The British Asian Trust together with leading British Asian business leaders and the Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF) has signed a landmark agreement at the British Deputy High Commission in Karachi.

The signing formalized their partnership to build Pakistan’s first Employment Impact Bond and was hosted by Martin Dawson, Deputy Head of Mission.

The human capital constraint is a critical factor for Pakistan’s slow economic growth and low global competitiveness. With over four million youth becoming working-age in Pakistan each year, equipping them with future-ready skills can serve as a powerful driver for economic advancement in the country.

he Employment Impact Bond is being designed to ensure 40,000 jobs for young people in key growth sectors and drive a focus on long-term employment outcomes while unlocking new capital to fund social impact in Pakistan.

Impact bonds are innovative financing instruments that leverage private sector capital and expertise for development, with a focus on achieving results. They shift the focus from inputs to outcomes, performance, and results through financial incentives.

Global interest in this initiative has already led to the British Asian Trust and PSDF being awarded design funding from the Outcomes Accelerator created by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and UBS Optimus Foundation and managed by Levoca. The design of the impact bond will draw on successful examples from global contexts and will benefit from the British Asian Trust and PSDF’s shared expertise in innovative finance and skilling.

Kamyla Marvi, British Asian Trust Pakistan Director, said, “This partnership with PSDF marks a significant milestone in our efforts to drive employment for the youth of Pakistan. We are excited to bring international expertise to support the local design of the country’s first impact bond for employment. We genuinely believe that this is an opportunity to transform the approach to development finance in Pakistan leading to greater innovation, efficiency and scale.”

At the signing ceremony, Ali Akbar Bosan, COO PSDF, said, “This pioneering initiative represents a revolutionary approach to funding skills training, set to transform the landscape of skilled workforce development. The feasibility study will evaluate the potential impact, scalability, and financial viability of the Employment Impact Bond, laying the foundations for future programs. This first-of-its-kind venture in Pakistan is our commitment to innovative solutions that address the pressing need for skilled labor, promising a significant shift in how skills training programs are financed and implemented.”

PSDF and LWMC have signed a multi-layered MOU under which they will collaborate to provide technical and vocational trainings in and around Lahore to the eligible children of LWMC staff that fall within PSDF’s mandate.

PSDF will provide skills training to LWMC staff’s children including customized programs for women and non Muslim youth, by reserving up to 10% of its seats for its ongoing skilling programs with training service providers exclusively for LWMC staff’s children. This will help them get prepared for income generation in job markets, self-employment & entrepreneurship. The skills trainings trades range from traditional skills to information technology and are designed on the latest approved curricula. In the second stage of the MOU, LWMC will collaborate with PSDF to fund whole training schemes exclusively for the eligible children of LWMC staff to help uplift worker communities in and around Lahore.

At the signing ceremony, COO PSDF said “Partnering with LWMC to help break the cycle of poverty in marginalized communities is a core mandate of PSDF, and we are proud to be working with the team to manage this change and help uplift the lives and financial independence of communities”. Babar Sahab Din, CEO LWMC said “the skilling partnership is all about helping the families of our staff and employees in Lahore to develop economically. We have a huge task ahead of us and this is the right step to integrate and grow our communities. ”

PSDF and LSE launched a pilot Digital Skilling Program to train female students at Government Colleges.

PSDF and LSE have created an innovative pilot Digital Skilling Program that aims to understand how Pakistan’s female citizens can be best encouraged to participate in the workforce. In this pilot training program students from select government colleges will be given access to digital courses on Coursera (the world’s largest e-learning platform) to learn in demand professional skills in the current job market.

This pilot program is different from others of its kind because it will engage both the female students and their parents to understand some of the barriers to why parents may choose not to invest in daughter’s education and identify relevant issues that prevent girls from taking up skills training programs.

The pilot program is part of PSDF’s program areas Uraan and e-tayyar which aim to implement crucial digital skills that increase women’s confidence, access to skills that increase their employability. The partnership with Lahore School of Economic (LSE) is to conduct research and create evidence-based development programs that will accelerate the socio-economic abilities of female citizens and encourage female labor force participation (FLFP)

One of the biggest issues facing Pakistan is the low level of female participation in the job market. Even though many women want to work, studies have shown that lack of encouragement, family support and lack of adequate skills prevents women from entering the labor force and accessing income-generating opportunities.

For the nation’s progress and given the economic crisis that has gripped the country, women need to be consistently encouraged on both a family and national level to pursue their careers and given the right skills so they can enter the job market.

The pilot program is expected to complete in March 2023 and will train 300 female trainees in digital skills. Students will also receive a stipend upon completion of their training. Based on the success and evidence generated by the pilot – this training program will be launched on a bigger scale.

PSDF (Punjab Skills Development Fund) has signed an agreement of PKR 150 million with Koh e Suleman Improvement Project (KISP) to lead the skill trainings for residents of Tehsil Koh e Suleman, DG Khan, and De-excluded area of Rajanpur. These areas comprise of tribal communities with low literacy levels and until now have had limited opportunities for personal and economic development. During the first phase of the project, 2000 residents will receive training which will include at least 20 percent female trainees across four key sectors; Light Engineering, Construction, Services, and Textiles. These trainings will be the first of their kind in these districts and PSDF will use its skill expertise to equip residents with market-relevant professional knowledge to commence their skill development and open career opportunities for them.

To mobilize this project, training centers will also be established in the tribal areas to execute the training and create ease of access for the residents. A stipend of Rs 3500 monthly will also be provided to the trainees to facilitate their learning journey.

The on-ground trainings are scheduled to commence in July of this year.  During the contract signing ceremony Maqbool Ahmed (Project Director, KISP) remarked, “We look forward to working with PSDF on this project, PSDF’s expertise in executing quality skills trainings will bring a lot of value for these communities and prepare them to access income-generating opportunities”.  PSDF COO Ali Akbar Bosan also reiterated this sentiment, “These trainings are aimed at developing the local resident’s skillsets in professional fields that are growing and employers are actively seeking to hire workers in. PSDF will utilize its expertise to ensure that trainees receive the right technical knowledge so they can confidently pursue employment opportunities throughout the country”.

PSDF is the country’s largest skill development fund and has established itself as a skills expert by training more than 500,000 women and men in 250 plus trades.  It has also successfully implemented trainings on behalf of FCDO, World Bank and the Government of Punjab.