Guidelines for the Yess Meghalaya

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaAugust 7, 2022

In Meghalaya, the percentage of population under the age of 35 is 74 %, this proportion of young people is higher than the national average. This large segment of the State’s population, if provided with the right opportunities, could become the key agents for social change, economic development, and technological innovation. Their potential was demonstrated during the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in the State. The youth played a significant role in the on-ground management of affairs for contact tracing, planning and delivery of essential supplies, awareness campaigns etc.

There are over 3000 registered youth clubs and organisations across the State working for the development, engagement, and rejuvenation of the youth, however, for them to be able to take concrete action that would have a larger impact on youth development, it is imperative that the State Government empowers these youth organisations to enable them to take positive action.

This programme, therefore, has been formulated in pursuance to the State Youth Policy notified in 2021 which outlines the commitment of the Government of Meghalaya for youth engagement, empowerment, and rejuvenation as an effort to empower the youth organisations, clubs and associations working towards the development of the Youth.

The broad objectives of this programme are:

• Empowerment of youth clubs and organisations for planning and implementation of grassroot level programmes and activities pertaining to key themes affecting the Youth

• Positively channelising energies of the youth through empowered youth organisations

• Enhancement of the youth development ecosystem by the promotion of effective collaboration with key stakeholders in the State working towards youth empowerment and development

• Creation of an annual corpus fund for extension of financial support to registered not for profit youth clubs, organisations, and associations

TARGETED STAKEHOLDERS

This programme shall extend financial aid to registered entities focusing on youth development and empowerment such as:

1. Societies and Cooperatives
2. Voluntary Organisations
3. Youth Clubs
4. Not for profit organisations
5. Socio Cultural Clubs
6. Alumni Associations
7. Community level youth institutions/organisations/groups

ELIGIBILITY CONDITIONS

The applying entity should meet the undermentioned conditions to be eligible for receiving financial aid:

• The applying entity should be a registered society / trust / charitable organisation / section 8 company / Not-for-profit entity under the Societies Registration Act of 1860.

• The applying entity should be in existence for a minimum period of six (6) Months.

• The financial accounts of the applying entity should have a framework for effective and transparent maintenance and management.

• The applying entity’s primary beneficiaries should be under the age of 35 years and should be open to all citizens of the State without any distinction of religion, race, caste or language.

• 50 % of the registered members of the entities should be under the age of 35.

• The applying entity should not have been blacklisted or barred by any organisation/institution government or private and it should not have any pending or ongoing litigation cases related to misconduct, misappropriation of funds, sexual harassment etc.

APPLICATION SUBMISSION, EVALUATION AND SANCTION

• Interested and eligible entities seeking to avail financial assistance should fill an application form on the programme portal at www.yessmeghalaya.in

• District level screening committees under the chairmanship of the respective Deputy Commissioners shall review the proposals and forward the eligible proposals to the Chief Minister’s Secretariat for further processing. The office of the district administration shall conduct preliminary check of applications on the portal to verify the validity and eligibility of the applicants.

• The Chief Minister’s Secretariat shall constitute a proposal evaluation committee with the undermentioned members for the evaluation and sanction of the proposals:

S.No	Members	Designation
1	Commissioner & Secretary/Secretary, Chief Minister’s Secretariat	Chairman
2	Joint Secretary, Chief Minister’s Secretariat	Convenor
3	Respective Deputy Commissioners	Member
4	Representative from the Department of Sports & Youth Affairs	Member
5	Representative from the Department of Planning	Member

• The committee shall evaluate the proposals and determine scale of financial grant to be released to the youth organisation.

• The grant shall be credited to the account of the applying organization.

• The grant shall be released in two equal tranches. Upon successful utilisation of the first tranche and uploading of the utilisation on the programme portal, the 2nd tranche shall be released to the youth organisation

MOBILSIATION, PROJECT MONITORING AND SUPERVISION

The office of the Deputy Commissioners shall be responsible for mobilisation, project monitoring and supervision of the programmes and activities being implemented. Committees shall be constituted by the office of the respective Deputy Commissioners the same. The committees shall constitute the following:

S.No	Members	Designation
1	Respective Deputy Commissioners	Chairman
2	Additional Deputy Commissioners	Convenor
3	District Sports Officers	Member
4	Any other member as deemed fit by the Chairman	Member

Administrative funds for mobilisation, project monitoring and supervision shall be made available by the Chief Minister’s Secretariat for the respective offices of the Deputy Commissioners.

PERMISSIBLE LIST OF ACTIVITIES AND PROGRAMMES UNDER THIS PROGRAMME

The permissible list of programmes and activities that undertaken by the youth organisations under this scheme are:

1. Environmental protection and conservation programmes and workshops
2. Financial literacy workshops and campaigns
3. Substance abuse, teenage pregnancies awareness dissemination workshops and seminars
4. Career counselling and guidance workshops and clinics
5. Mass youth engagement programmes and activities
6. Mental wellbeing seminars and campaigns
7. Mass youth volunteering programmes
8. Organisation of youth parliaments and debates
9. Procurement of material, equipment.
10. Setting up of office space

SCALE OF FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

Financial assistance upto INR 1.00 Lakh may be sanctioned by the constituted proposal evaluation committee to the applying youth entity. The scale of financial assistance shall be determined by the undermentioned criteria which may be updated from time to time by the committee:

1. Applying entity’s months / years of existence
2. Number of youth registered with the applying entity
3. Number of members under the age of 35 in the constitution of the applying entity
4. Nature and scale of past projects implemented pertaining to youth development
5. Nature and scale of project proposed to be implemented under this scheme

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

• The grants sanctioned to the youth organisations shall be utilised only for the purpose it was sanctioned. The youth organisation shall upload utilisation certificates on the programme portal.

• The youth organisation should maintain a bank account in the name of the organisation and not of an individual whether by name or by designation. The account should be jointly operated by two office bearers of the youth organisation.

• The youth organisation must exercise reasonable economy in the implementation of the approved programme.

• The youth organisation must submit to the office of their respective Deputy Commissioners, the progress reports, and any other relevant information on the implementation of the approved programmes

• The respective Deputy Commissioners or any other officer/officers as appointed by the respective office of the District Administration shall conduct field visits and inspections to survey and review the implementation of the approved programmes.

• The accounts of the youth organization concerned shall be open to audit check by appointed officers of the District Administration of the at any point of time.

• Any unspent balance out of the sanctioned funds under this scheme shall be credited to the bank account of the District Administration in accordance with the instructions that shall be provided along with the letter of sanction.

• The grant shall not be transferred to another organization or activity without the prior permission of the sanctioning authority.