Viveka Rural Livelihood Centre
Started in 2017
Kenchanahalli, H D Kote
Viveka Rural Livelihood Centre
Learn Locally, Earn Locally. Building pathways from practical skills to employment, self-employment, enterprise and sustainable livelihoods — with greater choice over how and where people earn.
Objective
To improve the employability, earning potential and livelihood choices of rural and tribal youth and women through relevant skills, employment linkages, entrepreneurship, financial support and post-training handholding.
From a training centre to a livelihood ecosystem
Established in 2017, VRLC began by bringing vocational skills closer to rural youth and women. It has progressively grown into a decentralised livelihood platform that connects skills with employment, self-employment, entrepreneurship, livelihood assets and continued support after training.
Read more about Viveka Rural Livelihood Centre
A training certificate has value only when it expands a person's possibilities. VRLC therefore works across the larger transition from aspiration and candidate selection to skill, work, enterprise and sustained earning.
Learn locally. Train for real work. Handhold people from learning to earning — through the livelihood pathway that best fits their context and aspirations.
Why “Learn Locally, Earn Locally” matters
For many rural families, access is the first barrier to skill development. Training far from home can involve travel, accommodation costs, family responsibilities and uncertainty about whether the course will lead to usable work. VRLC reduces this distance through decentralised centres, residential courses where needed, and community-based training in villages and rural towns.
The second part of the idea — Earn Locally — does not mean that every person must remain in the village. It means that migration should not be the only available option. A participant should be able to choose between formal employment, local services, agriculture, livestock, self-employment or enterprise according to opportunity and aspiration.
Building human and social capital through livelihoods
Human capital: technical skill, confidence, communication, work readiness and the ability to earn.
Social capital: employer networks, peer learning, partnerships, community institutions and access to opportunity.
Economic agency: the ability to choose between jobs, self-employment, enterprise and locally viable livelihoods.
Community capability: a larger pool of skilled people, service providers, farmers and entrepreneurs within rural communities.
How the platform has evolved
- VRLC started in 2017 and has expanded to 10 centres across Karnataka.
- Training has grown from 50 participants in 2017–18 to 4,252 certified participants in 2025–26.
- Course design spans technical trades, health and care work, services, agriculture, livestock and entrepreneurship.
- Structured candidate screening was introduced to improve course fit and training outcomes.
- Industry partnerships support placement while revolving finance supports selected young entrepreneurs.
- Livelihood assets help trained rural and tribal families move towards locally sustainable income.
- Women, Indigenous tribal youth, PwDs and VTCL alumni form important participant pathways within the wider programme.
- Post-training follow-up recognises that employment or enterprise begins after the course ends.
2025–26 at a glance
The current-year evidence reflects both scale and a widening livelihood continuum — from training and industry-linked employment to entrepreneurship and community-based livelihoods.
FY 2025–26 · Viveka Rural Livelihood Centre, SVYM
Growth in annual training reach
VRLC has expanded steadily from a single-centre beginning into a multi-location training and livelihood platform.
participants trained
participants trained
participants trained
participants trained
participants trained
Young entrepreneurs
Received interest-free revolving-fund support in 2025–26.
Rural & tribal families
Received livelihood assets after training and household assessment.
Full repayments
Young entrepreneurs fully repaid their revolving-fund support, allowing capital to circulate further.
Training is the beginning, not the end
VRLC works across the full transition from identifying an appropriate candidate to helping that person move towards a livelihood that can be sustained.
Learn Locally
Decentralised and community-based training makes skill development more accessible to rural and tribal communities.
Train for Real Work
Practical learning, employer relevance and workplace readiness keep training connected to actual opportunity.
Handhold to Earning
Placement, finance, livelihood assets, enterprise mentoring and follow-up help translate learning into income.
Community Mobilisation
Outreach identifies youth and women whose interests, circumstances and aspirations match available livelihood pathways.
Structured Screening
Candidate screening improves course fit, readiness and the likelihood that training converts into a viable next step.
Practical Training
Hands-on skill development is combined with real tools, workplace exposure and technical learning.
Life & Employability Skills
Communication, confidence, digital capability and workplace behaviour strengthen technical training.
Employment & Enterprise
Industry linkages support jobs while finance and mentoring help selected participants move towards self-employment.
Post-training Support
Follow-up helps people navigate job retention, enterprise challenges, market access and the transition to sustained earning.
One model, several pathways: salaried employment is important, but it is not the only valid outcome. VRLC supports employment, self-employment, enterprise, agriculture, livestock and service-based livelihoods according to context.
Skills that connect people to real work
VRLC's training mix reflects the diversity of rural economies and workforce demand — technical trades, health and care work, services, mobility, fashion, agriculture, livestock and entrepreneurship.
Electrician, home-appliance repair, mobile repair and other hands-on technical skills linked to service demand and employment.
General Duty Assistant, Home Nursing and Panchakarma Therapy & Yoga Basics build livelihood pathways while strengthening the rural care workforce.
Driving, hospitality, beautician and service-oriented courses expand wage and self-employment choices.
Dairy, sheep and goat rearing, poultry, sericulture and other community-based training build on locally viable livelihoods.
Different people, different entry points
VRLC serves rural youth, women, Indigenous tribal communities, PwDs and young people connected with SVYM's Education programmes. The programme does not treat these groups as separate silos; it uses training as a platform through which people can move into work according to their ability, interest and context.
In the cumulative VRLC training profile through July 2026, 1,842 Indigenous tribal participants, 197 VTCL alumni and 838 PwDs are recorded among those who accessed training.
