New Delhi: Innovative Financial Advisors Pvt Ltd (Fiinovation), a renowned technical research agency in the CSR domain was commissioned by Skill Council For Green Jobs (SCGJ), a not for profit society created by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, for the impact assessment of Solar PV Installer (Suryamitra) training programme. Suryamitra training programme is a part of PMKVY and is supported by MNRE ( through National Institute of Solar Energy), and aims to train undergraduates, ITI/diploma holders as field technicians for installation, operation and maintenance to execute National Solar Mission (NSM) programmes across the country.
SCGJ acts as a bridge between the Government of India, State Governments and industry for developing strategy & implementation of nation-wide collaborative skills development & entrepreneur development initiatives. It empanels training institutes to train the individuals catering to the green job market and also creates qualification packs for different sessctors under the green domain and trains the workforce (both trainers and employees) accordingly. SCGJ since its inception in 2015 has successfully trained more than 77,000 Suryamitra trainees. With more than 330 SCGJ affiliated training centres, the Suryamitras have been trained in 26 states and UTs of the country.
Speaking about the association with Skill Council For Green Jobs, Dr Soumitro Chakraborty, CEO, Fiinovation said, “India’s unique demographic dividend lays at its disposal a workforce unlike any in the world, however, it is marred by unemployability owing to the skill gaps and inadequacies. Addressing these adequacies through holistic skill development programmes is the need of the hour. The opportunity to conduct the impact study of the Suryamitra programme offered us a perfect chance to use our expertise to measure the progress of the training programme and set out recommendations on improving the training delivery under the programme to create a larger impact.”
Dr Praveen Saxena, Chief Executive Officer, Skill Council for Green Jobs said, “As Suryamitra is a flagship training program, SCGJ has been trying to assess the impacts it has made across key stakeholders groups including certified trainees and trainers, in the last 4 years since its inception. The report outlines some key insights to help us reflect and further strengthen the training delivery system to ensure that certified trainees consistently meet the evolving requirements of the solar industry”
Innovative Financial Advisors Pvt Ltd, as part of the association, conducted the impact assessment of the Suryamitra training programme. Fiinovation sampled 1500 trainees from 11 sample states of Assam, NCT Delhi, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal. The impact analysis was the first ever done for the Suryamitra training programme since it was rolled out in the year 2015.
As part of the study, Fiinovation assessed the impact of the training programme on key stakeholders – certified trainees and trainers (ToT programme) in terms of improved skills, knowledge and employment opportunities. Fiinovation also assessed the skill gaps, upskilling needs of the certified trainees and trainers, in line with the evolving needs of the solar industry. The study summarised that the training programme proved beneficial, as 95% of the trainees and 78% of the trainers reported improved technical skills and knowledge post the training. Also, out of the total trainees sampled for the study, 88% of them reported that the training programme benefited them by increasing their income and improving job opportunities.
