ABLE, one of AIF’s flagship livelihood programs for adults with disabilities, helps create an ecosystem for their inclusion in the job market as an active workforce.
In India, there are 26.8 million Persons with Disabilities (PwDs). Although 36% of the PwDs are employable, they–especially women–face enormous physical, attitudinal, and informational barriers to equal opportunities at work. They experience higher rates of unemployment and economic inactivity, often exacerbated by insufficient access to programs for individuals with disabilities. Despite the increasing availability of such programs, these challenges persist, limiting the ability of PwDs to fully participate in the workforce.
The ABLE program aims to create pathways that:
Programs for adults with disabilities, such as ABLE, are critical to empowering these individuals to build skill sets and secure employment opportunities, while also promoting acceptance of disabilities in the larger community. ABLE also helps advance the discourse on disability inclusion by bringing together the key stakeholders—Governments, National Institutes for Empowerment of PwDs, NGOs, and the private sector—and informing, influencing, and engaging with them.
Built on an ambitious goal of doubling the number of PwDs in India’s formal sector by 2030, ABLE aims to strategically enable the ecosystem to:
Facilitation through India’s first accessible e-marketplace dedicated to jobs for PwDs – Onboard at least 1,000 corporates/PSUs from the government and private sectors (including MNCs) to the platform to make jobs accessible for PwDs.
Alliance in action - Proactively organize seminars and workshops to sensitize employers on the abilities of PwDs and make workplaces accessible as well as demonstrate the business case of employing a person with a disability.
Technology for accessibility and skilling – Leveraging technology to develop a Learning and Management System (LMS) with digitally accessible content compliant with ‘Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)’ to create a platform that allows PwDs to actively participate in the training process thereby having a positive impact on their learning outcomes.
Employment that’s sustainable with a strong focus on placement retention – ABLE aims to enable employment of 100,000 PwDs over the next 10 years by providing the skills set required to them eligible for dignified employment; making employment accessible to match their newly gained skills; and providing continued support along with upskilling to help them flourish in their employment journey.
*As of 3/31
Engage to Empower is a long-term career support intervention focused on upgrading, upskilling, and facilitating dignified job opportunities that aim to rebuild the lives of women, Persons with Disabilities (PwDs), and youth from marginalized communities, disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. Through the intervention, AIF’s Market Aligned Skills Training (MAST) Program in partnership with Bank of America, is facilitating co-learning and knowledge sharing for focused self-development and career planning with post-placement support for 3.5 years. Designed to deliver volunteer training and mentoring by the Bank of America employees in Full Stack Development, Data Analytics, Banking, Financial Services, Insurance (BFSI), and other upcoming sectors, it aims to nurture professional development, workplace readiness, and cultural transition for the identified vulnerable groups.
Engage To Empower project is a collaboration between BlackRock and American India Foundation. The Project engages the employee volunteers as equal participants in creating a career pathway, through skill enhancement and job access, for marginalized youth, especially females and persons with disabilities. The Engage to Empower project recommends a long-term intervention in an aspirant’s career to ensure meaningful progression over the years. The recruited candidates undergo 3.5 years of skilling, mentoring, and training support in technical, behavioral, and professional areas. Another highlight of this pathway is the volunteering engagement of BlackRock practitioners and experienced professionals as trainers, mentors, and influencers throughout the program. It helps in making the aspirants confident and connected with the chosen area of specialization and also aligns their vision with industry leaders.
Helping vulnerable women “Thrive and Not Just Survive in the Professional Environment,” AIF’s intervention- "Developing Leadership and Employment Readiness for Women with Disabilities," supported by the Circle of Hope aims to empower women with disabilities who are facing barriers to employment. The Project, over a period of 6 months, will provide employment readiness training, certified by the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) in communications and leadership, along with entrepreneurial, financial, technological, and domain-specific skills, followed by a 45-day paid internship with AIF, to graduate women with disabilities who are facing barriers to employment.
American India Foundation in Partnership with Dell Technologies is implementing a Future Workspace Skills project that aims to build workforce readiness in college-going girls and persons with disabilities. The Project, designed to catalyze a technology-enabled, inclusive, and adaptive skilling ecosystem, aims to sustain remote job creation, linking the targeted beneficiaries with aspirational jobs in technology, banking, and travel; facilitating their transition, and acclimatizing them to the newly acquired remote jobs through the innovative Remote Employment (REMO) Centers. The training curriculum, certified by the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and DELL Tech., offers an exclusive curriculum created by subject experts and industry mentors on subjects such as communication skills, life skills, corporate grooming and etiquette, MS Office, workplace readiness, resume writing, and interview preparedness through a cutting-edge technology enabled Learning Management System (LMS).
