Employment Fund claims it helped 50,000 job seekers

The Employment Fund — a multi-donor employment initiative — has claimed that it has created job opportunities to 50,000 youths by providing different skill-based trainings to them.

The fund is executed by Helvetas Nepal and supported by Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC), UKAids and the World Bank (WB).

It trained about 60,000 youths between 2008 and 2012, and 50,000 of them have got jobs in the domestic and international market.
"We have kept track of all the youths we trained. Therefore, we are celebrating the occasion of 50,000 graduates getting employment," said country director of Helvetas Nepal Shiva Prasad Aryal here today.

The fund provides training to those who are in actual need. It has adopted an outcome-based training system, and trainings are organised by private sector partners.
"Because of its result, DfID has decided to continue its support to the fund," said chief of the agency Dominic O' Neil. Other donors, the World Bank and SDC have also decided to support the fund after evaluating its result.

Industrial Enterprises Development Institute honoured the three most promising graduates on the occasion. Richa Sah from Birgunj bagged the first prize worth Rs 25,000 for her entrepreneurship in mobile repairing. "The training improved my family status from below the poverty line to a substantive family," she said. "Today, I earn about Rs 9,000 a month and it has been helping my family fulfill basic needs," she said.

Similarly, the second prize (Rs 15,000) winner, a motorcycle mechanic, from Jhapa set up a motorcycle repairing centre immediately after the training. "I am looking at the bigger picture now and I want to open a motorcycle showroom," said Parshuram Poudel, "I will have my showroom in the near future," he expressed the confidence gained from the training.

The fund has planned to add 17,000 more skillful youths in the Nepali job market in 2013. It offers about 121 types of job trainings which are easily saleable in the domestic market and abroad.