Skill Impact Bond
The British Asian Trust is a global leader in social finance, pioneering its use in South Asia for seven years, with a strong track record of driving successful collaborations to solve pressing challenges in South Asia. We help leaders shift the focus of development finance from paying for ‘inputs’ to paying for ‘outcomes’.
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.
The problem
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.
The solution
Recognising this, the $14.4 million Skill Impact Bond was launched in 2021 by public, private, and civil society partners to reach 50,000 young people, 60% of whom will be women. 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.
About the programme
- Bring about transformative change in the skilling ecosystem for enhanced training, employability, and job retention, especially for women.
- Shift the focus from outputs such as enrolment towards outcomes such as long-term job retention.
- Encourage creativity and innovations in outcome delivery, by providing flexible and risk-taking capital to training partners.
- Generate and disseminate robust evidence, data, and learnings on additionality, price per outcome, and value for money in the skilling ecosystem.
- Facilitate mainstreaming of outcomes-focus, innovations, and gender lens in the skilling ecosystem.
Our 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. The skill training is delivered on-ground by Learnet Skills Ltd, Magic Bus India Foundation, PanIIT Alumni Reach For India Foundation, and Indian Institute of Skill Development.
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.
“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.”