Reliance Foundation

Assessing the impact of Skill and Employment Program for the Retail Sector

Partner/Client
Reliance Foundation

Sector
CSR Foundation

Location
Pan India

Reliance Foundation is a non-profit organisation that works in areas of rural transformation, health, education, sports for development, disaster response, arts, culture and heritage, and urban renewal across India.
In 2016, Reliance Foundation (RF) initiated its Skilling and Employment Program for the retail sector. Implemented in collaboration with training partner institutes, the retail program covered topics such as basics of retail, housekeeping, visual merchandising, health, and safety.
The retrospective impact evaluation by 4th Wheel Social Impact was undertaken to assess the impact of the program. It included alumni of batches between 2019-2021. Respondents comprised a combination of alumni who had participated in the program either through in-person batches or virtually.
664 alumni across 18 states, 19 trainers, 20 training partner leads, and 10 recruiters were reached for the study that was conducted between July 2021-September 2021.

APPROACH

The ex-post evaluation delved into process and outcome areas of inquiry based on the OECD/DAC criteria.
Implementation processes covered training partner empanelment, youth mobilisation and selection, training delivery, and placement support. Outcome indicators traced alumni learning and skill-sets, job status and incomes, and the standard of living and quality of life
Four structured interview tools were deployed for each of the targeted respondent types, i.e.: 1) Alumni, 2) Training Partner Leadership, 3) Trainers, and 4) Recruiters.
The interviews were conducted over the phone to collect quantitative information and qualitative inputs.

The trainers and training curriculum were rated positively by students in virtual training (98%) and in in-person batches (93%).
The Skilling and Employment program enabled alumni to find stable jobs, particularly in the retail sector. 62% of those employed reported that Reliance Foundation and training partners had helped them find their current jobs.
The alumni mainly articulated improvements in soft skills like communication, retail skills, and self-esteem, because of the program.
The program also helped enhance the standard of living of almost half the participants in the study through jobs and increased household incomes.
19% of those employed were sole earners in their families, while more than 50% contributed to more than 50% of their household incomes.
The batches under the purview of the study did face some challenges in looking for jobs because of the Covid-19 pandemic, which was stated as the most common reason by respondents in the Not in Education, Employment, and Training (NEET) category.

The program was highly relevant given as it served as a platform for employment in the retail sector. It had contributed to stable employment amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.
Recommendations to further advance the impacts of the programme emerged across the mobilisation, training delivery, and placement and post-placement stages.
Recommendations to strengthen mobilisation of students included improving counselling students to orient them to their job roles and responsibilities and reduce attrition rates in jobs.
For training delivery, making the curriculum and pedagogy more engaging via videos, pictures, practical learning exercises, and case studies along with the inclusion of modules on customer service and complaint handling emerged as recommendations.
To improve the placement and post-placement process, better communication from HR, creating an alumni network, and providing upskilling opportunities would be valuable additions.