Positive economic mobility can truly change lives — it opens doors to better opportunities, greater stability, and a brighter future. The story of Pritam, who grew up as an only child in a small village just a few hours from Kolkata, is a powerful example. His father was a farmer, and money was scarce. In recent years, his father’s income had become especially limited due to poor farming conditions.
Pritam joined the customer care program run by Generation India, an employment nonprofit, in 2023. After the program, he secured a job at mPokket, a financial services business. The role offers stable hours, health insurance, sick days, and regular breaks. With a better income, Pritam is able to comfortably send money home, cover his own living expenses, and put money away to build a house where he and his parents can live.
Millions of people around the world struggle to make ends meet, and even more to save money that can transform their lives and those of their families. The World Bank has noted that “global poverty reduction has slowed to a near standstill, with 2020-2030 set to be a lost decade.” Too often, good-paying jobs – the foundation for income stability and long-term well-being – lie out of reach.
Generation is a global nonprofit network that is working to change this reality for Pritam and others like him. They train, place, and support people into life-changing careers across 17 countries. In India, Generation’s work has scaled rapidly with catalytic support from the World Bank, among others.
India stands at a pivotal moment in its demographic journey. With millions of young people currently outside formal education and employment, there lies a tremendous opportunity to bring them into the economic mainstream. With the right investments in skilling, education, and employment pathways, India can transform this demographic wave into a powerful engine for inclusive growth and innovation.
The Government of India has invested billions of dollars into short-term skilling programs over the last decade, aiming to equip youth with market-relevant skills and address the unemployment challenge. In 2021, to improve employment and income outcomes, the Government of India collaborated with Generation India to pilot Project AMBER (Accelerated Mission for Better Employment and Retention). Project AMBER is a joint initiative of the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and Generation India under the aegis of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE). This project was co-funded by MSDE under the Skill Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion (SANKALP), a World Bank funded MSDE program, and private philanthropy.
Generation has a seven-step methodology, spanning jobs mobilization, learner recruitment, profession-specific training (6-16 weeks), social support services, job placement, alumni engagement, and data-tracking. To build ecosystem capacity, Generation India worked with 25 technical and vocational education and training (TVET) providers to embed its methodology and to support TVET partners to learn how to manage each step effectively. Generation India also worked with NSDC to systematically include employment and job retention in its payment algorithm for all training providers.
To date, Project AMBER has certified nearly 24,000 young adults, 51% of whom are women. Within three months of program graduation, 65% (verified placement %) are employed and this is expected to rise as the placement process of batches is still ongoing. An independent evaluation of Project AMBER by Mathematica shows that program participants had three times the employment rate of counterfactuals upon program completion, and two times as many continued to be employed at 15 months post-program. With their earnings, alumni have been able to support their families and purchase essential assets.
Project AMBER participants are today only a couple years post-graduation. However, looking across Generation India’s programs, we can see signs of what the future holds for them. Outcomes get better with time – Generation India’s graduates have an employment rate of 61% at two years and 80% at five years post program, and the share of employed alumni earning above living wage goes from 30% at two years to 62% at five years. Further, by five years post program, 64% of Generation India alumni have advanced beyond entry level roles compared to 30% at two years. As Pritam says, “Generation showed me a way when I was lost. Now, I have direction. Generation has changed my life considerably.”
Given the encouraging results, the Indian government is currently partnering with Generation India to scale the Project AMBER model to support ~100,000 young adults over the next three years, working with 32 skill training partners across the country. This new project is housed as a special project under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), which is the country’s flagship skills initiative. The initial World Bank investment through SANKALP helped demonstrate what was possible and has now spurred a deeper government investment in a now proven approach.
The positive employment and income outcomes achieved in Generation India programs are consistent with Generation’s work around the world. With more than 130,000 graduates to date across 17 countries and 40 professions, 82% of them are placed in jobs within three to six months of program completion; and 76% continue to be employed two to five years post program. To date, Generation alumni have earned a total of $1.5 billion in salaries that they invest back into their families and communities.
