Assam is known all over for its rich culture and heritage and also for its biodiversity. Despite of its richness, Assam is always being considered as an economically backward state where more than one third of the population is still living below the poverty line and where more than 21 lakhs people are unemployed. It has been observed that due to lack of necessary skills as required by various service and manufacturing organizations many of the students of the state even after completion of their formal education are unable to find suitable employment; whereas demand for the local youths for various industry for their operation within and outside the state has been increasing. Even the people whose main occupation is agriculture, Pisciculture, Pottery, Cattle farming/Dairy, Handicrafts/furniture, Handloom, Horticulture, Sericulture etc. did not flourish much as they could have been and this is just because of lack of proper skill and knowledge. Though, the Governments are implementing various developmental schemes for the welfare of the weaker section of the society. But, owing to many factors including non-association of grass-root institution in implementation, the programme could not yield the expected result. Most of the programmes were based on top down approach and did not consider the needs and requirements of the poor. Keeping in view , the resources used for poverty alleviation and provision of subsidies in the name of poor had not been much effective in achieving the goal, the Govt. of Assam came up with employment generation scheme with the assistance of various NGOs and MFIs that includes Asomi, SIRD, ALPCO, Rashritya Gramin Vikas Nidhi (RGVN), Prochesta and AMTRON.

The Mission is based on a study on generation of substantial and sustainable employment opportunities in Assam by noted economist Dr. Jayanta Madhab. In the approach paper submitted by Dr Madhab, it was planned to generate employment opportunities for about 1.67 lakhs people with a total cost of Rs 669 crores, out of which the Mission will bear the cost to the extent of Rs 320 crores. At that time, there were about 20 lakhs unemployed people, both registered and unregistered, in the state, and today the number has risen alarmingly and is still continuing.

ASOMI, abide by the norms of holistic, sustainable development of the individual and guided by its vision, is marching forward to set realistic targets, develop achievable action plans, and allocate the financial and human resources needed to bring safe drinking water and basic sanitation to the populations of Assam, in a sustainable manner, while protecting the basic needs of poor and vulnerable people. This effort must be made, not only for humanitarian reasons, but also because it is highly cost-effective, reduces health costs enormously, and is directly related to health, equity and economic growth, which are prerequisites for poverty alleviation.

The main objective of this scheme is to ensure that youths are trained under this program to acquire employability skills.

ASOMI with its vision-- "Endeavour for creating a self-sustained habitat with secure livelihood for the poor and the disadvantaged section of the society with the perspective of living in harmony with nature and one another" and as a part of this mission, Asomi facilitated the training of 370 individuals in Assam, in different income-generating activities. Some such areas in which training was provided included Sericulture, Agriculture and agro-based services, Dairy Farming, Composite Farming, Ready-made Garments Tailoring and Cane and Bamboo Product Manufacturing. The selection of these areas for training was solely done on the basis of the traditional income-generating activities that the people of Assam were involved in.

The thrust of this mission was in creating mini and micro-entrepreneurs and in skill up- gradation.Employment Generation Mission aims at reducing poverty through promotion of diversified and gainful self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities to increase income of the rural poor on a sustainable basis. Under ASOMI,more than 250 people have availed these benefits and became fit to earn their livelihood in a smooth manner. Working in close collaboration with the Government of Assam and ASOMI, Employment Generation Mission has bought a drastic change and contributing to an effective and comprehensive response to rural Assam desperate needs, so that Assam can build a better tomorrow. It has helped to enable poor rural people to overcome poverty and break vicious cycle and lead a life of prosperity. The mission has a long way to go but within this one, the change it bought is remarkable.