Model linking non-formal education and job placement to be developed as part of the ‘Generation Unlimited’ partnership

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, 11 December 2020 – Today the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF) signed a partnership agreement to implement a research and development project in support of adolescent and youth education, skills development and job placement as part of the ‘Generation Unlimited’ partnership in Pakistan.

The agreement will help research, design and pre-test an accelerated and cost-effective ‘Non-Formal Education to Job Placement’ model to help improve the skills and employability of the most vulnerable and economically, socially disadvantaged adolescents and youth. It targets adolescents and young people who have never attended formal education or who dropped out of the formal education system without achieving primary school competencies, and who do not have access to education and economic opportunities.

PSDF will work with UNICEF, federal and provincial governments, and partners from civil society organizations and the private sector to design and pre-test the ‘Non-Formal Education to Job Placement’ model in Punjab. It aims at offering a unique, integrated solution by simultaneously (1) providing adolescents and young people age 10-19 who are outside the formal education system with the opportunity to enroll in an Accelerated Learning Program so they can achieve foundational skills in literacy and numeracy at primary school; (2) equipping those who have achieved grade 5 competency level with job and entrepreneurial skills through training to enhance their capacities to access non-hazardous income generational opportunities; and (3) linking young people who have successfully graduated from the program to the labour market.

“We are proud that UNICEF has partnered with PSDF in Pakistan for this landmark initiative to educate and skill out-of-school adolescents,” said Mr. Jawad Khan, CEO of PSDF. “This is recognition of PSDF as the most innovative and progressive development sector organization in Pakistan. PSDF has deep knowledge in skills training gained through managing large evidence-based and demand-driven programs, operational excellence achieved through working with largest international donors, and unmatched ability to deliver results as PSDF graduates generate annual incomes of PKR 20 Billion.”

The project is part of the ‘Generation Unlimited’ (GenU) partnership in Pakistan, which aims at creating a movement to help young people, particularly adolescent girls and boys between the ages of 10 and 19, acquire the education and skills training required to access employment opportunities. The GenU multi-sector partnership platform brings together government, private sector, civil society organizations and development partners, and forges innovative collaboration with young people, with a view to expand and link formal education and skill development.

“Pakistan has the largest generation of young people in its history, which provides unique challenges as well as opportunities,” said Ms. Aida Girma, UNICEF Representative in Pakistan. “This new model aims to expand opportunities for and with young people, in particular out-of-school adolescent girls and boys, to access quality education, skills training and employment. It supports the Vision of ‘Generation Unlimited’, which is to gather public and private partners around the goal of investing in young people to help them achieve their potential while supporting economic and social growth.”

The model will be developed and pre-tested in Punjab as a first phase. The goal is to start similar programs in other provinces in the future to reach millions of young people who lack opportunities.

About PSDF – A Success Story of Public-Private Partnerships:

PSDF is the largest skills development fund in Pakistan for the youth. It plays a leadership role in skills training by collaborating with over 500+training partners, including 200+ businesses across 10 sectors. PSDF delivers training in 2,400+ locations and 40% of its beneficiaries are women. PSDF also leads the National Accelerator on Closing the Skills Gap in Pakistan in partnership with the World Economic Forum.

PSDF – Media Enquiries

Communications Team:
Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF),
Contact: +92-42-35752408-10
E-mail: communications@psdf.org.pk

Follow PSDF on Social Media

Website: www.psdf.org.pk
LinkedIn: Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF)
Facebook:/punjabskillsdevelopmentfund
Twitter: @PSDF_official
YouTube: /punjabskillsdevelopmentfund

UNICEF
Catherine Weibel, UNICEF Pakistan, cweibel@unicef.org, +92 300 500 2592
Sana’a Zuberi, UNICEF Pakistan, szuberi@unicef.org, +92 332 8564 233

About UNICEF
UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone. For more information about UNICEF and its work for children, visit www.unicef.org and www.unicef.org/pakistan. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Generation Unlimited
Founded in September 2018,  Generation Unlimited (GenU) aims to transform education, employment and entrepreneurial outcomes for young people around the world by bringing together stakeholders from the private sector, government, UN agencies, civil society and young people to scale up solutions and attract investment.

Lahore – October 27, 2020: Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF) has partnered with Careem under its “Entrepreneurship on Wheels” programme’, with the objective of launching dedicated training for the latter’s rickshaw and delivery captains between September 2020 and July 2021. The training will be conducted by National Highway and Motorway Police (NHMP).

