NSDC and Microsoft to empower 1 lakh underserved young women

Microsoft and NSDC have announced a collaboration to empower one lakh underserved young women with digital skills to enhance their employability. The program will be executed over next 10 months under Skill India Mission. This initiative is an extension of Microsoft’s partnership with NSDC to provide digital skills to over one lakh youth in the country. Following are the highlights of the partnership:

• Over 70 hours of content on digital, employability, nano entrepreneurship and communication skills will be provided free of cost to underserved young women
• The initiative is aimed at bringing more young women into the future workforce

The partnership is focused on enhancing women’s workforce participation by equipping underserved young women from rural communities with the skills required to thrive in a digital economy. As part of the collaboration, more than 70 hours of course content will be made available free of cost, covering topics such as digital literacy, enhancing employability, nano entrepreneurship, and communication skills.

How the digital skills program works to empower women

The program will curate a series of live training sessions and digital skilling drives to help create opportunities for young girls and women, particularly first time job seekers and those whose jobs may have been impacted by COVID, to join the future workforce. These live training sessions will be delivered online through the Microsoft community training (MCT) platform. The MCT platform will also allow the trainees to access rich content already available on MCT as well as provide a forum to engage with peers.

Talking about the collaboration, Dr. Manish Kumar, MD & CEO, NSDC, said, “NSDC is nurturing a conducive ecosystem in which women across formal and informal sectors get access to appropriate skill development opportunities. Mainstreaming of content, delivery of training and use of digital platforms are key to increasing participation of women. Our partnership with Microsoft will help in economic empowerment of women.”

Also read: NSDC collaborates with Microsoft to empower Indian youth with digital skills – Here’s more: https://www.nationalskillsnetwork.in/nsdc-collaborates-with-microsoft-to-empower-youth-with-digital-skills/

Commenting on the partnership with NSDC, Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India said, “COVID-19 has accelerated India’s digital transformation and a workforce that is equipped with future-ready skills will be the key to unlocking the country’s next phase of growth. Providing equal opportunity and access to digital skills for underserved young women will be an important part of this journey, ensuring an inclusive economic recovery. Our partnership with NSDC is aimed at bridging the gender gap in access to digital skills, enabling everyone to succeed in a digital economy.”

Under this partnership, eSkill India, NSDC’s digital skilling initiative, will support in building the outreach of this engagement through its skilling ecosystem which includes sector skill councils, training partners, and training centres. Microsoft and NSDC will award a joint e-certificate to participants post course completion. Furthermore, 20,000 young women from regions with least female labor force participation will be selected by NSDC and skilled through a dedicated skills for employability training program for employment in IT/IT enabled job roles.

The partnership with NSDC is an extension of Microsoft’s global skilling initiative to help 25 million people worldwide acquire new digital skills needed for the COVID-19 economy and part of Microsoft India’s ongoing commitment to support young women for a career in technology.