Skill Impact Bond
Why this is important
Historically, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programmes in India have not translated into long-term employment. Even when job placements occur, there is a high dropout rate, particularly for women. Research has found that 90% of women in skilling programmes don’t reach the three-month job retention milestone and drop out of the workforce.
Recognising this and sharing the vision of an ‘employment ready’ young India, the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) in collaboration with the British Asian Trust and a coalition of partners created a first-of-its-kind impact bond for employment outcomes in India.
Launched in 2021, the Skill Impact Bond is well on its way to achieving its bold targets of skilling 50,000 young Indians over four years, 60% of whom will be women, by equipping them with skills and providing wage employment. As a first-of-its-kind instrument, targeting outcomes such as job placement and retention rather than providing training alone, the impact bond will act as a stepping-stone to bring wider change to India’s skilling ecosystem.
Project Partners:
Alongside the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), the coalition draws strength from a set of funders and partners who have deep experience with innovative finance, skilling, gender, monitoring and evaluation, and data-driven decision-making – the British Asian Trust, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), HSBC India, JSW Foundation and Dubai Cares, FCDO (UK Government), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Dalberg Advisors, and Oxford Policy Management.
Duration: 2021-2025
“Skill Impact Bond has demonstrated its effectiveness in fostering collaboration between governments, private sector entities, and civil society organisations. By leveraging such innovative financing mechanisms, we are not only increasing the availability of resources but also ensuring their efficient allocation to tackle the persistent challenges of skill gap and unemployment.”
What we are doing
- Bringing about transformative change in the skilling ecosystem for enhanced training, employability, and job retention, especially for women.
- Shifting the focus from outputs such as enrolment towards outcomes such as long-term job retention.
- Encouraging creativity and innovations in outcome delivery, by providing flexible and risk-taking capital to training partners.
- Generating and disseminating robust evidence, data, and learnings on additionality, price per outcome, and value for money in the skilling ecosystem.
- Facilitating mainstreaming of outcomes-focus, innovations, and gender lens in the skilling ecosystem.
Spotlight
- In August 2023, the Skill Impact Bond won the AVPN Constellations Award. The AVPN Constellations Awards illuminate the transformative power of collaborations that spark change across Asia, and the theme for 2023 was ‘Creating a More Equitable World for Women and Girls in Asia’, an idea that is central to the Skill Impact Bond’s mission to advance gender equity for women in the workplace.
