The British Ambassador to Nepal Nicola Pollitt, Chairperson of Nepal Yarn Manufacturers’ Association (NYMA) Pawan Golyan, came together with the UKaid Skills for Employment Programme (सीप), today, to commemorate the impacts of the सीप-NYMA partnership and reflect on the way forward–for sustained job creation and industry transformation of the yarn industry.

NYMA and सीप’s multi-factory partnership, since November 2019, has enabled quality job-linked skilling and employment for nearly 4,000 workers and improved factory capability at the Triveni Spinning Mill, Jagadamba Spinning Mill, Reliance Spinning Mill, Tricot Industry, and Jaya Spinning Mill.

“Weare proud of our joint efforts which have strategically addressed skill gaps to meet industry workforce and productivity demands,” noted the British Ambassador to Nepal Pollitt. The event, joined by leading industrialists from the yarn industry such as Ram Chandra Shanghai, Bishnu Neupane, Abheek Jyoti, Shakti Golyan, and Akshya Golyan also saw the launch of an industry-adopted curricula covering five job roles. The improved and standardized curricula – co-created, tested, and refined with inputs from the factories – alongside improved trainer capability, infrastructure, and streamlined processes at the factories, can enable and ensure sustained productivity and job creation by the industry.

“Skilling initiatives coupled with firm growth-enabling interventions form an integral part of our combined efforts to transform the yarn industry through modernization and expansion, diversification of its exports to new geographies [through improved quality and price competitiveness], and improve organizational capabilities,” expressed Pawan Golyan, Chairperson of NYMA, explained.

“The NYMA-सीप partnership is an embodiment of an industry’s effort to develop an apprenticeship-based skills and placement initiative to develop a job-ready workforce in emerging industry occupations. Other industries contemplating skilling initiatives can learn from the experiences of this initiative,” shared UKaidसीप Team Leader, Baljit Vohra.

The partnership has achieved several other milestones as well, such as increased recruitment of women for the first time in partner industries like Jagadamba; about 35 percent of the workers trained and recruited are women.