research. It helped students see the

issues in totality, both from the view of science and

society, thus making the deliverables inclusive. The

program helped bring creativity to students and

enlarge the scope of science education. The long-

term impact of integrating interdisciplinary

knowledge is to trigger their interest in STEAM

learning and develop their aspirations and

employability through STEAM (Hsiao P-W, 2021)

and simultaneously adapt to or solve the most

pressing issues humanity faces.

6 Conclusion

The level at which youth entrepreneurs in India

innovate is the highest in the Asia and the Pacific

region, as per a report by Global Entrepreneurship

Monitor (GEM) and Youth Co: Lab. Around 55% of

Total Early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA)

showed innovation-orientation for entering new

markets or introducing new products, services, or

processes unique to the market (Ulrike Guelich,

2019). Interestingly, only Australia's young

entrepreneurs had a similar level of innovation

orientation among the nine countries, as studied by

the GEM consortium. Innovation is a core driver of

economic and business growth and job creation and

must be one of the main areas for new policies on

youth entrepreneurship. The findings of this report

suggest that access to higher education leads to

better entrepreneurial attitudes and greater

entrepreneurial intentions, perception of skills, and

perception of entrepreneurial opportunities.

Over the last few years, the start-up ecosystem in

India has strengthened considerably across the value

chain, thereby providing them an opportunity to

innovate and offer products and services that are

new and unique for their consumers. The influxes of

capital from private equity and venture capital funds

in Indian start-ups prove the growth of the start-up

ecosystem (Ulrike Guelich, 2019).

Parallelly, the pool of talents and skills required

from fresh graduates and young professionals is

unprecedented because the demographic dividend is

enormous; there is competitiveness amongst the

achievers, and the job markets are changing with

new automation that is driving the economy. There

is an utmost need to teach the attitude of unlearning,

learning, and relearning to adapt to the changing

work environment.

Given the global trends, Sustainability is a critical

pathway that should be a way of life for youth.

Programs like Eco-Eureka training should be taken

up extensively so that youth from all walks of life

benefit from similar co-learning opportunities. In

addition, knowledge, attitude, and practice are three

pillars supporting behavioral change, while locale-

specific variables control an individual’s specific

actions. Understanding this in context with youth-

based education competencies, opportunities, and

motivation levels influences learning levels, which

catalyze behavioral changes. It is conceivable that,

students who are educated to be active learners since

childhood can transform into an active citizenry that

participates in activities towards achieving

sustainable development. Another area that needs

sound and knowledgeable investment is the field of

‘citizen science’. Currently, a significant gap in the

environmental scenario is the citizen science

disconnects and lack of awareness on environmental

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issues. Students and youth should inculcate a greater

understanding of the gravity of the climate and

ecological situation in the region. Curriculum tools

like hands-on learning, contribution to scientific

measurements, data collection, and mapping efforts

should be employed. Public participation in

scientific research (PPSR), will support innovative

environmental solutions, and youth need to work as

harbingers of change in this direction.

Documentation and promotion of ideas similar to

this project will ensure that youth are involved in

environment improvement initiatives by making it:

 Relatable to their immediate environment

 Interesting and hands-on

 Exciting and inviting by introducing incentives

 Transform into innovations and ideas that will

improve livelihood

The avenues mentioned above provide a clear

direction to stakeholders for future research.

Acknowledgements:

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the National

Council for Science and Technology

Communication, Department of Science and

Technology, Government of India, for financial

support and Dr Pamposh Kumar, Scientist F, DST,

for mentoring during the program. We are thankful

to TERI for allowing us to implement the program

and acknowledge all the colleagues, researchers,

trainers, and students who participated in this

project.

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Facts and Figures. International

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[5]. Pamposh Kumar, D. A. (2019).

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[6]. Feifei Han, R. A. (2019). Using

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[9]. KPMG. (2016). Environmental Scan.

[10]. NSDC. (2020). India Skills Report.

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[11]. Henn, J. H. (2017). Neoliberalism

and the Unfolding Patterns of Young

People’s Political Engagement and Political

Participation in Contemporary Britain.

Societies.

[12]. Hsiao P-W, S. C.-H. (2021). A

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Its Effects on Student Motivation and

Learning. Sustainability 13, no. 7: 3772.

[13]. Ulrike Guelich, N. B. (2019). Youth

Entrepreneurship in Asia and the Pacific. UNDP

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Contribution of Individual Authors to the

Creation of a Scientific Article

Ms Taru Mehta laid out the overall design and

structure of the program. She is responsible for

drafting of manuscript.

Dr Livleen K Kahlon was the technical advisor of

the program. She undertook the literature synthesis

for the paper.

Ms Monmi Barua, implemented the project

deliverables and facilitated stakeholder interaction

and mobilization

Sources of Funding for Research Presented in a

Scientific Article or Scientific Article Itself

National Council for Science and Technology

Communication, Department of Science and

Technology, Government of India

Conflict of Interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare

that are relevant to the content of this article.

Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0

(Attribution 4.0 International, CC BY 4.0)

This article is published under the terms of the

Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en

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International Journal of Applied Sciences & Development

DOI: 10.37394/232029.2023.2.15

Taru Mehta, Livleen K Kahlon, Monmi Barua

E-ISSN: 2945-0454

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