Punjab government, UKDID to launch £25 million project: over 80,000 persons to be trained in sharpening skills

The government of Punjab in collaboration with the Department for International Development, UK, has decided to provide training in sharpening different skills of more than 80,000 persons for reducing the rate of joblessness through Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF).
Usman Khan, Communication Officer of PSDF, exclusively told Business Recorder that the cost of the four-year project is 25 million pounds. Half of the amount--12.5 million pounds--would be provided by the government of Punjab while the rest would be provided by the Department for International Development, UK, he added. More than 40 million people live below the national poverty line in Pakistan and, out of these, approximately 5.2 million live in southern districts of Punjab.
Usman said that the main purpose of PSDF is to provide skills and vocational training opportunities to the poor people of four districts of Punjab--Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Lodhran and Muzaffargarh--which are among the ten poorest districts of the province with poverty headcount of 51.30 percent (Bahawalnagar), 55.07 percent (Bahawalpur), 51.75 percent (Muzafargarh) and 50.405 percent (Loadhran).
He said that the PSDF would provide resources to help private sector enterprises develop and offer vocational training courses. PSDF is currently working on new products which would be launched in near future. One of these products is the Voucher Scheme which the PSDF team plans to initiate that would provide an opportunity to the poor to access vocational training.
Under the second product namely 'Skills Pledge' the PSDF aims to engage itself directly with the employers to identify skills shortages in productive sectors. The employers from such a sector would identify their needs for skilled workers along with an assurance that after training completion, the trained individuals shall be employed by them. In 'Skills Plus', the employers will be able to apply for funding to train their existing employees.