The Government of Meghalaya is engaged with the ADB in skill development through a dedicated project titled “Supporting Human Capital Development in Meghalaya”. The project will make efforts and allocate resources to address the growing priority of youth employment and the link between skills training and jobs.
The British Council team will work with Meghalaya State Skill Development Society, which will focus on capacity building of selected PIAs working with MSSDS. The PIAs will be nurtured to grow and as the project moves ahead, ways will be explored to encourage them for tie-ups with other smaller training providers and to increase their base, reach, capacity and efficiency. Skills Challenge Fund (SCF) will be created, which denotes a financing mechanism whereby funds are made available to eligible institutions or service providers to undertake specified activities aimed at overcoming or confronting a defined challenge or barrier. The core feature of a SCF is its open and competitive application process, providing successful applicants limited duration grant with defined outcomes, which equips with the necessary resources to overcome a defined challenge.
Detailed proposals will be solicited from organisations and institutions in private sector, social development and government agencies working in the field of skill development. A Selection Committee will perform a detailed analysis of the proposals against pre-defined criteria and then awards grants to those projects/institutions that best meet the objectives of the SCF.
The Skills Challenge Fund (SCF) is supported by a budget to the tune of about USD 20 million fund from Asian Development Bank. The SCF is central to developing Meghalaya’s human resources to enhance their employability and income earning potential. The SCF will be placed with the MSSDS as an implementing agency for the fund, since MSSDS as an existing SPV of Government of Meghalaya can serve to expedite payments to potential service providers seeking financial assistance for skill development, thereby reducing the burden on government treasury.
The SCF will provide Government of Meghalaya a flexible modality to encourage participation of private sector skills training providers for imparting industry-linked and demand driven skills training programme to 60,000 unemployed youth within five years (45,000 persons for wage employment and 15,000 persons for self employment).
The priority sectors identified (but not to be restricted) for wage employment are:All skill training courses will be combined with orientation in the required soft skills.
