India institutionalising outcome-based financing for skilling: Jayant Chaudhary

New Delhi, July 4 (IANS) Jayant Chaudhary, Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship said on Friday that India is not only experimenting with outcome-based financing but is also institutionalising the same to build a resilient, inclusive skilling ecosystem.

Addressing the high-level panel organised by OECD and Impact Alliance at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in Spain, the minister said, “Models like the Skill Impact Bond and Project AMBER demonstrate how public funds, philanthropic capital, and private investment can come together to drive measurable social impact at scale.”

Chaudhary was in Spain as part of an Indian delegation led by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

He joined global leaders to represent India at a high-level panel titled ‘Accelerating SDG Impact through Outcomes-Based Financing’.

The session focused on India's leadership in linking development finance to real-world outcomes, particularly in the areas of skills, women's empowerment and livelihoods.

The high-level panel comprised senior leaders and ministers from across the globe, including representatives from the Governments of Colombia, South Africa, Kenya, Norway, Turkey, Canada, Sierra Leone, and the United Kingdom.

Representatives of key multilateral agencies such as the World Bank and the United Nations Population Fund also participated.

The Indian minister held a number of bilateral talks with important international stakeholders on the fringes of FfD4.

The Union Minister discussed how the OECD's extensive knowledge of data systems and impact measurement frameworks could help India's outcomes financing efforts with OECD Deputy Secretary-General Mary-Beth Goodman.

The $14.4 million skill impact bond, the significance of employer engagement, and data integration were the topics of another fruitful conversation with Kate Hampton, CEO of CIFF.

Additionally, he had strategic discussions about unlocking private capital to drive large-scale impact in employment and entrepreneurship with Tom Hall, CEO of the UBS Optimus Foundation, and Richard Hawkes, CEO of the British Asian Trust.

The minister reaffirmed that India is prepared to collaborate with international stakeholders in bringing these models to scale, echoing Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's keynote address at FfD4, which emphasised outcome-based funding as essential to enabling sustainable, impactful growth.

--IANS

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