Accenture, NSDC to train 3,300 youth from J&K in employment skills

An integrated, multi-year skills development program created by Accenture and the National Skills Development Corporation (NSDC) will mobilize 3,300 Jammu and Kashmir youth and equip them with employment skills over the next five years, providing support ranging from identifying potential students through job placement.

The program is part of the Government of India's Udaan initiative to address socio-economic development by helping young people acquire the necessary skills to work in corporate India.
"Accenture is deeply committed to contributing to India's quest to become a high-performance nation. This engagement is another extension of our effort to shore up India's growth prospects. We are working closely with NSDC on this important mission and are committed to the program's success," said Nilaya Varma, MD, Accenture's Health & Public Service business in India.

Accenture will provide management consulting services to create training that blends traditional, classroom-based instruction with 'on-the-job' training. Students will be selected from across Jammu and Kashmir and trained for positions in the business process outsourcing industry. Accenture also will collaborate with external agencies to leverage expertise and presence in the state.

The work reflects Accenture's global corporate citizenship initiative, Skills to Succeed, which plans to equip 500,000 people around the world by 2015 with the skills to get a job or build a business.

The Indian government created the NSDC in 2009 to work with private-sector companies and organizations to ensure that an additional 150 million people would have the necessary skill sets to be productively engaged by 2022. The National Skilling Mission that encompasses the role of NSDC and 17 Union Ministries is targeted to train 500 million people by 2022. Earlier this month, Accenture and NSDC released research that identified five steps to meet that target.

"Our association with Accenture is a perfect fit since Accenture has developed similar training curriculum for various clients in the past and is well equipped to create the same for this project. We hope to benefit from Accenture's wealth of experience in consulting research," said Dilip Chenoy, CEO, National Skill Development Corporation.