Lighthouse Communities Foundation Creates Pathways to Employment

Lighthouse Communities Foundation is enabling young adults to realize their full potential by focusing on industry-relevant skills, self-discovery, and placement opportunities.

25,000

Students Enrolled

16,000

Job Placements

Preparing Youth for the Job Market

India’s young workforce is instrumental to the country’s socioeconomic development. However, along with vast underemployment, a relatively low labor force participation rate (~40% versus global peers at ~60%) and high rates of youth unemployment (12.9%, compared to the national unemployment rate of 4.2%) threaten this growth trajectory. Today, only about 6% of India’s total workforce has received formal vocational training. India’s youth needs access to formal education and skills training to enter the workforce and thrive in a job environment.

Many students complete their education without the opportunity to develop the skills that are in high demand by employers. To help students prepare for success in the workplace, Lighthouse Communities Foundation was created to work extensively with youth to build both horizontal and vertical skills and connect them with the job market.

Boosting Confidence and Skills

The programming is tailored to each student’s abilities, interests, and target industry. Over a period of two to three months, Lighthouse’s foundational course imparts ‘horizontal skills,’ including collaboration, leadership, spoken English, and basic digital literacy. The focus is on building agency and giving young people the confidence to chart their own paths. Students then receive counseling and may participate in a ‘vertical skills’ program for an additional three to six months, developing their abilities to advance throughout an industry that is aligned with their aspirations.

Lighthouse has championed the public-private partnership model, with training sites and major capital expenditure funded by local and state governments, while large corporations support operational costs such as high-quality facilitators. Together, these partnerships deepen the impact in specific communities and enable social and economic transformation for youth.

I’m extremely proud that the course taught me a new and unique way to approach all kinds of challenges and conduct myself on both a personal and professional front.

Natasha Kumari Lighthouse Student

Transforming Lives and Communities

Since its inception in 2015, the program has successfully enrolled over 25,000 youth across 26 Lighthouses in four states and placed over 16,000 of them into jobs. The program is now working toward enrolling an additional 4,680 youth across four skilling centers in Delhi.

In 2022, two of these skilling centers were launched in Kalkaji and Malkaganj, located right in the heart of the communities they are looking to serve. By the end of the year, over 1800 students enrolled and more than 550 students have already been placed. Students have secured roles as office and customer relationship executives, beauticians, healthcare workers, retail workers, business development executives, and data analysts.

Lighthouse is empowering young people to acquire the skills and knowledge that will help them unlock a lifetime of opportunity. It’s an investment that goes beyond just the individuals being served and extends to their families and their communities – and in the future of India.

MEET RIDHI

Ridhi enrolled at Lighthouse to access new job opportunities to help support her family. She was shy before participating in the program but with her stronger English proficiency, Ridhi says, “Now I can confidently speak to anyone.” She also improved her computer skills through classes and assignments.

More than 80% of her class was placed into jobs before the end of the session, including Ridhi herself. She encourages others to take advantage of the opportunity to learn crucial skills and grow their careers with support from Lighthouse.