Gaurav Misra

Empowering Youth to Build 21st Century Skills and Opportunities, and Enabling Them to Become Global Citizens

As India’s first UN-recognized Life Skills Coach, I’ve been in the field of youth development for 15+ years. I have taught life skills to more than 15,000 learners and trained around 1,000 instructors. A major part of my profession-cum-passion is to assist youth in developing themselves as successful and employable individuals and hence helping them become economically developed. I teach leadership, teamwork, ability to communicate and collaborate, along with personal and social responsibility that leads to good citizenship.

Social Issue Theme(s)

• Goal 4: Quality Education

Summary

I am a Fulbright fellow, a ‘Global Leaders for Innovation and Knowledge’ scholar, and 3 times Blackboard Award winner. Presently, as a Ph.D. scholar, I am pursuing my research on ‘Gamification and Its Implication in Training and Development’. I am associated with UPES, India to contribute to its one of the most innovative educational initiatives ‘School for Life’. I together with my team, facilitate life skills education to university students to help them become employable and economically developed.

I have been training, coaching, and mentoring corporate professionals, university graduates, and school students from the USA, UK, UAE, Japan, Australia, Germany, Canada, Mauritius, Peru and India. As a Master Coach, I have also trained Career Coaches and Student Mentors for India’s topmost e-learning platform upGrad. I’ve conducted training programs for UC Davis, UNC (Colorado), MSU (Denver), American Councils, British Council, Fujitsu, NCC, USIEF, Reliance Securities, Bajaj Hindusthan, Eureka Forbes, Lifestyle Mr. & Ms. India to name a few.
Qualification-wise, I have successfully accomplished the Multinational Leadership Program GLIK (Global Leaders for Innovation & Knowledge) at Japan-America Institute of Management Science, Hawaii. I have studied Life Skills at the University of Montana, USA. I pursued my passion for Human Resource Development by earning T&D Diploma from ISTD (Indian Society for Training & Development), New Delhi. I hold a postgraduate Diploma in Human Resource Management. I am a postgraduate in English literature too.

As a ‘Fulbright in the Classroom’ grant winner in 2021, I conducted culture exchange sessions for K-through-College classrooms across the United States. In 2019, I accomplished the multinational leadership program GLIK (Global Leaders for Innovation and Knowledge) and worked on my award-winning Capstone Project in 4 countries (Japan, USA, Singapore, and Thailand).

I feel grateful that I have been trained, coached, and mentored by global professionals. I have participated in world-class training programs at Syracuse University (New York), IIE (Washington D.C.), Chuo University (Tokyo), Fujitsu (Yokohama), Temasek Polytechnic (Singapore), Doi Tung (Bangkok), and Infosys (India).

Representing India as a Youth Leader at the United Nations Headquarters, New York

Career

2023	Teaching Quality Award, UPES
2023	Catalyst Award (Worldwide), Anthology, USA
2022	Blackboard Catalyst Award (Worldwide), Anthology, USA
2022	US Alumni Grant Winner, US Embassy India
2021	Fulbright Grant Winner, Fulbright Association, USA
2021	Official Mentor & Judge, YTBC, Singapore
2021	Co-Host, ILIF, Indonesia
2020-2021	Blackboard Award (Asia Pacific), TLC Asia Pacific, USA
2019	Honorable Learner Award, JAIMS, Japan
2019	GLIK Fellow, Fujitsu, Japan
2019	International Recognition, CTAUN, United Nations, USA
2019	State Recognition, CM Office, Uttarakhand
2018	Global Teacher Award, GTC Worldwide, New Delhi
2017	National Youth Icon Award, ONGC
2016	Distinguished Service & Outreach Award, UM, USA
2016	Youth Representative, United Nations, New York, USA
2015	Fulbright Scholar, USIEF, India
2011-2014	Topmost Trainer Recognition, GEHU, India
2009-2010	Employee of the Year, MTouch Technologies, New Delhi, India
2008	Best Trainee Award, Promotion House, New Delhi, India

As Language Instructor with American Learners at the University of Montana, USA.

Your project updates / Your current project(s)

As a GLIK scholar, I worked on my Capstone Project named ‘Project Utthan’. Utthan is an initiative for the purpose of social welfare, community building, and volunteerism with the sole intention of uplifting underprivileged kids as well as needy elderly people in Uttarakhand, along with sensitizing the student community for social responsibility. As a Head Volunteer, I encouraged my students to teach underprivileged children, support their poor families through various fundraising events, and conduct donation drives to help the school build better infrastructure. I am proud of our social service initiative ‘Project Utthan’ through which we inspired the student community to learn the value of volunteerism and gain insights into social responsibility and community building.

I focused on solving social issues with the help of my Capstone Project. I created a plan for Innovation as this program provided me an opportunity not only to study social issues but also to develop a feasible plan for innovation that can be realistically implemented upon my completion of the program. I traveled as a team to four countries, where I learnt first-hand about the local value systems and ways of thinking through experience and by hearing the thoughts of local residents. By stepping beyond the borders of my own country and gaining on-the-ground experience with social issues and economic activity on a global scale, I developed a broader perspective and a more sophisticated way of thinking about and experiencing the world. I am glad that my learning sojourn as a ‘Global Leaders for Innovation and knowledge’ was way more fulfilling than I expected in the first place. At the Convocation Ceremony, I received two most prestigious awards too: I was selected for the ‘Honorable Student Award, 2019,’ and my Capstone Project based on Skill Development made it to the Top Three Positions.

Recently, as a US Embassy grant winner, I worked on a unique skill development initiative ‘Project Swawlamban’ for the financial empowerment and media literacy of low-wage women workers in my community.

At the GLIK Convocation Ceremony at Chuo University, Tokyo

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