Under the programme, 800 rickshaw captains will receive training on road ethics, sign navigation usage, along with practical training on driving and mechanical skills. Eligible candidates who successfully complete two months of training will receive their driving licenses and be onboarded onto the Careem Super App. The captains will also be able to avail the option of renting a vehicle, if needed. PSDF will bear the cost of their training, examination and obtaining driving licenses, while Careem will provide a platform to cater with a means of earning.

Speaking about the partnership, Jawad Khan, CEO PSDF reiterated PSDF’s commitment to providing youth with income generation opportunities, despite the challenges brought forward by the Covid-19 pandemic. “The partnership with Careem is an example of how PSDF is innovating during this crisis and providing market relevant skills to youth in high-growth sectors. Our experience in the past has shown the efficacy of programs that comprises short bootcamp style training with a high practical component, and a laser focus on income generation”.

Zeeshan Hasib Baig, Chief Executive Officer and Country General Manager, Careem Pakistan commented on the partnership saying, “Careem is one of the biggest platforms in Pakistan which has provided employment opportunities by registering more than 500,000 captains in multiple verticals so far. By partnering with PSDF, we will continue to take this mission forward and make an impact across the country.”

While the pandemic has resulted in layoffs and stagnation in some sectors, e-commerce and online delivery has seen sustainable growth. PSDF’s partnership with Careem to train delivery riders leverages on this potential to provide unemployed and underprivileged youth with the opportunity to earn a sustainable income for themselves. The target is to train 650 such individuals in six districts of Punjab by June 2021.

About PSDF – A Success Story of Public-Private Partnerships:

PSDF is the largest skills development fund in Pakistan for the youth. It plays a leadership role in skills training by collaborating with over 500+training partners, including 200+ businesses across 10 sectors. PSDF delivers training in 2,400+ locations and 40% of its beneficiaries are women. PSDF also leads the National Accelerator on Closing the Skills Gap in Pakistan in partnership with the World Economic Forum.

PSDF – Media Enquiries

Communications Team:
Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF),
Contact: +92-42-35752408-10
E-mail: communications@psdf.org.pk

Follow PSDF on Social Media

Website: www.psdf.org.pk
LinkedIn: Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF)
Facebook:/punjabskillsdevelopmentfund
Twitter: @PSDF_official
YouTube: /punjabskillsdevelopmentfund

About Careem:
Careem is the internet platform for the greater Middle East region. A pioneer of the region’s ride-hailing economy, Careem is expanding services across its platform to become the region’s everyday Super App. Careem’s mission is to simplify and improve the lives of people and build an awesome organisation that inspires. Established in July 2012, Careem operates in over 100 cities across 13 countries and has created more than one million employment opportunities in the region. Careem became a wholly owned subsidiary of Uber Technologies, Inc. in January 2020. www.careem.com

Media Contact:

Madiha Javed Qureshi
Head of Communication
madiha.javed@careem.com

Nuzair A. Virani
Manager Communication
nuzair.virani@careem.com

11th September-2020: CEO Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF), Jawad Khan, spoke at the GSG Global Impact Summit 2020 in the session on ‘Upskilling the Unemployed’ to discuss the importance of impact investment in training and an outcome-based approach to re-skilling and up-skilling programmes targeting the vulnerable and unemployed.

The GSG Summit attracts changemakers from across the world, to work on a just and impact-led recovery that benefits all people and the planet. This year’s virtual summit focused on how to place impact at the heart of COVID-19 response and recovery and bring forward solutions that can help rally and re-build. The 3 day summit, spanning 9th to 11th September, brought forward influential speakers from 32 countries across the world, from the public and private sector, such as Achim Steiner, The Administrator of the UNDP, Emmanuel Faber, CEO at Danone, Jessica Alba, founder at The Honest Company and Ibukun Awosika, Chair at the First Bank of Nigeria.

The 2nd day of the Summit included the session on ‘Upskilling the Unemployed’ which looked at the adverse economic impact of Covid-19, and ideated on impact investment and outcome-based vehicles that could be promising to achieve scale and maximum social outcomes.

At the session, CEO PSDF, Jawad Khan joined as one of the prime speakers on global labour market trends and the challenges and opportunities brought forward by the Covid-19 pandemic, and focused on how ‘pay for success’ financing and schemes can help ensure a rapid and fair recovery. He further expanded on PSDF’s involvement in leading a number of cross-sector partnerships in the skilling space, such as the National Accelerator on closing the skills gap (Parwaaz), that identifies high-growth sectors and declining and emerging job roles, to skill, re-skill and upskill the current and future workforce.

