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Youth skills development program in New Delhi

Creation of a training program aiming at bridging the gap between supply and demand in the labour market

Founded by Matthew Spacie in 1999, Magic Bus works with children and young people living in poverty in India taking them from a childhood full of challenges to meaningful livelihoods. Through its Childhood to Livelihood program, Magic Bus ensures children complete secondary education, delay their age of marriage, and get stable jobs. The Air Liquide Foundation is supporting Magic Bus India Foundation in taking its Youth Skill Development program to Noida near New Delhi in the form of a new Livelihood Centre.

Our support during the Covid-19 pandemic

 The particularity of the situation in India besides the pandemic is the dissemination of information especially among the most excluded communities. They are dealing with an unknown situation and a lack of information. Magic Bus India Foundation aims to work on three fields of the crisis : 

  • conduct telephonic, digital & door to door visits (while practicing social distancing) to sensitize the communities
  • effecting behavior change in the beneficiaries using a continuum approach to awareness generation & addressing stigma & discrimination and through distribution of health kits
  • improve access of the vulnerable population through door-step delivery of essential food supplies in the identified peri-urban areas, establishing linkages with local level government bodies & available Public Distribution Systems towards improving access to ration

The Air Liquide Foundation support is dedicated to the mobilization of Magic Bus India Foundation staff for awareness campaigns, distribution of food and hygiene kits for nearly 500 families in Noida, Delhi area. 

Faced with the second wave of Covid-19 in India, the Air Liquide Foundation is renewing its support to Magic Bus India Foundation for the medical equipment, the Covid-19 vaccination awareness campaigns, the distribution of sanitary and food kits as well as the setting up of of e-learning center for 200 students.

India: Labour market demand vs workforce gap

Given the current high-paced growth in India, demand for workers in IT (Information Technology) and ITES (Information Technology Enable Services) sectors will increase. Besides, India will have the world’s largest workforce with more than 3 million graduates and post graduates entering the Indian workforce annually by 2027. Yet, only 25% of them are considered employable in IT and ITES. There is a lack of soft skills, customer interaction skills, IT skills etc.

Magic Bus India Foundation

3 million graduates/year in India

50% of the population under 25 years old

Training program

To bridge the gap between labour demand and supply, Magic Bus created its Youth Skill Development Program for first generation adolescent learners from marginalised households. Since 2019, the training programme has already helped 200 youths and 140 of them were placed in a job. For 2021, Magic Bus will rain at least 250 youth from the Noida Khoda Village and the surrounding areas.

The 3 months program involves the following five steps :

  1. Personal development plan : identifying jobs of interest and personal resources
  2. Life skill training
  3. Employability skills training
  4. IT & Financial literacy training
  5. Professional integration: Youth are placed in jobs and followed for six months to ensure a smooth integration

The training is a comprehensive and market-driven package of 200 hours.

700 youths trained over 3 years

95% complete the training program

70% succeed in finding a job

40% at least, women beneficiaries

Involvement of the Air Liquide Foundation

The grant  covers IT hardware and software, the salary of the project’s staff, staff and project monitoring costs.