19 July 2023 – AYANA Renewable Power, one of India’s largest independent power producers (IPPs), backed by the National Investment Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), British International Investment (BII) and the Green Growth Equity Fund, has launched a state-of-the-art power generation business. The art Power Station Skills Development Center provides vocational training to young people in Gadag District, Northern Karnataka. The aim is to transform the local new generation workforce by equipping it with the right skills for inclusive employment and economic growth.
The vocational training program will take place in the Gadag district, where AYANA’s 300MW wind farm project is located and currently under construction. Courses on customer relationship management (CRM) and data entry work will be offered especially for young people living in and around the project area.
AYANA and its corporate training partner Fuel (Friends Who Energize Life) operate a center in Gadag, which in the first phase plans to train more than 200 young people at Level 4 of the National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF). The program is personally delivered to provide an optimal learning experience, runs over 6 months and also supports the graduates’ job search. This is particularly important as the majority of the local population is engaged in agriculture and the lack of suitable alternative employment opportunities has led to significant displacement from the area.
Ayana Renewable Power
Sivanand Nimbargi, M.D. and CEO of AYANA, said, “Community development is a core activity that AYANA carries out at all project sites, and we hope that this will be possible at the Gadag project site.” We are delighted and confident that the Skills Development Center will provide local youth with a much-needed platform to improve their knowledge and skills for a brighter future.”
India has become the world’s most populous country with over 1.43 billion people. Most people live in rural areas and more than half of the population is under the age of 30, yet the female labor force participation rate is just 23 per cent in 2021, according to United Nations data. Providing basic training in vocational skills and creating opportunities to increase women’s labor force participation is crucial to accelerating the country’s economic growth in an inclusive way.
AYANA will continue to work with key implementation partners on project sites to initiate community development programs. The two centers are running well and so far she has trained a local workforce of over 500 young people for employment opportunities. In the first program in Andhra Pradesh, 84 out of 184 program participants learned new skills. Many of the trained participants then found work and could expect a 30-50% increase in income.
The second program, located near the 300MW solar power plant in Bikaner, trained 180 young people during the COVID-19 lockdown, after which around 120 were able to find jobs. In the recently completed second phase of the Bikaner Skills Development Center, 200 students have been certified and more than 20 female students have received job offers.
Previously, along with BII, AYANA also supported the first pilot project in the Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh, ‘Solarization Future Skills for a Solarized Future’, funded by the British Government. Launched in 2019, the project will promote livelihoods for local unemployed youth, especially women, through skill development and market connectivity efforts for green jobs at upcoming NTPC solar power plants.
Add Comment