PKSF, World Bank Sign Agreement for $250mn Project

PKSF, World Bank Sign Agreement for $250mn Project
RAISE project to augment scope for decent employment for 175,000 youths

Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) and the World Bank (WB) signed an agreement on 27 October 2021 involving US$ 250 million to implement the Recovery and Advancement of Informal Sector Employment (RAISE) project, which is expected to strengthen the informal sector. Dr Nomita Haldar ndc, Managing Director of PKSF, and Ms Mercy Miyang Tembon, Resident Representative of the World Bank, signed the agreement. Of the US$ 250 million, the WB will finance US$ 150 million and PKSF will provide the remaining US$ 100 million.

The RAISE will facilitate employability and productivity of the informal sector and extend financial assistance, through 70 PKSF Partner Organizations of PKSF, to 1,75,000 youths having low income in urban and peri-urban areas across the country. Micro-entrepreneurs, adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, will also get financial assistance on easy terms under the project. PKSF will arrange training on sustainable micro-enterprise management, life skills development for young entrepreneurs and foreign language training for the technically skilled youths willing to work abroad. The unskilled and semi-skilled youths will be supported with appropriate technical skill training. Thirty percent of the total participants of the project will be women.