At SMF, our focus on life skills education is deeply rooted in our mission to foster the all- round development of children by equipping them with essential 21st-century skills.
LIFE SKILLS EDUCATION
Fostering 21st-Century Skills Through Life Skills Education
Key Initiatives in Life Skills Education
1. Collaboration with the Life Skills Collaborative
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SMF plays an active role in the Life Skills Collaborative, working to promote life skills education and integrate it into the broader education ecosystem.
2. Empowering Adolescent Girls
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As a technical support partner to Bharatiya Jain Sanghatana, SMF contributes to an intersectional life skills program specifically designed for adolescent girls, addressing their unique needs and challenges.
Through these initiatives, SMF is committed to nurturing critical skills like problem-solving, communication, empathy, and resilience, enabling children to thrive in an ever-changing world while ensuring holistic development.
Smart Girl
The classroom-level intervention under MV aims to achieve the following teacher outcomes. Teachers trained in cooperative learning and who regularly conducted MV activities were more effective at fostering socio-emotional skills like self-awareness, self-management, and responsible behavior.
This is a programme at the intersectionality of gender and life skills education. It aims to empower adolescent girls (from 13-24 years) with social-emotional skills, attitudes and abilities through life-skills education to enable them to make informed, responsible decisions and choices for a dignified life and promote the overall development of girls in India.
SMF collaborated with Bharatiya Jain Sanghatana to implement this programme in communities and more importantly in the government schools across multiple states from 2017-2019 touching the lives of over 600,000 girls.
LIFE SKILL COLLABORATIVE (LSC)
SMF has been a part of the LSC since its inception in 2020 when it began as a collaboration of 18 organizations during its first phase (2020-2023), gradually expanding into 40 organizations in the second phase (2024 and beyond).
The collaborating organizations collectively bring over 500 years of experience in designing and implementing programmes, and working alongside the government to co-create impactful solutions.
They offer diverse and global expertise in education, skill development, health, and gender.
Through collaborative efforts, SMF aspires to drive positive change necessary to strengthen the life skills ecosystem in India. As an LSC partner, SMF has played a key role in developing the India Glossary of Life Skills, a comprehensive vocabulary of life skills in the Indian context.
SMF has also supported the development of Life Skills Assessment Tools that are made available as public resources, including the Social Emotional Wellbeing Tool, Future Readiness Tool (for adolescents), Teacher Tool (for educators), and System Assessment Tools (to assess readiness of the system to implement life skills-related interventions).
As a Government Engagement partner for LSC, SMF worked closely with the Government of Maharashtra to contextualize and validate the tools for large-scale implementation. It supported the government in implementing the assessment tools across five districts (Thane, Solapur, Washim, Jalna, Nagpur) reaching out to 10,000 students, 250 teachers, and 50 government officials.
As LSC continues its journey, SMF contributes to the collaborative’s efforts by helping to develop effective advocacy channels that promote integration of life skills across multiple sectors in India.
This is achieved through impactful narrative strategies and generation of evidence from grassroots initiatives.
Shaping the Life Skills Ecosystem in India
The Life Skills Collaborative (LSC) began as a coalition of 18 organizations during its first phase (2020–2023) and has since expanded to include 40 organizations in its second phase (2024 and beyond). United by a shared vision, LSC aims to strengthen India’s life skills ecosystem and drive meaningful, systemic change.
Collaborative Expertise
- Together, the LSC partners bring over 500 years of collective experience across domains such as education, skill development, health, and gender.
- The collaborative works closely with the government to co-create impactful, evidence- based solutions tailored to India’s unique needs.
Through these initiatives, SMF is committed to nurturing critical skills like problem-solving, communication, empathy, and resilience, enabling children to thrive in an ever-changing world while ensuring holistic development.
SMF’s Role in LSC
As a founding partner of LSC, Shantilal Muttha Foundation (SMF) has been instrumental in several key initiatives:
India Glossary of Life Skills
- SMF played a pivotal role in developing a comprehensive vocabulary of life skills contextualized for India, ensuring cultural relevance and inclusivity.
Life Skills Assessment Tools
Supported the creation of publicly available tools such as:
- Social Emotional Wellbeing Tool
- Future Readiness Tool (for adolescents)
- Teacher Tool (for educators)
- System Assessment Tools (to evaluate the readiness of systems to implement life skills programs)
Collaborated with the Government of Maharashtra to implement these tools across five districts, impacting:
- 10,000 students
- 250 teachers
- 50 government officials
Advocacy and Evidence-Based Impact
- SMF contributes to LSC’s advocacy efforts to promote the integration of life skills across sectors.
- Focuses on creating compelling narratives and generating grassroots evidence to inform policies and strengthen the life skills agenda in India.
By combining its expertise with the collective strength of LSC, SMF continues to drive transformative change in equipping individuals with essential life skills, shaping a brighter future for India.