EMPLOYMENT FUND / HELVETAS NEPAL

Program Description

The Employment Fund was established in 2008 with the aim of providing gainful employment to disadvantaged, unemployed out-of-school youth. The project ran until 2016.
The Employment Fund was financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, UK Aid and the World Bank, with an overall budget of about 35 million Swiss francs. Helvetas operated the secretariat of the fund, which covered 87% of all districts in Nepal and approximately 80 occupations in different sectors (e.g. construction, hospitality, garments and textile, agriculture, electronics, etc.), and collaborated with 57 training providers. The training courses usually lasted three to four months. 80 % of the content was practical; theory lessons made up the remaining 20%. The Employment Fund applied a results-based financing approach, paying training providers based on their success in training and then connecting young people with the labor market. Moreover, the Employment Fund placed special emphasis on the inclusion of women and other disadvantaged groups in the courses, doing this, for instance, through targeted incentives, communication campaigns and counseling.