AIF in partnership with Extreme Networks is building capacities of Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) to access dignified livelihoods and employment/self-employment opportunities across Chennai, Kancheepuram (Chennai), Tirunelveli, Coimbatore and Bengaluru (Karnataka). As part of this vision, the collaboration aims to create infrastructure for classrooms and practical lab setups for upcoming (PwDs) and youth.
Aimed at creating an independent cadre of trained caregivers, the Geriatric Care Aide project supported by Franklin Templeton is meeting the growing demands of the country’s healthcare system to bridge the gap between caregivers and the elderly population. Aimed at creating an independent cadre of trained caregivers, the Geriatric Care Aide project supported by Franklin Templeton has so far trained more than 240 youths from marginalized communities, providing them access to sustainable livelihoods. The project was also awarded the Gold Award for its outstanding performance in the Health Skilling Brand Category at the IHW awards 2020. Geriatric Care Aide is being implemented by AIF under its flagship Market Aligned Skills Training (MAST) Program that works to provide unemployed youth with comprehensive skills training to address India’s growing need for skilled manpower.
While the overall objective of the program is to create a career pathway for 100,000 PwDs Pan India, over the ten years, the program is gradually achieving the scale, we will be creating career pathways for 8,000 persons in 3 years starting Dec 2021. To achieve this milestone, several small milestones will be set up to keep a check on project progress in the right direction. The E-marketplace will be made functional to bring job seekers and givers to a single platform. A minimum of 500 organizations which would include PSUs / corporates will be onboard to share relevant job openings. Organizations will be invited to bring awareness to PwDs' job policies by the government.
Project SAMEIP is a collaborative initiative of the SBI Foundation and Microsoft India to enable career pathways for underserved young Persons with Disabilities in the digitally transformed Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) sector in India. SAMEIP, is steered by AIF’s Livelihoods Program, along with TeamLease Skills University, v-shesh, and WinVinaya Foundation across Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai. Through this initiative, the project would address the stigma associated with hiring people with disabilities and sensitize employers to leverage the talent of these individuals to become productive assets of society and trailblazers in their respective communities.
AIF’s Center of Excellence, located at the Government Industrial Training Institute (ITI), Rewari, is paving the way for youth, women, and persons with disabilities from marginalized communities to access skilling, upskilling, and mentoring, along with placement and employment opportunities in the sectors of IT, electricals and electronics, logistics, data entry, and data management. Through the Center of Excellence, AIF, in partnership with government ITI, Rewari, and with the support of Sarva Mangal Family Trust (MSI), over a course of three years, aims to train 1,200 beneficiaries and link 1,125 with sustainable livelihoods and also enable 75 entrepreneurs to set up their own businesses.
Project SAMEIP is a collaborative initiative of the SBI Foundation and Microsoft India to enable career pathways for underserved young Persons with Disabilities in the digitally transformed Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) sector in India. SAMEIP, is steered by AIF’s Livelihoods Program, along with TeamLease Skills University, v-shesh, and WinVinaya Foundation across Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai. Through this initiative, the project would address the stigma associated with hiring people with disabilities and sensitize employers to leverage the talent of these individuals to become productive assets of society and trailblazers in their respective communities.
Project SAMEIP is a collaborative initiative of the SBI Foundation and Microsoft India to enable career pathways for underserved young Persons with Disabilities in the digitally transformed Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) sector in India. SAMEIP, is steered by AIF’s Livelihoods Program, along with TeamLease Skills University, v-shesh, and WinVinaya Foundation across Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai.
Project SAMEIP is a collaborative initiative of the SBI Foundation and Microsoft India to enable career pathways for underserved young Persons with Disabilities in the digitally transformed Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) sector in India. SAMEIP, is steered by AIF’s Livelihoods Program, along with TeamLease Skills University, v-shesh, and WinVinaya Foundation across Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai.
Project SAMEIP is a collaborative initiative of the SBI Foundation and Microsoft India to enable career pathways for underserved young Persons with Disabilities in the digitally transformed Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) sector in India. SAMEIP, is steered by AIF’s Livelihoods Program, along with TeamLease Skills University, v-shesh, and WinVinaya Foundation across Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai.
Many young Indians are ambitious and eager to work, but need practical, industry-linked skills to transition from learning to earning. Developing such skills is not just a powerful tool for successful job placement, but also for securing a stable future. Skill development is therefore not just an employment issue; it is central to sustainable livelihoods for Indian youth and inclusive growth for India.
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