My Quest by Quest Alliance

Quest Alliance empowers youth from marginalised communities between the ages of 18-24 with critical Life, Work and Career skills as they transition into the world of work. During the pandemic, these young people are left without learning, as formal education spaces remain shut. The digital divide was more obvious than before - Only 15% of rural India has access to the internet, with women making up only 8.5% of that.

Our solution, MyQuest, provides access to digital devices (mobile phone libraries - where phones are provided to complete learning and then rotated to other learners), digital bite-sized content around life skills, technology at work, future careers, communication and career readiness on QuestApp (Quest’s technology platform) along with mentorship and guidance for youth to be better prepared to enter the world of work.

The solution when scaled is available to be adapted by other ecosystems around the globe facing similar challenges.

Despite having one of the highest economic growth rates in the world, there have been persistent system failures making economic growth limited for people from disadvantaged communities in India. Since the pandemic, the problem has multiplied:

• Formal learning spaces were closed for most of 2020 and continue to remain closed leading to learning loss for over 320 million youth

• Livelihood - In India, unemployment touched 6% in 2020 and has risen sharply again during the second wave, expected to touch 11% in June 2021. During 2020, 26.6% of the female workforce moved out of the labour force. Women are also seven times more likely to drop out of workforce during the second wave

• Digital divide - While mobile and internet penetration has grown in the country over the last 5 years, the segment we work with is on the other side of a widening digital divide, access to digital being even lower for women. 

Changing economy - The changing nature of the economy has given rise to new sectors and jobs - care economy, gig work, logistics while hampering other traditional sectors of employment like hospitality. Digital fluency is cited as one of the key skills as work moves remote

With a combination of providing access to digital devices, self-learning content and mentoring support, the solution is designed to empower 1 Million learners by 2024, enabling them to access livelihoods. 

Quest uses a blended learning approach - a mix of digital self learning and experiential classroom sessions. At the core of the solution is technology - The Quest App was made for anytime, anywhere learning with over 200 hours of  bite-sized self-learning content spanning areas like workplace readiness, communication skills, digital literacy, life skills, customer interaction and other critical 21st century skills. 

Learning on the app is combined with virtual classroom activities and peer-driven exercises providing young people with crucial skills to learn digitally and be prepared for the world of work. Using this blended learning approach, we empowered 100,000 learners in 2020 enabling their social and economic progress to become productive citizens of society. To encourage more women to engage with learning, we added additional components like providing access to rental phones/ laptops and engaging with parents through Interactive Voice Response messages. 

Every year, 2Mn young people, in the age of 18-24 pass through the corridors of the government technical and vocational training institutes (TVET) in India. They go through a 1 or 2 year course on certain trade skills in order to be employed at the end of it. These students come from economically weaker sections of the society with family incomes of less than $250 per month. The TVET system has not kept pace with the growing technological changes in digital and automation that influence the demand side. There is little or no emphasis on 21st century skills - like life skills, communication, workplaces readiness, digital fluency and others - which are very often the reasons students don’t get employed or fall out of employment soon after they join. Apart from work, lack of 21st century skills also means they struggle to navigate the challenges of life like conflict, inet-personal relations, negotiations, early marriage and pregnancy (for women)

Our solution complements the learning of these students and enables them with 21st century skills through a blended learning model, thereby building digital skills in the process. By providing mentoring support, the learners are equipped to attend interviews, take on jobs and handle challenges that come along the way. 

Over the years, human centered design and keeping the learner at the centre has influenced the development of the program. The duration of the course, the language of the content (vernacular vs English), the availability of the content on an android app have all stemmed from learner insights and feedback. Insights into developments on the demand side,  have helped develop content and curriculum which readies the youth for careers of the future.

Our solution and target population are aligned to the challenge -It is equipping marginalized men and women with digital skills to forge careers in a digital world. 

The solution aims to build digital literacy and 21st century skills in youth who are entering the workforce. These skills see little or no focus among our target population - students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. The pandemic has aggravated the need to connect, learn and work remotely -which youth from our communities have traditionally not done. The solution equips them with relevant skills to learn and be employed in a virtual world. 

The blended learning model along with the Quest App were developed in 2018. Currently, the solution works in over 5 states in India - Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Karnataka and Haryana. Across the government TVET ecosystem, 2Mn learners enrol every year. Out of these, our solution today covers 100,000 learners. The app was launched in 2018, based on insights from learners, an upgraded version with features like ‘Jobs’, ‘community’, an easier onboarding process, which enable more engagement were added and rolled out in February 2020. Further developments are being made - A personalised learning engine is currently being built which will enable a learner to go an individual charted path of learning, based on their baseline and what they aim to achieve out of the learning.

Technology team - Full time - 4 - Tech lead, architect and developers

Content and design team - Full time - 3 - 1 Product, 1 User research and 1 design

While the journey of Quest App (as training curriculum) started in 2008, formally, the work on the Quest app started in 2017 and it was launched in end-2018. Over the last 5 years, we continue to adapt and evolve to the requirements of our learners. 

Our value has been technology with a human centred design at the core of it. Keeping in line, our team has a mix of people 

Technology team - With a strong technology background of developing and managing applications (over 20 years of total team work experience). 

Content and Design team - People with qualifications and backgrounds in designing learning experiences for young people, user research and building content that is aligned to the way young people prefer to learn, especially in a virtual environment (which is new and alien for most learners in our target community) The content and design team comes with academic and work backgrounds from design schools and user-centred design firms. 

Quest Alliance does not discriminate based on gender, religion, race, ethnic origin, or any other criteria and we are an equal opportunity employer. We have a diverse staff force made up of people from various states of India. Our staff is 53% female and our senior leadership is 60% female. The organisation culture is geared towards making people comfortable to voice their opinions and challenges and this is reflected in our monthly team meetings and learning days. We follow the principle of WIBE - Well-Being, Inclusive, Belonging and Equity in all our work - We have a dedicated 'People Team' that is responsible for ensuring the workplace remains inclusive and safe. As a policy, 5% of the Quest staff come from the communities we work with, thereby keeping our work rooted in the context of the communities we work for.

The Quest leadership team has experience of working with young people from elementary, secondary schools and the vocational training space. The team at Quest has worked extensively in designing human centered technology solutions, mentoring and facilitating programs with young people, adapting tech based on local needs - be it language, remote connectivity or other areas that require adaptation

Advice on 

Quest Alliance (QA) empowers youth from marginalised communities between the ages of 18-24 with critical Life, Work and Career skills as they transition into the world of work. During the pandemic, these young people are left without learning, as formal education spaces remain shut. The digital divide was more obvious than before - Only 15% of rural India has access to the internet, with women making up only 8.5% of that.

 Our solution, MyQuest, provides access to digital devices (mobile phone libraries - where phones are provided to complete learning and then rotated to other learners), digital bite-sized content around life skills, technology at work, future careers, communication and career readiness on QuestApp (Quest’s technology platform) along with mentorship and guidance for youth to be better prepared to enter the world of work.

A solution with a mix of access, content and mentorship can change the lives of young women who would otherwise be left out of the workforce. Our solution reaches out to 100,000 learners. Within the technical and vocational training (TVET) ecosystem - nearly 2 Million learners enroll annually.The solution when scaled is available to be adapted by other ecosystems around the globe facing similar challenges. 

Our solution while catering to men and women has a specific focus on women learners. With women being adversely affected by the pandemic, our solution offers opportunities to them to not only continue their education but also forge career pathways.