Accenture and NSDC to equip 3,300 youth with employment skills

NEW DELHI, INDIA: 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 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 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.