JAPONICA
PARTNERS' PAUL KAZARIAN DELIVERS SPECIAL ADDRESS AT "SKILLING INDIA'S
YOUTH: SUCCESSES, LESSONS, AND THE WAY FORWARD" SEMINAR AT NEW DELHI
----Presents
special report on “Global Benchmarks and High Value Best Practices for
Improving Performance in Massive Scale Youth Skilling.”----
Dateline: New Delhi, August 3, 2011
The American India Foundation (AIF), in
collaboration with the National Skill Development Corporation (NDSC), held its
third national knowledge seminar on skill development entitled “Skilling
India’s Youth: Successes, Lessons, and the Way Forward” at the India Habitat
Centre, New Delhi on August 3, 2011.
The annual seminar, which brought various skill
sector experts from around the country together, was especially notable this
year as Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, former President of India, attended and delivered
the keynote address to an audience of training providers, governmental
agencies, employers and non-profit organizations.
“Skilling India’s Youth” addressed poignant topics
for India including how the youth of the country must be armed with marketable
skills for India to compete in the global world economy. Particularly discussed
was the way in which stakeholders, including the governmental organizations and
NGOs, will address the emerging challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for
providing skills training to unemployed youth. Additionally, ways to present
innovative delivery approaches and facilitate private-public partnerships to
expand skill building capacity in India were debated as some of the best
practices in the field were shared.
AIF CEO Dr. Sanjay Sinho remarked, “As India
continues to grow and evolve in the 21st century, it still faces significant
issues with unemployed youth. We hope today’s event can be a jumping-off point
for knowledge sharing between organizations that allows all important information
to be collective, because it will take many actors to be a part of the
solution.”
Mr. Dilip Chenoy, MD and CEO of NSDC, added,
"Skill development holds the key to India being able to leverage its
demographic dividend to join the league of developed nations by the turn of
this decade. All stakeholders – government, industry and civil society – would
need to play a part to achieve the Prime Minister’s goal of skilling 500
million people by 2022, and transforming India into the skills capital of the
world.”
The August 3rd event also had a special address on
Global Benchmarking on Skill Training by Mr. Paul Kazarian, the Founder,
Chairman, and CEO of Japonica Partners and the Charles & Agnes Kazarian
Foundation. Dr. Kazarian presented, for the first time, a special report on
“Global Benchmarks and High Value Best Practices for Improving Performance in
Massive Scale Youth Skilling.” The report featured the results of a year-long
study covering organizations from across the globe on the best practices for addressing
the critical need to rapidly advance skills training for youth in the 16 to 30
year old range. “The social pressures of unproductive youth have become ever
more increasingly pressing and obvious over the past year, as youth unrest and
related political turmoils have shaken all forms of governments … this Project
Report seeks to empower great aspirations [to combat youth unemployment] in the
whole human family.”
Another highlight of the seminar was the launch of
the Financial Literacy modules by Dr. Kalam, Ms. Paula Bennett,
Director, Corporate Citizenship, Citi Asia Pacific and Victor Menezes,
Chairperson, AIF. AIF recently entered into a partnership with the Citi
Foundation to expand their Market-Aligned Skills Training (MAST) program. The
Citi Foundation's grant aims to provide 2,500 unemployed youth in Delhi and
Jaipur with the necessary skills to secure entry-level service sector jobs, and
for the first time includes financial literacy training. Ms. Bennett said, “We
are delighted to be partnering with AIF to support the MAST program and to
incorporate customized financial literacy modules into the MAST curriculum. At
Citi, we believe that financial capability is a critical life skill. Learning
about budgeting, saving and financial planning can improve people's financial
security and well-being, and is especially important for
low-incomeindividuals."
A wide panel of expert speakers attended to discuss
and participate in the meeting, including Manish Sabharwal, CEO, TeamLease;
Central Bank of India; Shyamala Deshpande, President of HR, Café Coffee Day;
Arbind Singh, CEO, Nidan; and Venkat Srinivasan, Founder, EnglishHelper.
The event was sponsored by the Central Bank of
India, who’s Executive Director, Mr RK Dubey, also spoke on the financing of
skill training through skill loans - a pilot currently being conducted in partnership with
AIF - and the Charles and Agnes Kazarian Foundation.
The American India Foundation (AIF) is the
largest diaspora philanthropy organization focused on India that is based out
of the United States. Since its inception in 2001, AIF has benefited more than
1.5 million people through its innovative programs and partnerships with Indian
non-governmental organizations. President Bill Clinton serves as its Honorary
Chair; Nobel Economist Dr. Amartya Sen chairs AIF’s U.S. Advisory Council.
The National Skill Development Corporation
(NSDC) is a one of its kind, Public Private Partnership in
India. It aims to promote skill development by catalyzing creation of large,
quality, for-profit vocational institutions. It provides viability gap funding
to build scalable, for-profit vocational training initiatives capable of
skilling 150 million people by 2022. Its mandate is also to enable support
systems such as quality assurance, information systems and train the trainer
academies either directly or through partnerships.
The Citi Foundation is
committed to the economic empowerment and financial inclusion of individuals
and families, particularly those in need, in the communities where we
work so that they can improve their standard of living. Globally, the Citi
Foundation targets its strategic giving to priority focus areas: Microfinance,
Enterprise Development, Youth Education and Livelihoods, and Financial
Capability and Asset Building. The Citi Foundation works with its partners in
Microfinance and Enterprise Development to support environmental programs and
innovations.
The Charles & Agnes Kazarian Foundation is a
private operating foundation established in 1998. The Kazarian Foundation seeks
to empower great aspirations in the whole human family. The Kazarian Foundation
focuses on global economic development, education, healthcare, and technology
initiatives. The Kazarian Foundation’s mission is guided by the knowledge
contained in “New Philanthropy Benchmarking: Wisdom for the Passionate”,
especially the principle that the social sector can achieve transformative
change by cultivating intense positive competition among its stakeholders.
The Central Bank of India is the
first commercial bank wholly owned by Indians and has significant presence in
27 states and 3 union territories in India. Its mandate is to emerge as a
strong, vibrant and proactive Bank and to positively contribute to the emerging
needs of the economy through consistent harmonization of human, financial and
technological resources and effective risk control systems.
Media contact details
Payal Rajpal,
The American India Foundation (AIF),
+91 9873403234,
payal.rajpal@aif.org
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