Other speakers at the session included Annie Plancher, Vice President of Staff and Strategy at Social Finance US, Maha Keramane, Head of Microfinance and Social Entrepreneurship from BNP Paribas, and Dr. Swapan Bala, Professor at University of Dhaka.

About PSDF – A Success Story of Public-Private Partnerships:
PSDF is the largest skills development fund in Pakistan set up by the Government of Punjab (GoPb) in collaboration with Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

It plays a leadership role in skills training by collaborating with over 500+ training partners, including 200+ businesses across 10 sectors. PSDF delivers trainings in 2,400+ locations and 40% of its beneficiaries are women. PSDF also leads the National Accelerator on Closing the Skills Gap in Pakistan in partnership with the World Economic Forum.

PSDF – Media Enquiries

Communications Team:
Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF),
Contact: +92-42-35752408-10
E-mail: communications@psdf.org.pk

Follow PSDF on Social Media

Website: www.psdf.org.pk
LinkedIn: Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF)
Facebook:/punjabskillsdevelopmentfund
Twitter: @PSDF_official
YouTube: /punjabskillsdevelopmentfund

Lahore, Pakistan: On 16th December, Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF) organized a contract distribution ceremony for training service providers that qualified under its scheme “Employability Skills for Non-Muslim Youth”.

Minister for Human Rights and Minorities Affairs, Mr Ijaz Alam Augustine addressing the audience

Speaking at the ceremony as chief guest was Minister for Human Rights and Minorities Affairs, Mr. Ijaz Alam Augustine, who outlined the problems that Non-Muslim youth face in Pakistan: poverty, lack of access to education or skills resulting in low paid jobs. He emphasized the need for various stakeholders from the public and private sector to come together and find viable solutions. He commended PSDF, and the training service providers in taking this initiative to improve employability for Non-Muslim Youth in Punjab.

COO PSDF, Mr. Ali Akbar Bosan speaking at the contract signing ceremony

Mr. Ali Akbar Bosan, Chief Operating Officer at PSDF said that the scheme for “Employability Skills for Non-Muslim Youth” represented PSDF’s commitment to provide skills training to vulnerable and marginalized segments of the population. He reiterated that this scheme stemmed from the belief at PSDF that all communities be given equal education, training and economic opportunities.

This scheme is part of the UMEED (Upskilling Marginalized youth for Employability, Empowerment and Dignity) programme at PSDF, which is designed to help ease the transition of marginalized communities into mainstream skilled employment opportunities that have a high earning potential. The skills imparted to the youth are in market relevant and demand driven trades, ranging from AutoCAD, Mobile Development and Graphic Design, to Industrial Operators and Beautician. PSDF has actively involved multiple employers, industrial units and formal training institutions to ensure demand driven training and placement. The aim of this scheme is to ultimately train 5,000 Non-Muslim youth, across 17 different districts in Punjab.

About PSDF – A Success Story of Public-Private Partnerships:

Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF) is the largest skills development fund in Pakistan. PSDF was established in 2010 as a not-for-profit company set up under the Companies Ordinance 1984 by the Government of Punjab (GoPb) in collaboration with UK’s Department for International Development (DFID). PSDF also exclusively manages the skills training funding of the World Bank.

PSDF’s purpose is to shape the future and well-being of our poor and vulnerable youth by giving them access to skills training of the highest standard so they can find sustainable employment and income-generating opportunities in Pakistan and beyond.

PSDF started its operations in the 4 poorest districts of Punjab. Since 2016, The geographical remit has expanded to the entire 36 districts of Punjab. PSDF has trained almost 400,000+ underprivileged youth across Punjab, which includes 200,000+ male and 160,000+ female graduates. These graduates have been trained in approximately 250 demand-driven and market relevant trades across 10 sectors.

PSDF has played a leadership role in creating a skills training market with 90% training partners in the private sector. With 400 training partners that deliver training on behalf of PSDF, out of which over 150 are businesses across the 10 sectors. PSDF has adopted an output-based funding mechanism where it funds contract-to-completion outputs as well as completion-to-income generation outcomes.

PSDF – Media Enquiries

Communications Team:
Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF),
Contact: +92-42-35752408-10
E-mail: communications@psdf.org.pk

Follow PSDF on Social Media

Website: www.psdf.org.pk
LinkedIn: Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF)
Facebook:/punjabskillsdevelopmentfund
Twitter: @PSDF_official
YouTube: /punjabskillsdevelopmentfund