Mumbai: The Citi Foundation today announced an investment of INR 130 million (US$2 million) in six youth focused programs that aim to increase the employability and entrepreneurship opportunities of 13,000 low income youth, aged between 16-25 years,across India. These grants have been provided through the 2016 India Innovation Grant Program (IIGP), part of Pathways to Progress, the Citi Foundation’s global initiative to prepare young disadvantaged youth build an entrepreneurial mindset, acquire leadership, financial and workplace skills, and begin to engage in the formal economy through a first job.
The 2016 IIGP, now in its third year,is focused on skilling youth and connecting them with economic opportunities that will, in turn propel economic progress and inclusion in India. In its previous two editions, the 2015 and 2014 IIGPs invested INR 244 million (close to USD4 million), in fifteen innovative and sustainable financial education and capability programs to benefit more than 880,000 individuals in the country.
The 2016 IIGP was launched in February and of the 150 expressions of interest received from locally based NGOs in India, six programs selected include non-profit organizations ChildFund India, Foundation of MSME Clusters (FMC), Learning Links Foundation, Pratham Education Foundation, Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled and TechnoServe Inc. Together, these non-profit organizations are expected to bring about meaningful behavioral change and support disadvantaged youth through entrepreneurship training, employment access and leadership, financial and workplace skill development opportunities. Programs aim to leverage technology and engage stakeholders to further national approaches that will advance sustainable, innovative, scalable models with measurable impact.
Citi India Public Affairs Officer, Debasis Ghosh said, “Over the last three years, we have partnered with exceptional organizations that stand out in their fields and are extremely committed to empowering India across all walks of life. The India Innovation Grant Program is about supporting India’s development sector’s tremendous talent and ingenuity, and we are extremely encouraged by the progress our partners have been making. Through the 2016 IIGP, which is well aligned with the Government of India’s important ‘Skill India’ mission, we are humbled to be a part of this journey, empowering 13,000 youth from low income families to be a part of India’s growth story.”
In India, the Citi Foundation’s overall grant program is focused on addressing the socio-economic challenges with innovative and strategic grants. The programs supported this year respond to the findings of Accelerating Pathways research that the Citi Foundation commissioned with The Economist Intelligence Unit. A key finding of the research noted that in Mumbai, the main challenge young people face in the labor market is that despite increasing public investment in vocational skills training, the gap between skill levels and employability remains vast. Additionally, in Delhi, with 54 million inhabitants, many of whom are young, it is probably the biggest agglomeration of youth anywhere. The competitive pressure for economic opportunities for young people therefore is intense. The 2016 IIGP programs are focused on creating employability and economic opportunities. The research also states that young people offer talent that can be a powerful engine for cities’ growth, along with enduring optimism and energy about their futures. Since 1999, the Citi Foundation has supported more than 35 non-profit organizations, benefiting more than 2.5 million individuals across India.
About the selected programs:
ChildFund India:‘Poverty to Prosperity – Creating 1000 Tribal Entrepreneurs’will introduce 1,000 tribal womenfrom below-the-poverty line families located in 20 villages across Jhabua, Dhar and Alirajpur districts in Madhya Pradesh to the industry of poultry farming anddevelop their entrepreneurship and leadership skills, while also creating supply-chain and financial linkages for them. ChildFund India will not only empower these women, but will also create a self-sustaining model through the formation of a Producer Company.
Foundation for MSME Clusters (FMC): Embroidery to Employment (E2E) Programaims to restore the dying and historic art of embroidery, by providing on-the-job leadership and entrepreneurial training to500 artisans. FMC will work with the artisans of Agra and Uttar Pradesh to help them enhance their income between 30% and 50% by infusing new skillsets and by creating and promoting a Design/Product Innovation Centre, which will act both as an incubation lab for ideas and marketing, as well as a community enterprise.
Learning Links Foundation: Youth Empowerment Series for Micro-Entrepreneurs (YES for ME) Program aims to impart entrepreneurial digital and financial literacy skills and English-speaking training to 2,400 youth in Pune, Chennai, Bangalore and the National Capital Region. Learning Links will further train those youth interested in entrepreneurship and help them create strong business cases to obtain funding from various financiers.
Pratham Education Foundation: Project RISE (Relocation Inspiration for Successful Employability) aims to support 7,000 urban youth migrants in Mumbai and Delhi. Pratham will mobilize, train and provide employment linkages and migrant support services to 1,000 youth (90% women). In addition, these migrant support networks will be leveraged for an additional 6,000 (60% men and 40% women) youth who have migrated on their own, without any formal skills. The youth will also benefit through digital and financial skill enhancement training.
Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled: Project Amita – Empowering Youth with Disability will enable 600 differently abled underprivileged youth in the National Capital Region, Hyderabad and Mumbai, to gain meaningful employment in vocations such as IT/ITES/BPO, retail, banking and hospitality. In addition, Samarthanam will support the higher education of 150 differently abled and underprivileged youth.
TechnoServeInc: Creating Employment and Empowerment through Youth Development (CREEYD) Program will train 1,250 college students at TechnoServe centers and create placement opportunities. TechnoServe will also create an ecosystem of trainers and employers to benefit youth from underprivileged backgrounds in their final/pre-final year of graduation. The program will consist of English-language training, personality development training, employer-led subject matter training, training on managing personal finance, along with career counseling.
About Citi Foundation:
The Citi Foundation works to promote economic progress and improve the lives of people in low-income communities around the world. We invest in efforts that increase financial inclusion, catalyze job opportunities for youth, and reimagine approaches to building economically vibrant cities. The Citi Foundation’s “More than Philanthropy” approach leverages the enormous expertise of Citi and its people to fulfill our mission and drive thought leadership and innovation. For more information, visit www.citifoundation.com
About Citi:
Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.
Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com | Twitter: @Citi | YouTube: www.youtube.com/citi| Blog: http://blog.citigroup.com | Facebook: www.facebook.com/citi | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/citi
About Citi India:
Citi India offers consumers including Non Resident Indians, corporates and financial institutions, a comprehensive range of financial products and services. These include retail banking, mortgage finance, credit cards, personal loans, corporate and investment banking, foreign exchange, securities brokerage, transaction services and wealth management. Citi is an employer of choice and serves more than 2.3 million customers ranging from India’s top corporate houses, multinationals operating in India, SME’s, self-employed entrepreneurs, households and individuals. Citi India has leading market shares in a number of areas in India’s banking industry, including credit cards, distribution of mutual funds, e-commerce banking, investment banking and foreign exchange. In addition, Citi India through its network of Citi Service Centres has been a leading offshoring unit for Citigroup globally, providing employment opportunities in the areas of technology, processing, analytics and financial processes.
Citi India is also committed to enabling socio-economic progress in the communities where we live and work. Since 1999, Citi Foundation through its partnerships, has helped further the financial inclusion agenda through education, and has created livelihood opportunities for youth and marginalized families in India. In addition, Citi has been committed to preserving India’s heritage through its programs focused on art and culture. These efforts, over the past 16 years, have benefited more than 2.5 million people across the country. Citi India continues to promote an inclusive and responsible society through its various CSR initiatives.
Additional information may be found at: www.citibank.co.in | Facebook: www.facebook.com/citiindia