Health workforce pathway
VRLC and Vivekananda Memorial Hospital jointly mobilise and train rural youth for courses such as GDA, Home Nursing and Panchakarma Therapy & Yoga Basics. In 2025–26, the GDA and PTYB batches reported a 100% placement rate.
When a skill becomes an income pathway close to home
For many participants, especially women and families whose livelihoods are rooted in rural communities, self-employment or agriculture can be as relevant as formal placement.
Young entrepreneurs
Received interest-free revolving-fund support to establish self-employment ventures in 2025–26.
Entrepreneurs fully repaid
Repayment allowed the same pool of capital to remain available for further livelihood support.
Families received livelihood assets
56 cows, 50 sheep/goat units and 200 poultry units were provided following training and household assessment.
Revolving finance as a shared livelihood resource
An interest-free revolving fund supports selected trained youth to start enterprises without treating finance as a one-time grant. As repayments return to the pool, the same capital can support additional participants.
VRLC therefore combines training with the practical inputs that may be required after training — finance, assets, technical follow-up, employer links or market connections.
Connected to the wider SEEP enterprise ecosystem
Women-led Rural Social Business Units and federation-linked enterprises form a specialised SEEP pathway beyond VRLC. VRLC contributes training and entrepreneurship capability, while the dedicated Rural Enterprise programme deepens group enterprise, production and market linkages.
Different livelihoods, one purpose: more choices after learning
The stories below show the different directions a livelihood pathway can take — formal employment, return-to-community employment, enterprise, agriculture and home-based self-employment.
Srinivas R
After completing Panchakarma Therapy & Yoga Basics training at SVYM, Srinivas was placed in Bengaluru. He later chose to return to his hometown and now works in the Ayurveda Department at Vivekananda Memorial Hospital.
Pathway: Training → employment → return to community → rural healthcare workforce.
Mangala
Mangala credits her tailoring and fashion-design training at VRLC with helping her build a livelihood during and after the COVID period. She went on to open her own tailoring shop, employ two tailors and was reported earning up to ₹1 lakh a month.
Pathway: Training → group livelihood → own enterprise → local employment creation.
Sunanda
After years focused on family responsibilities, Sunanda from Dharwad enrolled in VRLC's beautician course and later opened a beauty parlour at home — turning a long-held aspiration into a livelihood.
Pathway: Skill training → confidence → home-based self-employment.
Suleman
Suleman was already practising sericulture when he joined SVYM's training. The annual report records his monthly earnings rising from around ₹60,000 to more than ₹1 lakh after applying new techniques and expert recommendations.
Pathway: Existing livelihood → technical training → improved productivity and income.
Gopamma
Gopamma participated in SVYM's poultry-farming training. The knowledge she gained supported her family livelihood and helped her continue her daughters' education — showing how a local income pathway can influence the next generation.
Pathway: Community training → household livelihood → education continuity.
Savita
After poultry training, Savita from Hosamala Hadi received 30 chickens and applied the training to feeding, vaccination and health management. By the time the case was documented, she had sold 110 eggs for ₹2,200 and planned to expand the activity alongside farming.
Pathway: Training → livelihood asset → early income → integrated farming.
Skills become more powerful when they connect with Health, Education and community development
VRLC is not an isolated training centre. It acts as a livelihood bridge within SVYM — helping people engaged through other programmes move towards economic participation and helping communities build locally available skills and services.
Education → Skills
VTCL alumni can move from schooling into vocational and livelihood pathways. Through July 2026, the cumulative VRLC training profile records 197 VTCL alumni.
Health & Disability → Livelihood
PwDs engaged through rehabilitation and community programmes can access suitable skill and livelihood pathways. The cumulative training profile records 838 PwDs.
Training → Rural Health Workforce
GDA, Home Nursing and Panchakarma programmes connect livelihood training with local workforce needs in healthcare.
Training → Enterprise
Selected trainees move into revolving-fund support, entrepreneurship and the wider women-led enterprise ecosystem within SEEP.
Training → Agriculture
Community-based courses in dairy, sheep and goat rearing, poultry, sericulture and other areas strengthen locally rooted livelihoods.
Skills → Community Capability
When more trained people live and work within rural communities, skills become part of the community's own human capital — not only an individual qualification.
From individual capability to community capability
Srinivas returning to work at VMH is one example of this connection: a livelihood intervention created employment for an individual while simultaneously adding a trained professional to the rural healthcare workforce. This is the larger value of linking skills with the systems and communities around people.
Explore the wider socio-economic empowerment ecosystem
VRLC focuses on skills and livelihood transitions. Other SEEP initiatives deepen community institutions, enterprise, voice, agriculture and energy access.
Integrated Tribal Development
Self Help Groups, social entitlements, community strengthening, government convergence and locally rooted development with tribal communities.
Page to be linked after publicationJanadhwani Community Radio
A community communication platform connecting health, education, agriculture, culture, public information and participation.
Rural Enterprise & Income Generation
Women-led Rural Social Business Units, federation-linked enterprise, local production, markets and entrepreneurship.
Sustainable Agriculture & Farmer Livelihoods
Scientific training, millets, livestock, farmer institutions, government convergence and value-addition pathways.
Page in developmentEnergy Equity for Tribal Communities
Solar electrification, clean cooking and practical clean-energy applications that strengthen everyday opportunity.
Socio-Economic Empowerment
See how livelihoods, collective institutions, enterprise, voice, entitlements and community agency connect across SEEP.
Help turn learning into dignified livelihood choices
Partner with SVYM to expand relevant skills, employment pathways, entrepreneurship, livelihood assets and the human and social capital that enables rural communities to build opportunity from within.